Director Scott Derrickson has started production on The Black Phone 2, which will see Ethan Hawke return as The Grabber. The filmmaker has revealed the update on social media.
The cast also includes Mason Thames (How to Train Your Dragon, Incoming), Madeleine McGraw (Toy Story 4, Secrets of Sulphur Springs), Jeremy Davies (Justified), and Miguel Mora (The Black Phone). Demián Bichir (The Nun) has also joined the cast.
The script for the film comes from Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill and the first movie was based on Joe Hill’s short story.
The first film centers on a shy but clever 13-year-old boy named Finney who is abducted by a sadistic killer and trapped in a soundproof basement where screaming is of little use.
When a disconnected phone on the wall begins to ring, Finney discovers that he can hear the voices of the killer’s previous victims. And they are dead set on making sure that what happened to them doesn’t happen to Finney.
When talking about the idea for a sequel, Hill said: “There have been some really, really good conversations about a sequel. And the thing is, as soon as I saw the mask, which was designed by Tom Savini and Jason Baker, as soon as I saw the mask I thought, ‘If this film is a hit, there’ll be a sequel,’ because the mask is so iconic.
“It is like Freddy Krueger’s glove, it is like Michael Myers’ mask, it is this thing where it’s the imagery, iconic imagery, that haunts people’s sleep.
“And, look, in horror, guys like Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger, and Frankenstein, and Dracula, none of these guys stay buried. They all claw their way out of the grave for a sequel and then a threequel.”
He continued, “There have been talks about how to do a sequel that wouldn’t suck. How to do a sequel that doesn’t cheapen the film that came before, that’s still scary, that’s still intense, that feels organic.
“And those conversations have been pretty good. But if I were to provide any details, Scott and [writer C. Robert] Cargill would lock me in the basement in the film, and that’s it.
“And the phone doesn’t work. As you know, the phone doesn’t work. I can’t call anyone to get out. So I would decline to offer any real granular details about the possible sequel.”
Derrickson also talked about a sequel in a past interview, saying: “Joe Hill pitched me a wonderful idea for a sequel to Black Phone that, if this movie does well, I’m gonna do it.
“He’s got a great idea, I really liked it. Joe’s very protective and personal about his material, but he came to me with the idea and I was like, ‘That’s how you do a sequel to Black Phone. That’s terrific.'”
Universal and Blumhouse will release The Black Phone 2 in theaters on October 17, 2025.
