Can I Know What You Did Last Summer Be 2025's Next Big Horror Box Office Hit?

Horror has been hot lately, and Hollywood loves a reboot. That being the case, Sony's "I Know What You Did Last Summer" seems like precisely the kind of film that one would find in the midst of the summer movie season. Serving as a legacy sequel to the 1997 box office hit of the same name, the hope is that this slasher can follow in the footsteps of horror flicks like "28 Years Later" and "Final Destination Bloodlines," turning once-popular franchises into modern hits. So, how are things shaping up?

The new "I Know What You Did Last Summer" is currently tracking to pull in between $16 and $25 million on its opening weekend domestically, per Box Office Theory. It's a surprisingly crowded weekend, with Ari Aster's "Eddington" and Paramount's new "Smurfs" movie also opening. Not to mention, it will be the second weekend for James Gunn's "Superman," which figures to be a big draw at the box office. On top of all that, Marvel Studios' "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" arrives the following weekend. Oh, and it will also be the third weekend for "Jurassic World Rebirth," which is doing very well for itself.

On the plus side, "I Know What You Did Last Summer" is going for a slightly different audience. In more good news, "Final Destination Bloodlines" is winding down its impressive run, having made $285 million worldwide to date. Similarly, "28 Years Later" will be cooling down after collecting $127 million thus far. So, horror-seeking audiences who have already enjoyed what cinemas currently have to offer will have a new option.

Much like the original film, "I Know What You Did Last Summer" centers on five friends who accidentally cause a deadly car wreck, which they cover up and make a pact to keep it secret. A year later, however, they discover that someone knows what they did the previous summer. Murder ensues. This time, though, the main characters find out this has happened before and turn to two survivors of the legendary Southport Massacre of 1997 for help. The new cast is led by Madelyn Cline ("Outer Banks"), Chase Sui Wonders ("The Studio"), and Tyriq Withers ("Atlanta"), with Freddy Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt reprising their roles from the first movie.

Jennifer Kaytin Robinson ("Do Revenge") is in the director's chair for this one. The original "I Know What You Did Last Summer" was a huge hit in 1997, taking in $125 million worldwide against a $17 million budget. Written by Kevin Williamson after "Scream" became a massive hit in '96, it helped usher in a new era for the slasher after a dead period in the early '90s. Interestingly enough, this movie is once again trying to take a page of the "Scream" playbook, with Paramount having revived that franchise very successfully in recent years.

While the budget has yet to be revealed, Sony tends to be reasonably thrifty. It would be a shock if the studio spent more than $40 million on this thing. We should also remember that overseas grosses are going to be a meaningful factor here. So, if the film can bring in closer to $20 million on opening weekend, it has a good chance at becoming a decent hit.

Working against the reboot is the fact that Amazon Prime Video's "I Know What You Did Last Summer" TV show lasted just one season. It was canceled by the streamer in early 2022. Did that suggest a lack of interest? Or was a streaming series just the wrong fit? It's also worth noting that 1998's "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer" made significantly less than its predecessor (just $40 million), with "I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer" going direct-to-home-media in 2006.

One thing that the studio has on its side is momentum. Horror has been hot this summer, with big event genre flicks doing major business. Most notably, Ryan Coogler's "Sinners" remains one of the biggest hits of the year with almost $400 million worldwide to its name. But it's already streaming on HBO Max, so it's no longer a theatrical threat. Further working in Sony's favor here is the fact that Blumhouse's "M3GAN 2.0" greatly disappointed at the box office recently, serving as one of the summer's sole horror misfires. So, that's one less direct competitor movie to contend with.

"I Know What You Did Last Summer" hits theaters on July 18, 2025.