As was predicted, F. Gary Gray‘s ‘Straight Outta Compton’ took the #1 spot at the box office in its opening weekend, but few expected it to do as well as it did, raking in $56 million, double what it was predicted to do, making it the second highest August opening ever behind ‘American Pie 2’.

The week’s other major debut, ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’ didn’t even come close, only managing $13 million to land in third behind ‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’ which ruled the box office for two weeks and stepped down to second this week.

More after the numbers:

  1. Straight Outta Compton (Universal) – $56,091,165
  2. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (Paramount) – $17,000,000
  3. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (Warner Brothers) – $13,535,000
  4. Fantastic Four (20th Century Fox) – $8,000,000
  5. The Gift (STX Entertainment) – $6,500,000

‘Straight Outta Compton’ not only scored the number one movie, but the soundtrack is the top seller on iTunes.  Universal is already holding screenings for Academy Award voters in hopes that the hit will receive high honors this awards season.  It had the highest opening ever for a music biopic, but came in second to ‘Pitch Perfect 2’ as the top musical movie of the year.

Comic/sci fi fans may want to pay attention, because F. Gary Gray passed on ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ in order to make this movie and he may be in the mix to take on ‘Black Panther.’  With ‘Compton’ already a major smash, that could spell great things for Marvel, should they land him.

Both ‘Mission: Impossible’ and ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’ are based on spy TV shows from the 60s, but ‘M:I’ took that foundation and made a fast-paced, thoroughly modern action franchise which continues to appeal to movie-goers.  ‘U.N.C.L.E.’ however was a period piece set back during the show’s Cold War era.  Reviews were only so-so and the lack of awareness of the source material resulted in a lackluster showing for Guy Ritchie’s newest.

This also marks the second genre-adjacent flop for Armie Hammer, which may be a career-ender.  The classically handsome actor gained attention playing the Winklevoss twins in ‘The Social Network’ but leading roles in bombs like this one and ‘The Lone Ranger’ aren’t boding well for the man who was once slated to play Batman in George Miller’s aborted ‘Justice League’ movie.

‘Fantastic Four’ and the critically praised ‘The Gift’ rounded out the Top Five.

‘Compton’ will most likely hang on to the top spot next week, and honestly the other entries in the top five aren’t facing much competition.  The only big-ish movies opening are ‘Hitman: Agent 47’ and ‘American Ultra’, neither of which is generating much in the way of buzz.

Source: Rentrack