Don’t Breathe Is Fresh Air at the Box Office

Sony Pictures’ horror thriller Don’t Breathe was a breath of fresh air at the box office, taking first place with a solid $26.41 million debut, joining the ranks of successful R-rated horror films this summer including The Conjuring 2 and The Purge: Election Year.

Don’t Breathe was a breath of fresh air at the box office, taking first place with a solid $26.41 million debut. (Photo: Sony Pictures),

With an estimated budget of under $10 million, the R-rated movie about a robbery gone wrong has more than earned back its cost within days of release. Even more impressive, the film earned more than the movies coming in second or third place last weekend, despite playing in fewer theaters.

After three weeks atop the box office, Warner Bros. Pictures’ Suicide Squad slid to second place, dropping 41.3 percent to second place with $12.25 million. Earning $283.02 million through 24 days, it is running 12.6 percent ahead of the $251.45 million start of Guardians of the Galaxy and 9.1 percent behind the $311.33 million total of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice through the same period.

Focus Features’ Kubo and the Two Strings, which opened the previous weekend, actually saw a rare improvement in its box office rank, especially for a film starting in wide release. With a 37.8 percent decline to $7.84 million, Kubo goes from fourth to third place in its second weekend.

Compared to the four other Laika stop-motion animated films,Kubo had the lowest opening weekend, but had a middle-of-the-pack second-weekend decline — coming below the 38.7 percent decline for 2012’s ParaNorman and 47.6 percent drop for 2005’s Corpse Bride, but above the 30.7 percent for 2014’s The Boxtrolls and 12.3 percent for 2009’s Coraline. However, Kubo’s $24.86 million start through 10 days is running behind all four of those films through the same period in wide release.

Sony’s Sausage Party took fourth place with a 51.4 percent drop to $7.53 million. Pre-release projections were initially in disagreement over whether the weekend declines for the R-rated animated film would be more typical of the lower drops for more traditional family-focused animated fare, but that appears not to be the case, with more than 50 percent drops both weekends so far.

Lionsgate’s action sequel Mechanic Resurrection starring Jason Statham and Jessica Alba opened in fifth place with a disappointing $7.46 million, 34.7 percent behind the $11.42 million opening for the original The Mechanic in January 2011. It was even more disappointing when you consider that the original opened in January, when opening weekends are often lower than in August.

In more limited release, Lionsgate’s and CBS Films’ Western Hell or High Water doubled its theater count and earned $3.55 million, Roadside Attractions’ and Miramax’s romance Southside With You reenacting Barack and Michelle Obama’s first date in 1989 opened with $2.86 million and the Weinstein Company’s boxing drama Hands of Stone starring Edgar Ramirez and Robert De Niro started with a disappointing with $1.75 million.

Mark Heckathorn

Editor-in-Chief Mark Heckathorn is a journalist, movie buff and foodie. He oversees DC on Heels editorial operations as well as strategic planning and staff development. Reach him with story ideas or suggestions at dcoheditor (at) gmail (dot) com.