N.W.A biopic Straight Outta Compton wins its second straight weekend with $26.8 million

While it was expected before the weekend that Universal Pictures’ N.W.A biopic Straight Outta Compton, directed by F. Gary Gray, would win the box office for a second weekend in a row, few knew that it would make twice as much as the highest-grossing new movie of the weekend. Even though it dropped 56% from its opening weekend, it still grossed an estimated $26.8 million for a ten-day total of $111 million. With that, Straight Outta Compton becomes the fastest movie to $100 million by an African-American filmmaker which is an interesting counterpoint to Gray’s earlier film The Italian Job, which took 15 weeks to hit that amount.

Despite the release of three new movies in wide release, Paramount Pictures‘ Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, starring Tom Cruise, remained in second place with $11.7 million, down 32% as it has grossed $158 million domestically in its first month. It has grossed another $280.8 million overseas for a global total of $438.5 million.

The top new release of the weekend was Gramercy Pictures and Blumhouse Productions’ horror sequel Sinister 2, which opened in 2,766 theaters and grossed an estimated $10.6 million for the weekend, or $3,844 per theater. That’s considerably lower than the original Sinister, which opened with $18 million in October 2012, and the sequel’s “B-” CinemaScore does not bode well for its legs. 

20th Century Fox‘s attempt to bring Hitman: Agent 47 back to the screen, starring Rupert Friend, Zachary Quinto and Hannah Ware, failed to make much of a mark, opening with $8.2 million in 3,261 theaters, or $2,515 per location, to take fourth place. That was less than the $13 million the original Hitman opened with over Thanksgiving weekend in 2007, although that opened on a Wednesday and had grossed nearly $8 million before the weekend. Agent 47 received a “B” CinemaScore.

Following it in fifth place, Guy Ritchie’s period spy flick The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (Warner Bros.) added another $7.4 million in its second weekend (down 45%) to bring its total domestic gross to $26.6 million.

The Lionsgate action-comedy American Ultra, starring Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart, fared the worst of the three new movies, grossing just $5.5 million estimated in 2,778 theaters, or $1,980 per theater, to place it in sixth. It also received a “B-” CinemaScore, which doesn’t bode well for its word-of-mouth business.

STX Entertainment‘s psychological thriller The Gift, starring Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall, and director Joel Edgerton, brought in an additional $4.3 million to take seventh place with $31 million grossed thus far.

It was followed by Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man (Disney) with $4.1 million and $164.5 million total, the second-lowest take for a movie for the studio ahead of 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, and it would have to make $12 million to surpass Captain America: The First Avenger. With another $196.5 million grossed overseas, its global box office gross so far is $361 million.

The animated hit Minions (Universal) took ninth place with $3.7 million, having grossed $320 million as the fifth-highest grossing movie of the year.

After losing nearly 1,500 theaters, 20th Century Fox’s Fantastic Four  plummeted another 55%, dropping from fourth to tenth place with $3.6 million and $49.6 million domestic.

The Top 10 grossed about $86 million, which was down from the $97 million the Top 10 grossed last weekend when Guardians of the Galaxy returned to #1 followed by Paramount’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. 

As far as international box office, Paramount’s Terminator Genisys opened in China with $27.4 million in its first day bringing its global total to $353 million with less than $100 million of that grossed domestically. Jurassic World closely approached a billion internationally with $983 million overseas and $1.6 billion globally.

As far as limited releases, the Sundance hit Grandma (Sony Pictures Classics), starring Lily Tomlin and Julia Garner, opened in four theaters in New York and L.A. where it grossed $120,856, or an average of $30,416 per theater.

Broad Green Pictures’ Learning to Drive, starring Patricia Clarkson and Sir Ben Kingsley, grossed $67,000 in the same number of theaters for $16,814 per theater.