For the third weekend in a row, hip-hop biopic Straight Outta Compton dominated at the US box office, earning an impressive $13.2m (£8.6m) – pushing its domestic total to a whopping $134.1m (£87.3m), making it the highest-grossing musical biopic of all time, according to Variety. It’s also the first film to top the US box office for three consecutive weekends since Jurassic World.
Despite Straight Outta Compton’s continued success, the real story at the American box office this weekend was the surprise showing of War Room, a low-budget, religious-themed drama from Alex Kendrick and his brother, writing and producing partner Stephen Kendrick, the pair behind Fireproof and Courageous (Variety dubbed them the Spielbergs of Christian cinema). Made for a mere $3m, the faith-based film shot past bad reviews to earn $11m from just 1,135 locations; Straight Outta Compton, meanwhile, played on 3,142 screens.
“These are the kind of outlier events that happen and wake everyone up to the fact that faith-based audiences are passionate and looking for content,” Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Rentrak, told Variety.
Overall, however, this weekend marked the lowest-grossing one of the year, down a whopping 20% from this time last year.
Zac Efron’s electronic music dramedy We Are Your Friends had none over the weekend, bombing spectacularly to earn a measly $1.8m from 2,333 screens, failing to even crack the top 10. Its failure marks not only the worst wide-release launch of Efron’s career, but the worst opening of all time for a Hollywood studio title going out in 2,000 or more theatres, not accounting for inflation.
The weekend’s other major release, No Escape, starring Owen Wilson and Lake Bell, performed better, landing in fourth place with $8.2m from 3,555 locations. It has earned $10.2m since opening on Wednesday. The film, from director/co-writer John Erick, centers on an American family struggling for survival in a nameless Asian country, after a violent political coup breaks out. Many critics have called the action film xenophobic.
Elsewhere, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation continued to impress, capturing third place with $8.3m, for a total of $170.5m since opening in July. Sinister 2 rounded out the top five, earning $4.7m for a total of $18.5m.
US box office chart, 28-30 August
1. Straight Outta Compton $13.2m, total $134.1m
2. War Room $11m – New
3. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation $8.3m, $170.4m
4. No Escape $8.3m – New
5. Sinister 2 $4.7m, $18.5m
6. The Man From UNCLE $4.4m, $34.1m
7. Hitman: Agent 47 $3.9m, $15.2m
8. The Gift $3.1m, $36m
9. Jurassic World $3.1m, $643.1m
10. Ant-Man $3.1m, $169.2m
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