Generally speaking, the end of August is seen as a barren box-office wasteland, with studios clearing the deck and getting rid of their worst product. However, the folks at Screen Gems saw this weekend as an opportunity to give their horror flick “Don’t Breathe” some ample room to shine. And that gamble paid off. The movie, which has been generating steady buzz since it premiered at SXSW, was boosted by strong reviews and audiences who were ready to be scared out of their wits.
Fede Alvarez‘s thriller won the weekend with an impressive $26.1 million, a showing that’s slightly better than the debut for his “Evil Dead” remake, which went on to earn $54 million domestic and just under $100 million worldwide. You can probably expect similar figures here. It’s an impressive bow for “Don’t Breathe,” which knocks “Suicide Squad” off the top of the box office after a three-week reign. Even more, “Don’t Breathe,” along with “The Secret Life Of Pets,” has the unique distinction of being one of the only movies to hit the top of the box office this summer that wasn’t a sequel, franchise movie, or remake. And working from a slim $10 million budget, the profit margin will arguably best some of those more expensive movies out there.
READ MORE: ‘Don’t Breathe’ Is A Well Crafted, But Hollow Genre Exercise [Review]
Speaking of sequels, you can add “Mechanic: Resurrection” to pile of follow-ups this year that audiences simply didn’t care for. The Jason Statham action flick opened to a meager $7.5 million, a good chunk of change below the $11.1 million its predecessor earned in its debut. Why Lionsgate made a sequel to a movie that opened in third place at the box office, and only earned $62 million worldwide, is beyond me, but maybe it had a decent enough showing on home video/VOD to justify the greenlight. And that’s likely where the studio will be looking to recoup the majority of their coin on this one. For Statham, the movie marks his worst opening since 2012’s “Safe,” but with “Fast 8” coming next year, followed by the bonkers-sounding shark movie “Meg,” his career will be just fine.
Not even a sexy red-band trailer nor a music video by Usher could spur any kind of interest in The Weinstein Company‘s boxing biopic “Hands Of Stone,” which hit the mat with $1.7 million from 810 screens. Critics jabbed this one pretty hard, and audiences didn’t seem eager to get in the ring, and for TWC they’re likely just happy to move onto the awards season.
On a similar number of screens, the Barack Obama romance “Southside With You” fared much better with $3 million. Seemingly, moviegoers are saying one last goodbye to the President and First Lady before the elections this fall.
In limited release: South Korean thriller “Tunnel” did good business, earning $180,465 from 36 screens; John Krasinski‘s “The Hollars” was also solid with $46,068 on four screens; “Mia Madre” took home $35,000 on six screens; “Complete Unknown” tallied $15,680 on a pair of screens; while the per-screen-average winner of the weekend went to the re-release of the newly restored “Howards End,” which earned $24,822 on two screens, for a PSA of $12,411.
1. “Don’t Breathe” — $26.1 million
2. “Suicide Squad” — $12.1 million ($282.8 mil.)
3. “Kubo And The Two Strings” — $7.9 million ($24.9 mil.)
4. “Sausage Party” — $7.6 million ($80 mil.)
5. “Mechanic: Resurrection” — $7.5 million
6. “Pete’s Dragon” — $7.28 million ($54.7 mil.)
7. “War Dogs” — $7.25 million ($27.7 mil.)
8. “Bad Moms” — $5.7 million ($95.4 mil.)
9. “Jason Bourne” — $5.2 million ($149.3 mil.)
10. “Ben-Hur” — $4.5 million ($19.5 mil.)