Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. return to reprise their roles as Julie James and Ray Bronson, respectively, this July in the long-awaited legacy sequel, I Know What You Did Last Summer. The upcoming horror film marks the first time their characters have appeared on-screen since 1998’s I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. However, is director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson’s take on the source material originally penned by author Lois Duncan relevant enough to scare up significant ticket sales during the summer movie season?
Unfortunately, judging from I Know What You Did Last Summer’s box office forecast, fans aren’t exactly hooked on seeing it. In fact, Hewitt and Prinze Jr.’s big-screen return is only tracking to make $16 million on the low end over its opening weekend domestically. Should I Know What You Did Last Summer somehow manage to live up to the high end of its opening-weekend forecast, which is slightly better at $25 million, the legacy sequel still won’t contend for the highest-grossing horror film debut of 2025, regardless of how one might extrapolate the film’s predicted numbers along with summer box office trends.
Related
Blumhouse Boss Reveals Why He Blames Superman for ‘M3GAN 2.0’ Flopping at the Box Office
Yes, Jason Blum actually believes ill-gotten comparisons to the Man of Steel were behind ‘M3GAN 2.0’s disappointing debut.
The best numbers posted by a scary film during its debut this year will still belong to Final Destination: Bloodlines, which brought in an impressive $51.6 million. Check out the rest of the list and where I Know What You Did Last Summer will likely rank (below):
Biggest Opening Weekends for 2025 Horror Films (Domestic)
Regardless of whether I Know What You Did Last Summer brings in $16 million or somewhere around $25 million, the legacy sequel will only be able to rank as high as No. 4 among the other horror movies’ opening weekends in 2025 — should the box office forecast come to fruition. Now the question becomes where will Hewitt and Prinze Jr.’s return as the Fisherman’s OG survivors rank among the other scary flicks and their overall performances for the entire year thus far?
‘Sinners’ Continues to Reign as the Highest-Grossing Horror Film of 2025
Warner Bros.
Jennifer Love Hewitt might be excited to portray Julie James again in I Know What You Did Last Summer, but the long-overdue sequel will undoubtedly get lost among the big-screen superhero battle between James Gunn’s Superman and The Fantastic Four: First Steps. I Know What You Did Last Summer’s July 18 release date falls smack-dab between the new Man of Steel’s (David Corenswet) debut on July 11 and Marvel’s First Family’s feature-length debut in the MCU on July 25. These two blockbusters will provide yet another variable to slow the horror film’s performance at the box office.
Based on those obstacles, the new I Know What You Did Last Summer doesn’t seem to have any chance of contending for the highest-grossing horror film of 2025, despite the fact that some fans have waited almost 30 years to watch Julie James (Hewitt) and Ray Bronson (Prinze Jr.) face off against the hook-wielding Fisherman once again. According to the same box office forecast, the legacy sequel is only eyeing a total domestic run of $35 million on the low end with an outside shot of making $67 million in the United States and Canada before its theatrical run ends on the high end of the prediction. Check out where I Know What You Did Last Summer will likely rank against the scariest flicks of 2025 below:
Highest-Grossing Horror Movies of 2025 (Domestic)
Should I Know What You Did Last Summer somehow eke out $67 million domestically, which is based on the high end of the box office forecast, it still won’t make the $72.6 million the original movie did back in 1997. Additionally, the seminal film went on to bring in $53 million internationally for a worldwide total of $125.6 million. In conclusion, it’s clear after examining the numbers that I Know What You Did Last Summer has a hard road ahead when it comes to making a significant amount of money once the legacy sequel joins the 2025 box office on July 18 — let alone becoming the highest-grossing horror flick of the year.
Sources: Box Office Theory, The Numbers, Box Office Mojo
I Know What You Did Last Summer
Release Date
July 18, 2025
Runtime
100 minutes
Director
Jennifer Kaytin Robinson
Writers
Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, Sam Lansky
Producers
Neal H. Moritz
-
Madelyn Cline
Danica Richards
-
Chase Sui Wonders
Ava Brucks
-
Jonah Hauer-King
Milo Griffin
-
Tyriq Withers
Teddy Spencer
You can view the original article HERE.