By Lindsey Bahr, Film Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --The horror movie "Don't Breathe" has reason to let out a big sigh of relief. Audiences turned out in droves for the late summer thriller, which brought in $26.1 million, according to studio estimates released Sunday.
That's more than double the early predictions for how the scary pic would perform and far above the modest production budget, which was reportedly less than $10 million. Stage 6 Films produced and Sony's Screen Gems oversaw distribution.
"Don't Breathe" is about a group of Detroit teens who chose the wrong house to rob – that of a blind, vengeful veteran. It stars Jane Levy and Dylan Minnette and was directed by Fede Alvarez, who is known for the "Evil Dead" remake.
Sony Pictures Marketing Chief Josh Greenstein noted how rare it was for a film in this genre to have resonated so deeply with critics. The current Rotten Tomatoes score is a very fresh 87 percent. It also continues Sony's summer of seeing successes with original films that cost very little to make.
"This marks a string of very profitable hits for Sony with very modest budgets. 'The Shallows,' 'Sausage Party' and now 'Don't Breathe' were all incredibly profitable because they were made for modest budgets and did incredibly well at the box office," Greenstein said.
It's also the latest horror success for Hollywood this summer, which has seen films like "Lights Out," ''The Conjuring 2," and "The Purge: Election Year" thrive while their bigger budget, spectacle-driven counterparts flailed.
"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 almost always be counted on to make money."
Horror films, Dergarabedian said, perform very well on home video too.
"Don't Breathe" effectively unseated "Suicide Squad" from its three week run atop the box office. This weekend, the comic book film "Suicide Squad" grossed $12.1 million, bringing its domestic total to $282.9 million.
Laika's "Kubo and the Two Strings" took third place in its second weekend in theaters with $7.9 million. The $60 million film has now earned $24.8 million domestically.
"Sausage Party," meanwhile, continued to have a ball at the box office, earning $7.7 million for a fourth place finish and an $80 million domestic total.
The poorly reviewed Jason Statham-led sequel "Mechanic: Resurrection," meanwhile, placed fifth in its opening weekend with $7.5 million, according to Lionsgate. The first film opened to $11.4 million in 2011.
Among specialty releases, the Barack and Michelle Obama first date movie "Southside With You" launched in 813 theaters to an estimated $3.1 million, while The Weinstein Company's Roberto Duran boxing biopic "Hands of Stone" opened in 810 theaters to $1.7 million.
Overall the box office was up 32 percent from this weekend last year when "Straight Outta Compton" opened. Next weekend closes out the summer movie season with the release of the sci-fi film "Morgan" and the romantic drama "The Light Between Oceans."
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to comScore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1."Don't Breathe," $26.1 million ($1.9 million international).
2."Suicide Squad," $12.1 million ($19.6 million international).
3."Kubo and the Two Strings," $7.9 million ($1.5 million international).
4."Sausage Party," $7.7 million ($1.6 million international).
5."Mechanic: Resurrection," $7.5 million ($6.1 million international).
6."Pete's Dragon," $7.3 million ($3.5 million international).
7."War Dogs," $7.3 million ($5.3 million international).
8."Bad Moms," $5.8 million ($6.3 million international).
9."Jason Bourne," $5.2 million ($56.8 million international).
10."Ben-Hur," $4.5 million ($6.3 million international).
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to comScore:
1."Jason Bourne," $56.8 million.
2."Ice Age: Collision Course," $50 million.
3."The Secret Life of Pets," $24.6 million.
4."Suicide Squad," $19.6 million.
5."Lights Out," $9.6 million.
6."Bad Moms" and "Ben-Hur," $6.3 million.
7."Mechanic: Resurrection," ''Finding Dory," and "The Shallows," $6.1 million.
8."Tunnel," $5.7 million.
9."War Dogs," $5.3 million.
10."Line Walker," $4.8 million.
Review: Director John Crowley’s “We Live In Time”
It's not hard to spend a few hours watching Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield fall and be in love. In "We Live In Time," filmmaker John Crowley puts the audience up close and personal with this photogenic British couple through the highs and lows of a relationships in their 30s.
Everyone starts to think about the idea of time, and not having enough of it to do everything they want, at some point. But it seems to hit a lot of us very acutely in that tricky, lovely third decade. There's that cruel biological clock, of course, but also careers and homes and families getting older. Throw a cancer diagnosis in there and that timer gets ever more aggressive.
While we, and Tobias (Garfield) and Almut (Pugh), do indeed live in time, as we're constantly reminded in big and small ways — clocks and stopwatches are ever-present, literally and metaphorically — the movie hovers above it. The storytelling jumps back and forth through time like a scattershot memory as we piece together these lives that intersect in an elaborate, mystical and darkly comedic way: Almut runs into Tobias with her car. Their first chat is in a hospital hallway, with those glaring fluorescent lights and him bruised and cut all over. But he's so struck by this beautiful woman in front of him, he barely seems to care.
I suppose this could be considered a Lubitschian "meet-cute" even if it knowingly pushes the boundaries of our understanding of that romance trope. Before the hit, Tobias was in a hotel, attempting to sign divorce papers and his pens were out of ink and pencils kept breaking. In a fit of near-mania he leaves, wearing only his bathrobe, to go to a corner store and buy more. Walking back, he drops something in the street and bang: A new relationship is born. It's the... Read More