‘Don’t Breathe’ Can Exhale, on Track to Double Expectations With $22 Million Opening

“Suicide Squad” will finally lose the No. 1 spot

Don't Breathe Box Office Scary Thriller Horror Movie

After three straight weekends at No. 1, Warner Bros. comic book hit “Suicide Squad” is finally going down — and landing harder than initially expected.

Screen Gems and Stage 6 Films horror thriller “Don’t Breathe” has gained a huge amount of momentum and is poised to double initial expectations to end the weekend close to $22 million. It looks likely to steal the spot from “Suicide Squad” and beat it by roughly $10 million.

The scary movie, about a group of friends who decide to rob a wealthy blind man, made $10 million on Friday from 3,051 screens.

Earlier this week, distributor Sony anticipated it would pull in a total of $11 million to $12 million this weekend. Other trackers had previously set it closer to $13 million, which tells you just how much it is set to over-perform.

“Suicide Squad,” from Warner Bros. and starring Will Smith, Margot Robbie and Jared Leto, is now expected to make roughly $11 million in domestic weekend grosses.

The percentage drop trajectory for “Suicide Squad” has been in line with “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.”

“Don’t Breathe” is produced by horror guru Sam Raimi and directed and co-written by Fede Alvarez. It stars Jane Levy, Dylan Minnette, Daniel Zovatto and Stephen Lang. The R-rated horror thriller was produced for under $10 million and has received positive reviews, with a current Rotten Tomatoes score of 87 percent. Its CinemaScore is a B+, the measurement of fan anticipation among those surveyed.

Other modestly budgeted scary movies, including “The Shallows” and “Purge: Election Year,” have also opened strongly this summer.

This is a time of year when other similar R-rated movies have opened nicely. “As Above, So Below” debuted to $8 million; “You’re Next” netted $7 million in its first weekend; “The Gift” got $11 million; and “Sinister 2” scooped up $10 million.

Meanwhile, R-rated action sequel “Mechanic: Resurrection” has Jason Statham reprising his role as reformed hitman Arthur Bishop, forced to reignite his killing skills in order to save the woman he loves from kidnappers.

It made $2.6 million during Friday night screenings in 2,258 theaters.

It’s now expected to come in under $7 million, which is lower than initial expectations of $10 million. That’s still in line with studio estimates that had it somewhere between $6 million and $8 million. Seeing as the film is very modestly budgeted, anywhere in that range is a fine opening for the title.

It has a low 26 percent Rotten Tomatoes score and a  B+ Cinemascore.

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