Thriller ‘Don’t Breathe’ tops North American box office

Suspense thriller “Don´t Breathe” stole the North American box office thunder in its opening weekend, knocking off “Suicide Squad” from three weeks at the top, industry estimates showed Sunday.

Originally expected to finish somewhere in the teen-millions this weekend, Don’t Breathe – the latest gallows-humor frightfest from Evil Dead remake director Fede Alvarez – stunned industry onlookers by raking in $26 million (including Thursday night previews), almost triple its reported $10 million budget over its first three days.

“Don’t Breathe” will be well above the closest rival – the fourth frame of Warner Bros.’ “Suicide Squad”, which is expected to gross in the $10 million range. “Kubo and the Two Strings” was directed by Travis Knight, working off a screenplay written by Marc Haimes and Chris Butler.

The movie, from the Evil Dead remake director Fede Alvarez, was made on a budget of $10 million (£7.6 million) and centres on a group of teens whose attempt to rob the house of a blind veteran takes a nasty twist.

However, it should also be pointed out that Lionsgate didn’t expect this one to be a hit in domestic theaters. What movie took first place in the United States box office?

After “Don’t Breathe”, the second-best of the new releases was Jason Statham’s action sequel, ‘Mechanic: Resurrection’, which rounded out the Top 5.

Typically a slow time for cinemas, the last days of summer are an opportunity for lower-cost films to squeeze into theaters after most of the big Hollywood movies have played out.

The film starring Parker Sawyers and Tika Sumpter as the First Couple before the White House is a hit with critics, with 93 percent of Rotten Tomatoes critics favoring the picture. “They are profit machines and even when they’re poorly reviewed, people line up for them”. It joined The Conjuring 2, The Purge: Election Year and Lights Out as horror movies that opened substantially this summer, although only it and The Conjuring 2 opened at No. 1. In its second week, the animated film has grossed $24.9 million domestically to date. “Resurrection” earned a mere $7.5 million and debuts at #5 on the weekend chart. Jason Bourne’s worldwide total earnings are of $347.9 million. Last year’s total was led by Straight Outtas Compton’s $13.1 million third weekend and War Room’s $11.4 million opening.

Next weekend will nearly certainly see Don’t Breathe rule again, as the only new openings are Fox’s low-key sci-fi thriller Morgan and Disney’s romantic period drama The Light Between Oceans.

As Hollywood’s superhero arms race has continued, with every studio bankrolling multi-film franchises, humbler, smaller-budget hits have largely fallen by the wayside.