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APEX Hollywood Shortlist: Straight Outta Compton Nails B.O. Encore in Second Week at Number One

August 25, 2015  | Written by Tomas Romero

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Film fans hoping to watch Straight Outta Compton on the big screen in the actual city of Compton over the weekend were disappointed to learn that, sadly, there are no movie theaters left within the Compton city limits. But that didn’t stop the film from hip-hopping its way to the top of the box office heap for the second week in a row with $26.3M.

In fact, the onscreen Compton has made the plight of the real-life city such a social-media focal point that the film’s producer, founding N.W.A. member Dr. Dre, recently announced plans to donate all proceeds from his new album (also called, appropriately enough: Compton) towards the development of an arts and entertainment complex in the heart of downtown. No word yet on if those plans include a movie theater, but fans looking for their “meta” moment in a darkened Compton cinema are definitely keeping their fingers crossed. Compton also crossed the $100M mark over the weekend for an impressive 10-day global haul of $111.2M.

Scaring its way to a frightfully good third place finish of $10.5M was Sinister 2, Focus Features’ sequel to their 2012 hit Sinister. Bursting with enough gore and ghostly children imagery to keep horror buffs satiated until Halloween, the latest scary movie from horror franchise hit maker, producer Jason Blum – the mad genius behind the Insidious, The Purge and Paranormal Activity series, truly has something for everyone – including death by electrocution, gritty Super 8 footage of fatal alligator attacks on families and death by snowpack. Yep, you heard me. Blum can even make shoveling snow at Christmastime scary, so, brace yourselves.

Also opening wide with $8.3M was a sequel/reboot of another sort, first-time director Aleksander Bach’s Hitman: Agent 47. Like 2007’s critic and bulletproof smash, Hitman, Agent 47 is based on characters from IO Interactive’s best-selling Hitman video game series about a cloned assassin for hire. Starring Rupert Friend as the titular hit man, Agent 47 was originally set to be played by Furious 7’s Paul Walker, who was replaced by Friend after his untimely death in a car crash in 2013. A British actor better known stateside for his work in period costume dramas like The Libertine, Pride & Prejudice and 2009’s The Young Victoria, Friend is said to have gotten deep into character for his Agent 47 part, so turn your back on this hired killer at your own peril.

And speaking of hired killers, Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart reunited onscreen over the weekend for the first time since 2009’s indie hit, Adventureland, to play unwitting secret agents in the stoner action comedy American Ultra. Opening in sixth place with $5.4M, Ultra also stars Connie Britton, Justified’s Walton Goggins and Topher Grace, who, after eight seasons of smoking up in his parents’ basement with his friends on TV’s That 70’s Show, is kind of a stoner comedy Zen master. Already developing something of a cult following among “herbal refreshment” enthusiasts everywhere, Ultra should prove to be quite popular (particularly on basement couches) in the home market and beyond.

Complete Box Office Results: August 21 – 23, 2015