‘Five Nights at Freddy’s 2’ Trailer Brings the Mayhem as Blumhouse Unveils New ‘M3gan 2.0’ and ‘Black Phone 2’ Footage at CinemaCon

Jason Blum’s house runneth over at CinemaCon in Las Vegas. Horror label Blumhouse brought four new films to tantalize global theater owners on Tuesday, which will roll out steadily through 2025.

The titles feature homicidal robot girls, murderous animatronic mascots, a jacked and terrifying (and undead?) Ethan Hawke and a sentient sex doll. It’s what we love and expect from the producer of “Whiplash” and “BlacKkKlansman.”

This is the first time Blumhouse has presented to exhibitors since merging with horror company Atomic Monster, founded by “The Conjuring” and “Insidious” mastermind James Wan.

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Here’s a rundown of the Blumhouse wares:

Five Night’s at Freddy’s 2

Blum himself kicked off his section of the Universal presentation dressed as the titular animatronic bear, Freddy. He pumped up the crowd of exhibitors by revealing that “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” will debut exclusively in theaters in December.

A second installment was a no-brainer for Blumhouse and its distribution partner Universal. The first film shattered numerous box office records over Halloween 2023. With a budget of $20 million, the first movie earned $132 million globally in its first weekend – not to mention debuting concurrently on NBCUniversal streamer Peacock at the same time it hit theaters. The film instantly overtook the latter day “Halloween” sequels from David Gordon Green.  

While the CinemaCon trailer was brief, it teased that the killer robots will bust out of their retail location and take to the streets for another killing rampage.

Watch the teaser:

The Black Phone 2

The first “Black Phone” was another exemplary Blumhouse banger – made for $18 million, the film went on to gross $161 million at the global box office. Hawke took a swing by playing perhaps the most dreadful character for a legacy Hollywood star – a pedophile serial killer known as “The Grabber.” The script was based on an original story from Joe Hill, son of Stephen King, who also developed the sequel.

In “The Black Phone 2,” the film’s first lead, Mason Thames, has survived to his teenage years and is now involved in a totally safe endeavor for horror films — a summer camp. Except he’s lured there in the dead of winter, presumably called once more by the ghosts of children killed by violence in years past.

But The Grabber has different ideas, even from beyond the grave. A flying menace on ice skates in a terrifying devil mask, The Grabber forces a pack of youngsters to once again survive the impossible — a world without smartphones. And, fine, an undead serial killer. The film opens wide in October.

M3GAN 2.0
Pint-size, creepy eyes, quadrupedal running, TikTok moves and a factory-made killer. Our girl Megan is back. A full trailer for the project played beautifully to the house in Vegas, leaning into its zeitgeisty dominance and featuring an all new villain that Hollywood is more than familiar with: Artificial Intelligence.

Violet McGraw’s Cady, whose need for a robotic friend and protector led to the carnage in the first “M3GAN,” has matured since we last met her. Trauma bonded with her aunt (Alison Williams), the family duo are faced once again with a menacing next generation tech named Emilia. This foe, in the trailer referred to as “that bitch,” uses AI to relentlessly improve herself and her powers of destruction.

Megan, relegated to an Alexa-like voice container so she can’t harm anyone, suddenly seems like an attractive option to help take down Emilia.

“All right, meat sacks,” Megan tells the humans now forced to work with her, “let’s get to work.” Jenna Davis returns as the voice of the titular doll, and drops meme-able lines like “Hang on to your vaginas.” Brian Jordan Alvarez (“The English Teacher”) also reprises his role from the original.

Soulm8te
We knew it was going to happen. In a cinematic universe where a humanistic doll can act as a kid’s sentient best friend, it wasn’t going to take long until it went full “Westworld.” Meaning droids programmed for, uh, intimacies.

Enter “Soulm8te.” In this Kate Dolan-directed film, “Fatal Attraction” meets “I, Robot” and global exhibitors seemed more than titillated by the prospect. “Fargo” actor David Rysdahl plays an earnest nerd who orders up a stunning blonde robot (Lily Sullivan) to satisfy his needs. And that she does, in multiple settings and positions in public and private.

After a few “Stepford Wives”-eque genre moments (like sucking her own face up in a vacuum), Sullivan reveals her true intentions: obliterate anyone in the path of her man. The kills are brutal, and the film hits theaters Jan. 26, 2026.