Blumhouse Productions promoted their upcoming horror sequels M3GAN 2.0, The Black Phone 2, and Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 at CinemaCon
Blumhouse is bringing some highly anticipated horror sequels our way this year. The first of the bunch is M3GAN 2.0, which is set to reach theatres on June 27th. The Black Phone 2 follows on October 17th, then Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 will help wrap up 2025 with its December 5th release. The Universal panel was held at the CinemaCon event today, and during the panel, Blumhouse was given the chance to promote all three of these upcoming sequels.
Things are getting scary at CinemaCon 2025 as Blumhouse haunts the main stage with otherworldly cinematic offerings. Jason Blum walked onto the stage in a Five Nights at Freddy’s animatronic suit to kick the panel off. Blum says 2023’s Five Nights at Freddy’s was the studio’s most successful movie ever, with Gen Z showing up in droves to support the horror film based on the survival video game phenomenon. Blum says the Five Nights at Freddy’s sequel will not be a day-and-date VOD release. Emma Tammi returns for the PG-13 sequel.
Blum screened the first trailer for the crowd. The whole cast returns, and the animatronic animals are back to party harder than before. The movie looks bigger in scope and scale than the first, with the entire town becoming a playground for Five Nights at Freddy’s madness.
Next, Blumhouse brought more details about The Black Phone 2 to the stage. Madeline McGraw was there, with Blumhouse saying she’s their rising star of the year. The Black Phone 2 is director Scott Derrickson’s first sequel. Ethan Hawke returns as The Grabber, suggesting his death wasn’t as final as we thought, even if it certainly looked that way. I mean, damn. How did he survive that beating?
A trailer for The Black Phone 2 reveals more of the film’s premise. Set in wintertime, it looks like McGraw is the one in the room this time around, with Mason Thames outside trying to save her. The sequel deals in dreams, almost like A Nightmare on Elm Street. JoBlo’s Chris Bumbray says it looks just as fun as the first.
“Hang onto your vaginas,” says M3GAN in the latest trailer for M3GAN 2.0! Yes, indeed! The killer doll is back, and she’s not f***ing around! Two years after M3GAN went haywire and was destroyed, M3GAN’s creator, Gemma (Allison Williams), has become a high-profile author and advocate for government oversight of AI. Meanwhile, Gemma’s niece Cady (Violet McGraw) is now 14, a rebellious teenager living under Gemma’s overprotective rules. The intense trailer begins with M3GAN saying, “I admit there were some bugs in my programming. It’s hardly fair to blame me for that.”
Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Amie Donald, and Jenna Davis star in M3GAN 2.0, with stars Brian Jordan Alvarez, Jen Van Epps, Ivanna Sakhno, Aristotle Athari, Timm Sharp, and Jemaine Clement returning.
Based on a story crafted by producer James Wan, the first M3GAN was directed by Gerard Johnstone (Housebound) from a screenplay by Akela Cooper (Malignant). Johnstone returned to the helm for the sequel, and Cooper has written the script. Allison Williams and M3GAN co-star Violet McGraw came back for the follow-up (reprising the roles of roboticist Gemma and her niece Kady), as did Brian Jordan Alvarez and Jen Van Epps (as Gemma’s associates Cole and Tess). This time, they’re joined in the cast by Ivanna Sakhno (Ahsoka), who is said to have landed a major part in the sequel, Jemaine Clement (What We Do in the Shadows), Timm Sharp (Blunt Talk), and Aristotle Athari (Saturday Night Live).
Back in 2021, Universal Pictures, Blumhouse Productions, and director Scott Derrickson brought us an adaptation of the Joe Hill short story The Black Phone that appeared to tell a complete story that would stand on its own… but the film was made on a budget of around $16 million and earned over $160 million at the global box office. So, we’re getting a sequel. Derrickson wrote the screenplay for the first film with C. Robert Cargill, and Derrickson and Cargill have written the screenplay for The Black Phone 2 as well, with Derrickson returning to the helm. The Black Phone 2 sees the return of Mason Thames (How to Train Your Dragon) as Finney Shaw, Madeleine McGraw (Secrets of Sulphur Springs) as Finney’s sister Gwen, Jeremy Davies (Justified) as their dad Terrence, and Miguel Mora, whose only previous credit is The Black Phone, as Robin, a friend of Finney’s who was killed in the first movie. Ethan Hawke (Moon Knight) is reprising the role of the child-killer known as The Grabber. New additions to the cast include Demián Bichir of The Hateful Eight and Arianna Rivas has joined the cast. Rivas previously had a supporting role in the comedy Prom Dates, which was released through the Hulu streaming service earlier this year, and had her first lead role in the Jason Statham action thriller A Working Man.
The video game adaptation Five Nights at Freddy’s quickly became Blumhouse Productions’ highest-grossing movie when it reached theatres and the Peacock streaming service back in 2023. The first film’s director, Emma Tammi, is back at the helm for Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, working from a screenplay she wrote with Seth Cuddeback and video game creator Scott Cawthon. Josh Hutcherson returns for the sequel to play former security guard Mike Schmidt, with Elizabeth Lail, Piper Rubio, and Matthew Lillard reprising the roles of police officer Vanessa Shelly, Mike’s sister Abby, and serial killer William Afton, respectively.
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