Thanks to a much stronger than expected opener, this weekend was up 34% from this same weekend last year, when Straight Outta Compton edged out War Room for a third-straight weekend at #1.
As the weekend got closer, strong buzz began to hint at a first place start for horror flick Don't Breathe. Reviews for the pic had been strong (86% on Rotten Tomatoes), and both strong factors propelled the film to a $26.4 million debut, for a very good $8,657 per-venue average. Considering late-August hardly is a time of year people go to the movies, this makes the debut even more impressive. Horror films have been the only real consistent genre this year to have been successful at the box office this summer, as evidenced by the strong performances of The Conjuring 2 ($102 million), The Purge: Election Year ($79 million) and Lights Out ($65.5 million) and each of them carried budgets of $40 million or less. Breathe had a budget just under $10 million and is Sony's second-straight hit of the last month, after Sausage Party (both films are rated R). With the reviews and a good (for its genre) "B+" CinemaScore, Don't Breathe should play well over the next few weeks.
Suicide Squad was pushed down to second place, but it had its best hold yet. The supervillain flick was off 41% to $12.2 million in its fourth weekend, for a still strong $283 million pick-up in 24 days. With the extended Labor Day weekend around the corner, the film will pass $300 million in the next couple of weeks. It won't quite reach Batman v. Superman's $330 million finish though. Overseas, it's at $640 million worldwide and counting.
Third through seventh place was all separated by less than $1 million.
Up a spot to third place was Kubo and the Two Strings, which had a decent hold, off 38% to $7.8 million. The critically-acclaimed effort from Laika has earned $24.9 million in 10 days and should be in for a strong Labor Day Weekend. However, despite the great reviews and audience reception, the film is still running behind all previous Laika titles through the same points.
Sausage Party followed and continues to fall fast, off 51% in its third frame to $7.5 million. The raunchy animated flick from Seth Rogen has earned a very solid $79.9 million in 17 days and may or may not reach $100 million (dependent on how it holds next weekend). But, against just a $19 million budget, I doubt Sony will be complaining if it doesn't. As of now, the risky effort isn't hitting a chord overseas, however.
Mechanic: Resurrection opened in fifth place with, as expected, weak results. The Jason Statham action thriller pulled in $7.46 million, for a weak $3,302 per-venue average. In comparison, the first Mechanic opened to $11.4 million back in 2011. The long wait, plus bad reviews (21% on Rotten Tomatoes) didn't convince mainstream audiences that this would be interesting. The CinemaScore was a "B+", and the film had a $40 million budget.
Disney's remake of Pete's Dragon was just a step behind Jason Statham, and after dropping hard last weekend, made a decent recovery. The well-received flick eased 34% to $7.44 million in its third weekend, for a $54.9 million gross in 17 days. It should pick up a little bit of steam over Labor Day Weekend. Following a decent start last weekend, War Dogs fell 52% in its second weekend to $7 million, for a meh $27.5 million gross in 10 days.
One of the summer's surprise successes, Bad Moms, followed with another great hold, off 30% to $5.6 million. The R-rated comedy is at $95.3 million in one month of release and will pass $100 million next weekend. Jason Bourne followed with a 36% slide to $5.1 million, for a very decent $149.3 million pick-up in the same amount of time. The action sequel also had a strong $50 million start in China, and it's about to pass $350 million worldwide.
Rounding out the Top 10 is the Ben-Hur remake, which continues to be one of the biggest flops of the summer. The action pic was down 59% to $4.6 million, for a $19.6 million gross in 10 days. Overseas, it has only earned $21 million so far. Look for the historical epic to find its way to a finish close to $30 million stateside, one-third of its $100 million budget.
And that's about it. Next weekend is Labor Day, and the new releases aren't that appealing. Touchstone releases The Light Between Oceans, and Fox releases psychological thriller Morgan. At this point, its pretty likely Don't Breathe will remain on top. As always, we will see. I will have the four-day weekend post next Tuesday evening.
