Here's How You Can Watch The Black Phone At Home
Debuting in theaters on June 24, the Universal Pictures/Blumhouse horror phenom "The Black Phone" quickly established itself as a major summer movie draw for fans of murderously entertaining popcorn fare. As Forbes reports, the film jumped out of the gate quickly and soon passed a major box office milestone, slashing its way beyond the $100 million mark in worldwide ticket sales in just three weeks.
The story comes across at first glance as a standard-issue horror flick narrative of a twisted serial killer, played by Ethan Hawke, and his helpless, confined-in-a-grimy-basement victim (newcomer Mason Thames). But this first impression is deceptive, as the movie unveils the supernatural element of dead victims communicating with Thames' character via the eponymous, supposedly disconnected phone.
As noted in the film's review in Variety, the film is less like a terror-drenched psychological tour de force in the vein of "Silence of the Lambs," and "more like 'Room,' driven by a top-heavy dose of fanciful horror, with touches of 'It' and 'Stranger Things.'" As for the movie's acting, The Irish Times singled out the two leads for special praise, saying, "Hawke and Thames respectively give two big performances to enact a compelling cat-and-mouse game, in a film wherein even the supporting characters are richly drawn."
After its relatively brief theatrical run, the movie was made available on on-demand platforms on July 15. But, if horror buffs missed the movie in theaters or on-demand, where can they catch "The Black Phone" at home now?
The Black Phone is streaming now on Peacock
As Bloody Disgusting revealed, "The Black Phone" is scheduled to scare viewers witless via DVD and Blu-ray release on August 16. It's also currently available on digital, but if you don't want to pay to rent the thrills, it's streaming exclusively on Peacock.
As noted above, the picture only premiered in theaters in late June. So why the comparatively early release to various home entertainment platforms? For one thing, the film's quick rise past $100 million at the box office vis-à-vis its modest budget of $16 to $18 million means it's already recouped a highly favorable return on investment, a rare thing for a non-franchise horror title.
Another potential factor in the release-to-home-markets move for the title is due to studio scheduling concerns. As it turns out, "The Black Phone" wasn't the sole summer popcorn movie on the calendar for Universal. A little motion picture called "Nope" from red-hot director Jordan Peele was primed to launch its theatrical run on July 22, making it even more sensible to pull "The Black Phone" from the big screen to make room for the sizeable splash likely to result from Peele's highly anticipated new sci-fi entry.