The Black Phone with Ethan Hawke pushed to summer 2022 release

Last Updated on December 18, 2021

Sorry, Ethan Hawke, but we won’t get to see you murder children in February after all. Scott Derrickson’s supernatural horror film The Black Phone was previously slated to hit theaters on February 4, 2022, but Universal Pictures announced today that the release of the film has now been pushed back to June 24, 2022. Son of a…

The Black Phone takes place in a suburban Colorado town in the 1970s where five children have gone missing. Finney Shaw is soon to become the sixth victim when he is kidnapped by a serial killer (Ethan Hawke) and put inside a soundproof basement. Finding a disconnected phone, Shaw discovers its ability to transmit the voices of the killer’s previous victims, who try to help him escape. Based upon the short story by Joe Hill, The Black Phone has been directed by Scott Derrickson, who also co-wrote the script alongside C. Robert Cargill.

We first caught a glimpse at The Black Phone earlier this summer at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, with our own Chris Bumbray walking away pretty impressed with what was on display, saying that the film looked badass and scary with Ethan Hawke coming across as absolutely evil. Ethan Hawke has previously said that he’s always tried to stay away from playing bad guys, but it’s clear that he’s breaking that rule in a big way for The Black Phone. While it’s a shame that the release of The Black Phone has been pushed back, it seems that the wait will be worth it.

Our own Gaius Bolling reviewed the film back in October, and like Bumbray, was dazzled by Ethan Hawke’s dark turn. “[Hawke] avoids scenery-chewing and is just genuinely creepy,” Bolling wrote in his review. “[He] does some fluctuating with his voice that is remarkably unsettling because he moves from being calm and menacing without missing a beat. You never quite know what you’re going to get with ‘The Grabber’ and that is a credit to some fine work from Ethan Hawke who is having a lot of fun stepping into darker territory.” You can check out the rest of Bolling’s glowing review right here.