The thriller made $26.1m (£19.9m) between Friday and Sunday, according to studio estimates.
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Don’t Breathe comes from the Sony Screen Gems and Stage 6 Films camps and is expected to top the movie charts this weekend.
The film follows a gang of thieves who find out that the blind man whose house they’ve targeted isn’t as helpless as he appears.
This undated file image released by Sony Pictures shows Jane Levy, left, and Dylan Minnette in a scene from “Dont Breathe”. While critics weren’t exactly kind to the movie (it stands at 24 percent on Rotten Tomatoes with an average score of 4/10), audiences were a little nicer, as it tied Don’t Breathe’s B+ CinemaScore grade. The Lionsgate/Summit flick, a continuation of the 2011 remake, The Mechanic, also stars Jessica Alba, Michelle Yeoh, and Tommy Lee Jones. But although it and Sausage Party have surged as late summer surprise hits, full on blockbusters are on a hibernation until the fall. The Conjuring 2 cost $40 million and made $300 million worldwide, The Purge: Anarchy cost $10 million and made $100 million, and The Shallows earned $85 million against $17 million.
“As it turns out, horror is the least scary genre this summer, especially to the bean counters in Hollywood”, said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for box office tracker comScore. “(They) can nearly always be counted on to make money”.
Don’t Breathe bumped Suicide Squad down to #2, but the DC Extended Universe film had a good hold with $12.1 million, off 42% from last weekend. The film also earned an estimated $1.9 million from seven worldwide territories.
A sequel to The Mechanic opens this week with returning lead Jason Statham in Mechanic: Resurrection. When all was said and done, it tallied an impressive $1.9 million in ticket sales.
In limited release, Obama first date biopic Southside With You took in an estimated $3 million from 813 locations.
Go to Deadline for a full breakdown of this weekend’s USA box office performance.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theaters, according to comScore. The horror movie Don’t Breathe was #1 this weekend, but Suicide Squad was still #2. “Kubo and the Two Strings” was directed by Travis Knight, working off a screenplay written by Marc Haimes and Chris Butler.
Animated holdovers Kubo and the Two Strings and Sausage Party finish the weekend at Nos. But given the exceedingly high expectations Suicide Squad had going in and the $175 million production cost, it’s tough to know if Warner Bros. will consider the film a hit at the end of the day. It opened at about $7 million. War Dogs fell 51% in its second weekend to an estimated $7.3M.
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“Bad Moms”, $5.8 million ($6.3 million international). It should still be able to top $160 million domestically and the great overseas numbers will help it be a solid hit for Universal, giving the franchise a bit of redemption after Bourne Legacy disappointed in 2012.
