Don’t Breathe is about a group of youngsters targeting a blind man’s house for an easy robbery, only to later realize it’s a fatal mistake. It starred Stephen Lang, Daniel Zovatto, Jane Levy and Dylan Minnette. Moviegoers gave the picture an overall B-plus CinemaScore (A-minus from the under 35 crowd) while 87 percent of Rotten Tomatoes critics rated the film positively. With reviews like this, “Don’t Breathe” is set to make history at the box office.
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Other modestly budgeted scary movies, including “The Shallows” and “Purge: Election Year”, have also opened strongly this summer.
“These are the films of bean counters’ dreams”, said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at comScore. “(They) can nearly always be counted on to make money”.
“Mechanic: Resurrection” is what it is, a bubble-gum action/adventure film offering explosions, one-liner tough-guy sayings and a plot you don’t have to think too much about.
But other films haven’t had a bad weekend, after ruling the box office for three consecutive weeks, the anti-superhero film starred by Jared Leto “Suicide Squad” earned $12.1 million from 3,582 theaters for a global take of $636 million up until now. The $60m film has now earned $24.8m domestically.
Rounding out the top-five on the domestic charts is the action sequel “Mechanic: Resurrection” from Lionsgate. That was the second highest horror debut this year, behind the $40 million banked by The Conjuring 2 when it opened in June. Southside tells the story of the first date of Barack and Michelle Obama and was quite the hit at this year’s Sundance Film Festival which is where it was acquired for distribution by Miramax and Roadside.
WEEKEND PREVIEW: This being the penultimate week in the summer movie season it has become clear things are winding down.
The film, according to Box Office Mojo, is going to underwhelm at the ticket booth. Where available, the latest worldwide numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included.
As next weekend is also a holiday, expect a little boost for everything because of Labor Day. The advertising buy for Don’t Breathe wasn’t huge; it has no stars and none of the gloss that comes with a $150 million budget. Focus’ second weekend of animated “Kubo and the Two Strings” will finish with about $6 million.
It’s now expected to come in under $7 million, which is lower than initial expectations of $10 million. It also had the wrong domestic total for “Pete’s Dragon”.
“War Dogs”, $7.3 million ($5.3 million international).
“Jason Bourne”, $5.2 million ($56.8 million international).
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Ben-Hur, meanwhile, managed to take tenth place.
