Weekend Projections: ‘Don’t Breathe’ Breaks Out to $23.5M; ‘Suicide Squad’, ‘Kubo’, & ‘Sausage Party’ Set to Top ‘Mechanic: Resurrection’ ($6.8M)

Saturday Update: Sony reports this morning that Don’t Breathe hauled in a strong $10.015 million on opening day Friday, coming in ahead of the $9.15 million first day of Lights Out back in July to mark this year’s latest horror/thriller sleeper hit.  That should easily send the film past $20 million for its opening weekend, a bullish figure that Boxoffice Pro was one of the few to forecast heading into the weekend. Word of mouth thus far is very positive, so we expect the film to hold up relatively well for the genre in the days ahead.

Another noteworthy figure yesterday came from Lionsgate & CBS Films’ Hell or High Water, which earned $980,000 as it expanded into 909 locations. That should easily send it past $3 million for the weekend as it continues to earn rave reviews and audience word of mouth throughout its nationwide expansion.

Meanwhile, Mechanic: Resurrection posted $2.62 million in its first day yesterday, while Hands of Stone took in $624,000 from its moderate release in 810 theaters.

Complete analysis and studio weekend estimates will be published on Sunday. Our initial projections for this weekend are below. (Please note that official estimates for Southside with You were unavailable at the time of publishing.)

WIDE (1000+)

# TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST.
1 Don’t Breathe $23,500,000 3,051 $7,702 $23,500,000 1 Sony / TriStar
2 Suicide Squad $11,300,000 -46% 3,582 -342 $3,155 $282,072,627 4 Warner Bros.
3 Kubo and the Two Strings $7,300,000 -42% 3,279 19 $2,226 $24,311,378 2 Focus
4 Sausage Party $7,200,000 -54% 3,135 32 $2,297 $79,543,510 3 Sony / Columbia
5 Mechanic: Resurrection $6,800,000 2,258 $3,012 $6,800,000 1 Lionsgate / Summit
6 Pete’s Dragon (2016) $6,600,000 -42% 3,244 -458 $2,035 $54,033,378 3 Disney
7 War Dogs $6,500,000 -56% 3,258 0 $1,995 $27,002,687 2 Warner Bros.
8 Bad Moms $5,400,000 -32% 2,565 -246 $2,105 $95,093,235 5 STX Entertainment
9 Jason Bourne $5,000,000 -38% 2,445 -442 $2,045 $149,127,235 5 Universal
10 Ben-Hur (2016) $4,300,000 -62% 3,084 0 $1,394 $19,322,877 2 Paramount
11 The Secret Life of Pets $3,500,000 -40% 2,091 -313 $1,674 $352,961,005 8 Universal
12 Florence Foster Jenkins $3,000,000 -32% 1,324 -204 $2,266 $19,853,295 3 Paramount
13 Star Trek Beyond $2,300,000 -42% 1,277 -689 $1,801 $150,930,049 6 Paramount

LIMITED (100 — 999)

# TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST.
1 Hell or High Water $3,300,000 23% 909 437 $3,630 $8,139,099 3 CBS Films / Lionsgate
2 Hands of Stone $1,800,000 810 $2,222 $1,800,000 1 The Weinstein Company
3 Lights Out $620,000 -61% 603 -339 $1,028 $65,418,451 6 Warner Bros. / New Line
4 Ghostbusters (2016) $512,000 -52% 434 -354 $1,180 $124,914,621 7 Sony / Columbia
5 Finding Dory $510,000 -44% 345 -105 $1,478 $479,478,645 11 Disney
6 Ice Age: Collision Course $405,000 -55% 455 -327 $890 $61,611,729 6 Fox

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Friday Report: Sony is reporting today that Don’t Breathe scored an excellent $1.875 million from Thursday night’s opening shows beginning at 7pm. The sends the low budget, R-rated thriller past the $1.8 million Thursday take of Lights Out in July, the $1.33 million of The Shallows in June, and the $1.02 million of The Visit last September. Considering the end of August means the end of summer vacation for many, last night’s showing is even more impressive. The studio continues to expect around $11-12 million for the weekend, although Boxoffice is still projecting around $20 million or more.

Mechanic: Resurrection posted $390,000 last night — in line with the $370,000 of last year’s The Transporter Refueled. An opening weekend south of $10 million remains likely.

Meanwhile, Suicide Squad and Sausage Party should have little trouble holding the number two and three spots, respectively, this weekend.

Initial weekend projections based on the studios’ official Friday estimates will be published here on Saturday morning.