In another stagnant Dog Days weekend, there was very little movement in the Top Five at the theaters with ‘Straight Outta Compton’ continuing to reign at #1, becoming only the fourth movie to three-peat this year, following Universal’s prior hits ‘Furious 7’ and ‘Jurassic World’ and Warner Brothers’ ‘American Sniper’. ‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’ stepped down to #3, but it was the #2 movie that blew everyone away. Coming out of seemingly nowhere, the Christian-themed ‘War Room’ stunned Hollywood with its $11M haul, more than twice the $5M it was predicted to generate.
Here are the official numbers:
- Straight Outta Compton (Universal) – $13,240,000
- War Room (TriStar) – $11,000,000
- Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (Paramount) – $8,300,000
- No Escape (The Weinstein Company) – $8,288,000
- Sinister 2 (Focus) – $4,650,000
No one saw ‘War Room’ coming… literally. The Christian film was made with a shoestring budget with no big name stars (or stars of any size) and rather than waste money on an expensive national television campaign, TriStar went straight to their audience with a grassroots campaign aimed at church-goers. It worked! ‘War Room’ actually trumped ‘Straight Outta Compton’ on Friday, but the hit biopic held stronger over the weekend, coming out on top again. That’s certainly no failure for ‘War Room’ which blew away all expectation.
The only other new release to crack the Top Five was the political thriller ‘No Escape’ starring Owen Wilson and Pierce Brosnan. ‘Mission: Impossible’ dipped to #3 and last week’s highest posting new movie, ‘Sinister 2’ fell to #5, barely squeaking past ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’ which lost a hefty chunk of its theaters, but showed remarkable staying power for a film that’s only gotten so-so reviews and opened softly.
Despite these films’ success, this was the lowest grossing box office weekend of 2015 and ALL of these films benefited from having no stiff competition. Alas, the real “summer movie season” is just a memory. ‘Mission: Impossible’ is the only traditional big budget popcorn flick still playing in wide release, so if you’re in the mood for such fare, that’s about your only option.
And despite what Florence + The Machine sing about, the Dog Days AREN’T over. The ONLY movie opening in wide release next week is ‘The Transporter Refueled’ which does NOT star Jason Statham, who anchored the previous installments in this cult series. Instead, ‘Refueled’ stars Ed Skrein, which may make it worth checking out to get a taste of what the actor will bring to the role of Ajax in next spring’s ‘Deadpool’.
Honestly, the rest of September isn’t looking much more stellar. ‘Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials’ and true story ‘Everest’ arrive on the 18th, which generate some heat. The animated sequel ‘Hotel Transylvania 2’ follows on the 25th.
To quote another musical act, Green Day, “Wake Me Up When September Ends.”
Source: Box Office Mojo
