‘Straight Outta Compton’ musical No.1 at box office

Co-financed by Universal and Legendary, the film stars O’Shea Jackson Jr. as his real-life father, Ice Cube, Corey Hawkins as Dr.

“Straight Outta Compton” may take place more than two decades ago, but its themes of racial tension, poverty, and police brutality still speak to moviegoers living in a post-Ferguson world. Directed by F. Gary Gray, the modestly-budgeted N.W.A biopic, costing just $29 million to produce, registered the fifth-largest opening weekend performance ever in the month of August.

Universal also launched a clever marketing campaign around the film, Straight Outta Somewhere, which allows social media users to insert photos in the iconic Straight Outta Compton album cover and write in a hometown of their choosing.

During its last week before its opening, “U.N.C.L.E.” paid $8.3 million in national advertising from 1,758 national airings of the commercials with the biggest spending going to ABC ($1.1 million); Fox ($820,000); and CBS ($739,000).

A lot of so-called experts initially didn’t expect “Compton” to open strong as it did says Nicholas Carpou, Universal Pictures’ head of domestic distribution. 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“.

Straight Outta Compton is Universal’s sixth film to open over $50million in 2015. Man From U.N.C.L.E. landed at No. 3, Fantastic Four took the fourth spot and The Gift sat at No. 5, according to Rentrak.

According to the studio exit polls, the film attracted an estimated 46 percent African-American audience; Caucasians comprising 23 percent; Hispanics at 21 percent; Asians, 4 percent. The picture struggled to attract younger crowds unfamiliar with the original show, as 86% of the opening weekend audience was over the age of 25. “Older audiences, we all know, dont rush out opening weekend.”. The record, the rapper/producer’s first in 16 years, is said to have been inspired by the NWA film.

“It’s made by them so they’re gonna show the police how they think about the police and if that’s the way they want to portray it, that’s the way they wanna portray it”, Cnop said.