This week we looked at the winners and losers of the summer 2016 season, but the usual dismal Labor Day weekend box office has provided two more entries to add to the latter category, while a late-season horror hit has stayed on top.
Screen Gems‘ “Don’t Breathe” comfortably took first place for a second week in a row, earning $15 million. The results push the domestic earnings for the picture over $50 million, which isn’t too bad for a movie that only cost $10 million to produce. And with only a 40% drop between weekends, “Don’t Breathe” is showing some pretty good legs, particularly in a genre that tends to be very front-loaded. Fede Alvarez’s movie is an undeniable hit, and he’ll likely have no shortage of options as he decides on his next flick.
READ MORE: ‘Don’t Breathe’ Is A Well Crafted, But Hollow Genre Exercise [Review]
Meanwhile, the results weren’t as pretty for Derek Cianfrance‘s “The Light Between Oceans” and Luke Scott‘s “Morgan,” which both joined “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping” ($4.6 million), “The Darkness” ($4.9 million) and “The Infiltrator” ($5.3 million) as some of the worst debuts of the summer. Ever since it was announced that Walt Disney would be releasing the Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander romance on this traditionally quiet and lackluster holiday weekend, it signified the picture was sure to be subject to certain death either critically or commercially. And that more or less came true, as mixed reviews and audience lack of interest amounted to a paltry $4.9 million bow for the picture.
As for Kate Mara‘s sci-fi flick, reviews were actually more dire than ‘Oceans,’ resulting in an absolutely anemic $1.9 million debut from over 2,000 screens. That’s only a $970 per screen average, and it left “Morgan” far outside the top ten, in 17th place. Expect 20th Century Fox to make this one vanish from theaters quickly.
In international openings of note, while “Star Trek Beyond” has struggled at home, and been okay elsewhere, the picture stormed the box office in China this weekend earning $31.3 million. That’s a whopping 107% improvement on “Star Trek Into Darkness.” And in ongoing releases, “Suicide Squad” hit $300 million domestically this weekend; it’s the 8th film of the year to do so. Having grossed $650 million worldwide, the superhero picture is looking like it could hit $700M before all is said and done.
READ MORE: ‘Star Trek’ Never Goes Beyond Its Familiar Orbit, But Entertains Nonetheless [Review]
In limited release, while the edgy “White Girl” took the PSA average prize with $12,000 on each of its three screens, it was Lionsgate‘s Latino comedy “No manches Frida” that impressed the most, taking $10,00o per screen and falling just outside the top ten with $3.6 million. Lastly, the Jerry Lewis drama “Max Rose” did a modest $4,000 on a single screen.
1. “Don’t Breathe” — $15.7 million ($51.1 mil.)
2. “Suicide Squad” — $10 million ($297.4 mil.)
3. “Pete’s Dragon” — $6.47 million ($64.2 mil.)
4. “Kubo And The Two Strings” — $6.46 million ($34.3 mil.)
5. “Sausage Party” — $5.3 million ($88.4 mil.)
6. “The Light Between Oceans” — $4.9 million
7. “Bad Moms” — $4.74 million ($102.5 mil.)
8. “War Dogs” — $4.7 million ($35.2 mil.)
9. “Hell Or High Water” — $4.5 million ($14.6 mil.)
10. “Mechanic: Resurrection” — $4.2 million ($14.4 mil.)
