Hip hop biopic Straight Outta Compton hit a second-week total of $26.8m to remain top at the US box office this weekend, in the process seeing off the threat of a trio of underperforming debutants.
F Gary Gray’s film about the rise to fame and fortune of west coast rap group NWA triumphed despite negative publicity surrounding key member Dr Dre’s physical abuse of female contemporaries in the 80s and 90s. The musician apologised on Friday to R&B singer Michel’le and journalist Dee Barnes, whose past accusations of abuse against the rapper were notably absent from the biopic, describing his past self as a “young man drinking too much and in over my head with no real structure in my life”. He added: “None of this is an excuse for what I did.”
On a generally weak weekend at the North American box office, Tom Cruise spy sequel Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation remained second with just $11.7m for a fifth-week total of $158m. Christopher McQuarrie’s well-reviewed movie boasts $438.6m worldwide against a final total of $694.7m for series predecessor Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, but has yet to open in China.
The top newcomer was supernatural horror sequel Sinister 2, with $10.6m. Ciaran Foy’s film is notable largely for the return to relative big screen prominence of early 2000s Hollywood “it” girl Shannyn Sossamon after a number of years away from the spotlight. The 36-year-old actor, who made her name in films such as A Knight’s Tale, 40 Days and 40 Nights and The Rules of Attraction, stars as the mother of a young son whose horrific nightmares may be linked to hideous murders at the remote haunted farmhouse where they are staying.
Video game adaptation Hitman: Agent 47 opened in fourth place with $8.2m. Starring Rupert Friend, the critically-reviled film’s poor debut will do little to revive a movie series which was introduced to cinemas via 2007’s equally lacklustre Hitman. Sixties spy-themed big screen transfer The Man From U.N.C.L.E. rounded out the top five with $7.4m for a second-week total of $26.6m.
The only other new film to make the top 10 this week was stoner action comedy American Ultra, starring Jesse Eisenberg and his one-time Adventureland co-star Kristen Stewart, which landed in sixth spot with $5.5m. Eisenberg headlines as a dope-loving convenience store clerk who is unaware he is a sleeper agent for a sinister CIA program.
US box office chart, 21-24 August
1. Straight Outta Compton: $26.7m, $111.4m
2. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation: $11.7m, total $157.7m
3. Sinister 2: $10.6m - NEW
4. Hitman: Agent 47: $8.2m - NEW
5. The Man from UNCLE: $7.4m , total $26.6m
6. American Ultra: $5.5m - NEW
7. The Gift: $4.3m, total $31m
8. Ant-Man: $4m, total $164.5m
9. Minions: $3.7m, total $319.9m
10. Fantastic Four: $3.6m, total $49.6m
