The Black Phone 2’ Makes $2.6 Million in Previews Box Office

"The Black Phone 2" is making noise at the box office this weekend.

Blumhouse and Universal's scary sequel made $2.625 million from Thursday previews.

 It's expected to open between $23 million and $29 million, though some estimates are more cautious, saying it might start at $18 million.

The first "Black Phone" introduced Ethan Hawke's scary kidnapper, The Grabber.

 It opened with $21 million in 2021, when theaters were just opening again after the pandemic. It ended up making $161 million worldwide and became a big surprise hit. With a $30 million budget, "The Black Phone 2" hopes to help Blumhouse recover from some flops this year, like "Wolf Man," "The Woman in the Yard," "Drop," and "M3GAN 2.0."

The sequel brings back Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw to fight Ethan Hawke's The Grabber again—this time from the afterlife.

 In the first movie, Thames' character Finney and his psychic sister survived a kidnapping thanks to a supernatural phone that could talk to the Grabber's ghostly victims. The sequel also features Demian Bichir, Jeremy Davies, Migues Mora, Arianna Rivas, Anna Lore, and Graham Abbey.

"The Black Phone 2" should lead the box office this weekend, beating last week's top film, "Tron: Ares," and the new comedy "Good Fortune," directed by Aziz Ansari and released by Lionsgate.

 "Good Fortune" made $725,000 in previews and is expected to open between $6 million and $8 million.