Scott Derrickson is best known for helming the first Doctor Strange film for Marvel, but he also has a lot of horror films under his belt ranging from The Exorcism of Emily Rose to Sinister. Horror fans have been eager to see Derrickson’s upcoming Blumhouse movie, The Black Phone, which was supposed to be released at the start of 2022. However, The Hollywood Reporter‘s Aaron Couch revealed on Twitter this week that the movie has been pushed back.
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“Scott Derrickson’s #TheBlackPhone is now a summer release and will open on June 24, 2022. The Blumhouse/Universal film was previously was set for February,” Couch tweeted.
Directed by Derrickson from his adapted screenplay co-written by Doctor Strange‘s C. Robert Cargill, The Black Phone reunites Derrickson with his Sinister star Ethan Hawke in an adaptation of the 2004 short story by author Joe Hill (NOS4A2, Locke & Key). You can read a description of the film below:
“The story concerns a kidnapped kid who finds himself in a soundproof basement surrounded by the remains of other victims. When night falls, the antique — and disconnected — telephone in the room begins to ring with the calls from the dead.” In addition to Hawke, The Black Phone is set to star James Ransone (IT Chapter Two), Jeremy Davies (LOST), Kellan Rhude (Dexter: New Blood), Mason Thames (For All Mankind), and Madeleine McGraw (The Mitchells vs. the Machines).
Derrickson was originally set to helm the Doctor Strange sequel, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but left the project during the development stage. Citing “creative differences,” Derrickson and Cargill exited Marvel sequel and re-teamed to answer the call for The Black Phone.
“It was creative differences. [Derrickson] wanted to do one movie, and Marvel wanted to do another movie. So he sat there and said, ‘Well sh-t, I’ve got this great script that I wrote with Cargill, and I’m really proud of,’” Cargill told CinemaBlend. “We were actually going to go out to other directors for The Black Phone, and Scott was like, he called me up and said, ‘Dude, I have to make this movie. It’s gotta be my movie, I have to do this. Do you mind waiting until after I’m done with [Doctor Strange 2]?’”
“He really wanted to bring me onto Strange as well. But in the event that it didn’t happen, he was like, ‘Do you mind waiting?’” continued Cargill. “And I was like, ‘You know what, if you feel this passionately about it, no. I’ll wait a couple years to make this movie.’”
The Black Phone is now scheduled to be released on June 24, 2022.
