F. Gary Gray’s N.W.A biopicture, Straight Outt Compton, outperformed The Man from U.N.C.L.E., pullingd in $24 million in Friday receipts and putting it on track for a $57 million opening weekend, according to studio estimates.
After grossing close to $5 million from 2,264 screens in Thursday night previews, the Universal/Legendary effort expanded to 2,755 screens on Friday. Directed by F. Gary Gray, the biopic stars O’Shea Jackson as Ice Cube (his real father), Corey Hawkins as Dr. Dre and Jason Mitchell as Eazy-E.
Ice Cube and Dre serve as producers, in addition to Eazy-E’s widow Tomica Woods-Wright, Matt Alvarez and Scott Bernstein.
Universal had estimated Straight Outta Compton for an opening between $25 million and $29 million, about half the gross it’s now expected to generate.
Made on a budget of $29 million, the hip-hop picture contributes to Universal’s huge year. The studio surpassed the all-time record for worldwide grosses in a year earlier this month, making $5.53 billion off of big openers including “Jurassic World,” “Furious 7,” “Fifty Shades of Grey” and “Minions.”
Also playing this weekend is slick Cold War actioner “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,” which posted a modest $4.8 million on Friday night at 3,638 locations, tracking for a weekend total of $13 million.
Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer and Alicia Vikander star in Guy Ritchie’s reimagining of the 1960s espionage TV series, which was made for 75 million.
The picture is expected to find a female audience, with “Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation” and “Compton” attracting more male audiences.
Tom Cruise is reasserting his box office prowess with the fifth chapter of “Mission: Impossible,” which posted $4.9 million on Friday, and tracking to outdo “U.N.C.L.E.’s” opening weekend with a $17 million figure. The Paramount release had already crossed $300 million at the global box-office
