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Don't Breathe 2 Has a Script; Fede Alvarez May Not Direct
Fede Alvarez says that Don't Breathe 2 has a script and that he intends to get the sequel made, whether he ends up directing it or not. Alvarez confirmed that he had an idea for a Don't Breathe sequel shortly after the original movie hit theaters all the way back in late August 2016. Sam Raimi, who produced the first movie, even described Alvarez's idea for Don't Breathe 2 as "the greatest idea for a sequel that I've ever heard". However, he also cast doubt on the idea that it will ever happen, for the same reason.
Don't Breathe was very much a commercial success and took in $157 million at the global box office, against a production budget of just under $10 million. Shortly after the film hit theaters, Alvarez signed on to direct The Girl in the Spider's Web (a revival of the Lisbeth Salander series, aka. the Millennium franchise) and has spent the last couple of years working on that film ever since. However, now that Spider's Web is finished and ready to hit theaters next week, Alvarez is starting to shift his attention to the projects he's been keeping on the back-burner of late - the Don't Breathe sequel included.
Alvarez spoke about two such projects - Don't Breathe 2 and a sequel to his Evil Dead reboot - during an interview with MovieWeb to promote Spider's Web's release. Between the pair of them, Alvarez indicated that the Don't Breathe sequel was more likely to happen first, simply because it already has a screenplay ready to go. He also acknowledged that Don't Breathe 2 is the more interesting project for him from a creative perspective and that he wants to get the ball rolling on the film sooner than later - even if it means he's unable to direct it himself:
It doesn't mean that we won't make them. And that I make them might not be that I'm directing, but I might be producing. They're just ideas right now. Nothing to announce officially. We do have a script for Don't Breathe 2. That's the only difference. We don't have a script for Evil Dead 2. But we do have a script for Don't Breathe 2 that we wrote. Once I'm done with [The Girl in the Spider's Web] we're gonna start thinking of ways to bring that story to the screen. Me directing or me producing. It really depends on the time that we'll have. I'm particularly excited about that because it's a really different sequel, when it comes to sequels. It's a very different approach and I'm excited about that.
The original Don't Breathe was a subversive home invasion thriller that followed three young thieves - including, Evil Dead's Jane Levy as the protagonist Rocky - as they try to rob a blind old man's house, only to discover that the old man is far more dangerous than he appears... and is hiding a very sick and twisted secret, no less. Ultimately, Rocky manages to escape the house alive and seemingly kill the old man during the film's climax (her companions having already been murdered along the way), only for the final scene to reveal that the elderly fellow was able to survive their last encounter.
While Don't Breathe 2 could easily wind up being a rehash of the first movie (albeit, with the blind old man invading Rocky's house, this time around), Alvarez has long maintained that he has something far more inventive than a mere recycling of the original film's plot in mind. The Blind Man, as he's listed in Don't Breathe's credits, made for a pretty memorable antagonist (thanks in no small part to Stephen Lang's performance) and it would certainly be interesting to see what Alvarez has in mind for both the character and Rocky in the sequel. However, because Alvarez is also attached to direct the Jim Henson Company's Labyrinth sequel right now, that may force him to hand the directing reins over to someone else - lest Don't Breathe 2 find itself on the back-burner once again.
