The arrival of Labor Day weekend signals the conclusion of the summer movie season. Coincidentally, it also tends to be one of the lowest grossing box office weekends of the year. With only two new wide releases over the long holiday, history has once again repeated itself. As expected, The Light Between Oceans and Morgan both fell outside of the top 5 in their debuts. Starring Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, The Light Between Oceans waved in $5.9 million over the weekend. Securing eighth place, the $20 million production may need help from overseas (pardon the pun) to gain back its budget.
Morgan, directed by the first-time director Luke Scott (son of Ridley), only pulled in $2.4 million from over 2,000 theaters. The sci-fi/horror film landed outside of the top 15, which proves to be somewhat of an omen for the film’s financial future. Both newcomers proved to be no match for Don’t Breathe, which once again took the top spot at the box office. With an estimated gross of just over $15 million, the suspense thriller has become the first horror film in two years to win consecutive weekends at the box office. With a production budget of only $10 million, it’s safe to say that the film is a bona fide critical and commercial success.
Once again coming in second place is Suicide Squad, which also passed the $300 million domestic mark this weekend. Coincidentally, it passed fellow DCEU film Man of Steel to reach its current position. Suicide Squad is the eighth film this year to pass that milestone. Internationally, Suicide Squad has raked in nearly $700 million and is opening in Japan this upcoming weekend. Of the 2016 superhero films, only Captain America: Civil War has joined the “Billion Dollar Club.” Despite generally negative reviews, there is still a possibility that these rogues could join the divided heroes.
Kubo and the Two Strings, Laika’s latest, and Pete’s Dragon, the latest live-action remake from Disney, came in third and fourth place over Labor Day weekend. Rounding out the top five is Sausage Party with a weekend gross of over $5 million. The Seth Rogen lead raunchy animated film passed the $100 million milestones this weekend.
This upcoming weekend sees the wide release of Clint Eastwood’s Sully starring Tom Hanks and a few other minor releases. Will the star power of Hanks be enough to overthrow Don’t Breathe? We’ll have to wait and see.
