One of the summer’s surprise successes was Don’t Breathe. Made for less than $10 million, the horror-thriller raked in nearly $90 million domestically before ending with a $152.5 million haul worldwide. The film followed Rocky (Jane Levy), Alex (Dylan Minnette), and Money (Daniel Zovatto) as they broke into the house of an unsuspecting blind man, played by Stephen Lang. Unfortunately for them, the Blind Man proved that he could handle himself and did his best to thwart their plans.
Not only was the film a financial hit, but critics and viewers praised its performances and unique take on the home-invasion premise. Thanks to the film’s financial success, it should come as no surprise that Sony is interested in generating a sequel. Although Álvarez says he was initially reluctant toward the idea, it appears he and Sony have found the perfect story to tell for Don’t Breathe 2.
Cinema Blend spoke with Álvarez and producer Sam Raimi about the film, and the pair have apparently come up with a story they believe will help separate their project from traditional sequels. For his part, Álvarez said:
“Right now, yeah, Don’t Breathe 2 is something we definitely want to do. The challenge is obvious — we just don’t want to do the same movie again, slap a “2” on it. We’ll feel so embarrassed if we do that. Our first reaction when they told us, ‘Do you want to do it?’ was like, ‘No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That’s Hollywood! That’s the devil! We don’t want to make a sequel just because we can.’ But then we got an idea that we’re really excited about, and I won’t tell you what it is because it will spoil the whole thing.”
To follow Álvarez’s statements up, Raimi went on to say: “It’s only the greatest idea for a sequel that I’ve ever heard! I’m not kidding!” Before you get your hopes up, though, Raimi also expressed some doubt that Sony execs would even like the idea, which casts a shadow on the project before it has even begun. Still, regardless of how outlandish the sequel’s concept may be, it is hard to imagine a scenario where Sony isn’t interested in letting Álvarez and Raimi try their hand at a fresh idea.
With Álvarez returning to the director’s chair, he already seems adamant that a return for Lang is in his plans. The actor may be pretty busy with a role in the next four Avatar films for the foreseeable future, but hopefully the horror sequel can find a way to accommodate his schedule.
Don’t Breathe 2 is in the early stages of pre-production and does not currently have a release date.
