‘Straight Outta Compton’ Tops Box Office With $56.1 Million Opening

The story of the pioneering hip-hop group N.W.A. has soared straight to the top of the box office charts, but a costume blooper is the talk of the film in Chicago.

Straight Outta Compton’s record-breaking opening weekend wasn’t just big money (with a final tally of .2 million, even higher than Universal’s original .1 million estimate); it was, according to industry reports, a giant surprise.

According to USC sociology professor Manuel Pastor, the so-far critically-acclaimed N.W.A. biopic is not available to the hometown of the legendary rap group because of its economic standing.

MC Ren (played by Aldis Hodge in the hit film) is treated as a side character, with Compton focusing on Ice Cube (O’Shea Jackson Jr.), Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins), and Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell).

Nick Carpou, Universal’s president of domestic distribution, said it was “elated” with how well the film has been received by audiences. “By the end of today, it will have outgrossed everything on said list save for ‘8 Mile, ‘ which opened with $51 million back in 2002 on its way to a $116 million cume”.

Straight Outta Compton box office collections: “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” stars Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer as a pair of American and Russian agents in the fashionable Cold War-era film. The period spy thriller will have an uphill battle to make up its US$80 million production budget. CinemaScore says most are giving an “A” grade. Ant-Man, in the meantime, earned an estimated $5.5 million for the weekend, and while still dragging its feet compared to other Marvel entries, it is a worldwide success and doing quite admirably considering the character is lesser known compared to other Marvel entries.

On the flip side, the underperforming “Fantastic Four“, from 21st Century Fox, in its second weekend, pulled in an expected weak $8 million in box office, now totaling $41.9 million with spending of $24.2 million in total national TV advertising sales.

The album is his first studio record in 16 years.