FOLLOWING FILMS - Podcast, Movies, Music, and More

This weekend felt like a long exhale for the theatrical business. After a sluggish start to the year, the box office didn’t just rebound, it surged, pulling in a robust $141.8 million across all titles. That’s up more than 40% from last weekend and a striking 47% jump from the same frame in 2025. In other words, audiences didn’t just come back; they showed up in force. At the center of it all is a movie that, on paper, might have seemed like a gamble: an original sci-fi story with no built-in franchise safety net. But Project Hail Mary didn’t just work; it exploded. A Star-Powered Sci-Fi Breakthrough Opening to $80.6 million, Project Hail Mary delivered the biggest debut of the year and instantly became one of the strongest original (non-IP) launches of the decade. Playing on over 4,000 screens, it posted a stellar per-theater average of just over $20,000, signaling strong turnout across both major cities and smaller markets. What’s especially notable is how broadly it connected. With ...

After nearly two years of uneven results, Blumhouse has finally dialed up another major win. Universal’s Black Phone 2 dominated the weekend box office, opening at $26.5 million from 3,411 theaters. For a studio that built its brand on reliable, low-budget horror, this sequel marks a much-needed hit — and a reminder that Blumhouse still knows how to scare up big business. A Comeback for Blumhouse? While Blumhouse has remained active with smaller releases like Imaginary and Night Swim, none have reached the breakout success of 2023’s Five Nights at Freddy’s, which was a massive hit — grossing nearly $300 million worldwide despite its same-day streaming release. Since then, Blumhouse had been searching for another theatrical success, and Black Phone 2 delivered exactly that. Its $7,769 per-theater average shows strong audience demand, and the film’s debut nearly matches the original Black Phone’s pandemic-era performance. For Universal, it’s also a timely win. After a relatively quiet la...

IFC Midnight and Shudder released SKINAMARINK to audiences with an overwhelming response, bringing theater-goers the promise of a completely new experience. Does the film make good on that promise or fall victim to the internet hype machine? Well, it depends on the viewer. Passionately polarizing reviews from critics and audiences have the horror community buzzing and made this little experimental flick the must see film of the season.  SKINAMARINK has crossed $1 million at the North American box office just 6 days into release on partial screens - earning the film an impressive 67X its production budget of 15K. The debut feature from director Kyle Edward Ball will expand into over 800 theaters this weekend dictated by demand and outpacing all industry estimates. SKINAMARINK will stream exclusively on Shudder February 2, 2023.