Back الهاتف الأسود Arabic Черният телефон Bulgarian The Black Phone Catalan The Black Phone Welsh The Black Phone German Νεκρό τηλέφωνο Greek The Black Phone Spanish The Black Phone Basque تلفن سیاه Persian The Black Phone Finnish
| The Black Phone | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Scott Derrickson |
| Screenplay by |
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| Based on | "The Black Phone" by Joe Hill |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Brett Jutkiewicz |
| Edited by | Frédéric Thoraval |
| Music by | Mark Korven |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 103 minutes[2] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $16–18 million |
| Box office | $161.4 million |
The Black Phone is a 2021 American supernatural horror film[3] directed by Scott Derrickson from a screenplay coauthored with longtime collaborator C. Robert Cargill. It stars Mason Thames as Finney, a teenage boy abducted by a serial child killer known colloquially as The Grabber (Ethan Hawke). When Finney encounters a mystical black rotary phone in captivity, he uses it to plot his escape by communicating with the ghosts of The Grabber's slain victims. Madeleine McGraw, Jeremy Davies, and James Ransone also feature in the principal cast. Derrickson and Cargill produced The Black Phone in association with Blumhouse Productions CEO Jason Blum. Universal Pictures oversaw the film's commercial distribution, and funding was sourced through a Universal–Blumhouse co-production pact and tax subsidies from the North Carolina state government.
The idea of The Black Phone arose from Derrickson and Cargill's adaptation of Joe Hill's short story of the same name. Derrickson struggled to produce ideas of his own devising, shifting his attention to other filmmaking endeavors. The film remained dormant until he resigned from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) over creative differences. Derrickson gleaned from his childhood experiences in suburban Denver, Colorado, to flesh out The Black Phone story. Principal photography began in February 2021 on a $16–18 million budget, and wrapped the following month. Shooting took place on sets and on location in Wilmington, North Carolina. Mark Korven composed the film's score, which drew on modern and vintage synthesizer sounds.
The Black Phone premiered at Fantastic Fest on September 25, 2021, and opened in US theaters after several delays on June 24, 2022. It was an unexpected hit at the box office and finished its theatrical run grossing $161.4 million globally. The film received generally positive reviews from the critics, who praised its performances but were divided on its concept. The success of The Black Phone spawned the in-canon short film "Dreamkill", also directed by Derrickson and written by him and Cargill, released in 2023 as part of the anthology film V/H/S/85; a sequel is scheduled for release on October 17, 2025, with Derrickson and Cargill returning as writers and Hawke, Thames, McGraw, Davies, and Miguel Cazarez Mora expected to reprise their roles.
- ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference
DHsequelwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "The Black Phone (15)". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on June 24, 2022. Retrieved June 24, 2022.
- ^ Catsoulis, Jeannette (June 23, 2022). "The Black Phone Review: The Dead Have Your Number". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 10, 2022. Retrieved August 1, 2022.