LOS ANGELES -- Straight Outta Compton lifted the box office out of its August funk, debuting at No. 1 in U.S. and Canadian theaters with about $60 million.
The robust haul was not shocking given the huge fan following for N.W.A., the rap group on which the movie is based, as well as the intense media coverage and strong word of mouth that came with the release. The movie posted the biggest August opening ever for an R-rated film, and it has the No. 1 opening for any musical bio-pic.
Co-financed by Universal Pictures and Legendary Pictures for $28 million, Straight Outta Compton follows N.W.A. from its scrappy beginnings in the mid-'80s to its unlikely success to the death of member Eazy-E. N.W.A. members Dr. Dre, whose real name is Andre Young, and Ice Cube, aka O'Shea Jackson, served as co-producers.
Most of the cast is relatively unknown: Cube's son O'Shea Jackson Jr. plays his father, Corey Hawkins plays Dre, Jason Mitchell plays Eazy-E, Neil Brown Jr. plays DJ Yella and Aldis Hodge plays MC Ren.
Nicholas Carpou, Universal's head of domestic distribution, said few expected the film to open as strongly as it did.
"I think there was great hope that it would resonate," Carpou said, "and it did that, but it also turned around the box office."
The summer box office cooled in August after a slew of mediocre films bombed, including superhero reboot Fantastic Four. But with help from Straight Outta Compton, the box office last weekend will be up about 2 percent versus the same weekend a year ago, when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles led with $28.5 million, according to research firm Rentrak. Year-to-date, the box office is still up about 6 percent.
Moviegoers had overwhelmingly positive responses toward Straight Outta Compton, giving it an A grade, audience polling firm CinemaScore said. Critics were slightly less enthusiastic but on the whole still positive. The film had an 88 percent positive rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
The release of Straight Outta Compton also came with heightened security. Cinemas in major cities across the country hired additional guards, a precaution taken in the wake of fatal theater shootings including one last month at a screening of Trainwreck in Lafayette, La. Universal offered to offset the cost of additional security guards, partnering with exhibitors who requested support.
Straight Outta Compton was the sixth No. 1 opening of the year for Universal. It also marked the studio's 12th weekend on top of the domestic box office.
Coming in second in the United States and Canada, Paramount Pictures' Mission: Impossible -- Rogue Nation added about $17 million in its third weekend. Its North America haul to date is about $138.3 million.
Warner Bros.' The Man From U.N.C.L.E. debuted in third with $13.4 million, slightly lower than expected but on par with some lower tracking estimates.
The action-adventure film, based loosely on the 1960s TV series, stars Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer and Alicia Vikander. Audiences gave it a B grade on CinemaScore.
Ticket buyers for U.N.C.L.E. skewed older. About 86 percent were older than 25. An estimated 52 percent of the audience was male.
"It didn't hit a younger audience, and we always knew it would be a challenge," said Jeff Goldstein, the studio's executive vice president and general sales manager. "The context of the '60s and the Cold War is a little foreign to the younger audiences. We hope we can catch a more broad audience as we go along."
Goldstein also noted that the huge opening for Straight Outta Compton was unexpected.
"I think every now and then you get a movie like that and it's a cultural phenomenon that you have to be part of," he said. "The film certainly took some of our audience but not the key audience."
20th Century Fox's Fantastic Four fell a whopping 69 percent to land at No. 4 in its second weekend. The film, which cost $120 million to make, added about $8 million, bringing its domestic total to about $42 million.
Suspense thriller The Gift, produced by STX Entertainment and Blumhouse Productions, rounded out the top five, adding $6.5 million in its second weekend.
In limited release, Fox Searchlight rolled out Mistress America in four theaters in New York and Los Angeles. The Noah Baumbach-directed film made $94,000 over the weekend for a per-screen average of $23,500, about 11 percent higher than the average for Compton.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Rentrak:
"Straight Outta Compton," Universal, $60,200,180, 2,757 locations, $21,835 average, $60,200,180, one week.
"Mission: Impossible -- Rogue Nation," Paramount, $17,186,540, 3,700 locations, $4,645 average, $138,323,095, three weeks.
"The Man From U.N.C.L.E.," Warner Bros., $13,421,036, 3,638 locations, $3,689 average, $13,421,036, one week.
"Fantastic Four," 20th Century Fox, $8,168,756, 4,004 locations, $2,040 average, $42,129,974, two weeks.
"The Gift," STX Entertainment, $6,509,604, 2,503 locations, $2,601 average, $23,586,927, two weeks.
"Ant-Man," Disney, $5,493,417, 2,306 locations, $2,382 average, $157,543,670, five weeks.
"Vacation," Warner Bros., $5,184,137, 3,088 locations, $1,679 average, $46,706,202, three weeks.
"Minions," Universal, $5,148,125, 2,640 locations, $1,950 average, $312,916,835, six weeks.
"Ricki And The Flash," Columbia, $4,556,254, 2,064 locations, $2,207 average, $14,641,971, two weeks.
"Trainwreck," Universal, $3,836,160, 1,998 locations, $1,920 average, $97,955,120, five weeks.
"Pixels," Columbia, $3,367,260, 2,176 locations, $1,547 average, $64,485,041, four weeks.
"Shaun the Sheep Movie," Lionsgate, $2,881,311, 2,360 locations, $1,221 average, $11,148,582, two weeks.
"Southpaw," The Weinstein Co., $2,414,335, 1,727 locations, $1,398 average, $45,621,625, four weeks.
"Inside Out," Disney, $2,046,076, 1,019 locations, $2,008 average, $339,365,873, nine weeks.
"Jurassic World," Universal, $1,239,840, 738 locations, $1,680 average, $637,971,480, 10 weeks.
"Mr. Holmes," Roadside Attractions, $837,339, 589 locations, $1,422 average, $14,317,429, five weeks.
"Paper Towns," 20th Century Fox, $588,908, 599 locations, $983 average, $30,404,908, four weeks.
"The End of the Tour," A24 Films, $405,650, 133 locations, $3,050 average, $944,313, three weeks.
"Irrational Man," Sony Pictures Classics, $404,563, 425 locations, $952 average, $3,083,423, five weeks.
"Brothers: Blood Against Blood," Fox International Productions, $357,404, 164 locations, $2,179 average, $357,404, one week.
MovieStyle on 08/21/2015