“Straight Outta Compton” also continued a hot streak for Universal Pictures, which has rolled out such hits this year as “Jurassic World”, “Fifty Shades of Grey”, “Pitch ideal 2”, “Minions“, and “Furious 7”.
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Coming in at second place was the Tom Cruise action movie “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation“, which made $17 million in its third weekend, followed by Warner Bros.’ “The Man From U.N.C.L.E“, amassing just over $13.5 million.
“Straight Outta Compton” profiles N.W.A, the musical group credited with helping to popularize gansta rap.
The film touches upon racial tension and police brutality – still hot topics in America almost 30 years on – and its box office success means that it has doubled its budget in one weekend.
“Compton” stars actors such as O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Corey Hawkins as N.W.A. members Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, among others.
Dr. Dre, co-producer of the film, has promised to donate royalties from his new album “Compton” to the city to fund a new arts and entertainment centre for children. The top-grossing theater for the film was in Atlanta, but the next nine were in Los Angeles, which should come as no surprise after all the film is “Straight Outta Compton“.
The film now stands as the fifth best August opening ever, narrowly surpassing M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs, which opened to $60.1 million in 2002. And they’re right; last week, the LA Times prognosticated Compton “could debut with $33 million to $43 million, according to people familiar with pre-release audience surveys”. That’s a particularly rough start considering that “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” cost a sizable $75 million to produce. Goldstein noted that they weren’t able to attract a significant younger audience, who are likely not familiar with the source material. Where available, the latest worldwide numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. It was originally projected to bring in closer to $25 million for its debut.
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Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
