Will There Be A Black Friday Sequel? Here's What We Know

Despite the fact that Black Friday has been a holiday of sorts in the United States for years, it hadn't actually been used to fuel a mainstream movie, particularly a horror movie, until very recently. But that all changed in 2021 with the release of the aptly titled "Black Friday," which saw an unfortunate group of retail workers coming face-to-face with a wave of zombie-esque alien invaders. The perfect addition to the holiday movie canon, if I do say so myself. For those who enjoyed the movie, the question lingers; are we going to get a sequel? We're here to dig into what we know on that front.

Just as a refresher, so we're all on the same page, here is the official synopsis for director Casey Tebo's holiday horror flick:

On Thanksgiving night, a group of disgruntled toy store employees begrudgingly arrive for work to open the store at midnight for the busiest shopping day of the year. Meanwhile, an alien parasite crashes to Earth in a meteor. This group of misfits led by store manager Jonathan (Bruce Campbell) and longtime employee Ken (Devon Sawa) soon find them themselves battling against hordes of holiday shoppers who have been turned into monstrous creatures hellbent on a murderous rampage on Black Friday.

Back around the time "Black Friday" was making its way to VOD, one of the movie's stars, Bruce Campbell ("Evil Dead"), was interviewed about the film by Bloody Disgusting and, as is often the case (especially with genre fare), was asked about the prospect of a sequel. While nothing has been determined as of yet, and certainly not at that time, Campbell gave a candid response to the question, which leaves the door at least cracked open:

"If it does well, those producers will milk that teat. I don't know. I hope so."

It isn't necessarily the case with every genre of film, but when it comes to horror, it has historically been true that if the first movie does well, a sequel is going to happen. This is how we ultimately ended up with a "Friday the 13th" movie set in space. The engine that drives Hollywood cares not if it needs to happen, only that it can make money if it does happen. And that, dear readers, is the biggest question standing in the way of whether or not "Black Friday 2" happens.

While "Black Friday" did get a theatrical release, it didn't make too much of a dent in the box office and financial figures are not available. What we do know is that the movie seemed to do quite well on the VOD market. Star Devon Sawa ("Final Destination") shared a tweet shortly after the movie's release revealing that it was topping the charts on iTunes.

Number one on iTunes and the perfect movie to watch after stuffing your faces. pic.twitter.com/QO2UYLwjGD

— devon sawa (@DevonESawa) November 24, 2021

While the movie's cost has not been reported, it was a low-budget (relatively speaking) creature feature, meaning it could certainly make its money back with VOD and Blu-ray/DVD sales alone.

Aside from its commercial prospects, it is worth pointing out that the movie's ending left the door wide open for a continuation. Again, this is very often the case with horror movies, as producers and studios typically understand that it is better to leave things just open-ended enough to pick up the ball and run with it some more, should the market dictate that is a sound business decision. Luckily, in the case of "Black Friday," that ending was also cool and befitting the movie, not just shoehorned in there to make a sequel possible.

Those who survived the madness at the toy store finally manage to get away after defeating the giant super-monster in the film's final act. As they drive away from the carnage, it quickly becomes clear that what we saw was just one incident in a series of gigantic incidents. As the car drives off, in the distance, we see several other giant monsters and chaos raging. Clearly, this was a much larger event and the trouble is far from over.

The implication is that a sequel would expand in scope, seemingly dealing with the larger portfolio of alien-induced chaos. Though a sequel could, in theory, keep things around the same level by just focusing on another group on that same night. In any event, the events that took place at that toy store are just the tip of the iceberg. So, if the first movie made enough money, the ball for "Black Friday 2" is teed up and ready to go.