Box Office: Straight Outta Competition
Monday, August 17, 2015 at 1:01AM 
Amir here, to bring you the weekend’s box office report.
It’s a historic weekend of sorts. In this year of records being broken left and right, perhaps Straight Outta Compton’s position as the 6th biggest August opening of all time isn’t all that impressive, but considering the context, it’s mighty impressive. Despite the weight of the name of its producers, the iconic original album and the enthusiastic reviews, $56m is still way above expectations. (A cursory look at the films around Compton on the August all-time top ten list truly sets the film apart. N.W.A. is a brand but not exactly a ticket-seller at the multiplex.) Significantly for Universal, the biopic’s gross – nearly double the previous record opening for a musical biopic – means they have reached the 2 billion dollar mark for the year in August, earlier (by four months!) than any studio ever before.
WEEKEND’S TOP FIVE
Straight Outta Compton $56m new
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation &17m (cum. $138m)
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. $13.5m new
Fantastic Four $8m (cum. $42m)
The Gift $6.5m (cum. $23.5m)
The other wide release, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. didn’t fare so well, which is a shame given at least of two of its four stars are very likeable (and exceptionally glamorous, too). On the limited front, one of my most anticipated films of the year, Noah Baumbach’s Mistress America, opened to rather disappointing returns on four screens, failing even to reach the mark set by Frances Ha, though we can never read too much into this super small platforms. Is it me or does it seem like no one is talking about this film, even though the few who are talking about it are very positive?
I had a splendid weekend: I binge-re-watched the second season of Bojack Horseman, which I wholeheartedly recommend to everyone, and also watched a soon-to-be-released film that currently tops both my best picture and best actress lists for the year.
What did you watch this weekend?
Reader Comments (19)
All I will say is I watched Mistress America today and it is one of my favorite films of the year. It's hilarious! Everyone should see it!
I saw Ricki and the Flash with my parents this weekend. It was an especially fun watch with my dad, a lifelong musician who has played in many a bar just like the one in the film. It was great to see him laugh at (and confirm) the realness of it all.
I'm happy for Straight Outta Compton, a rare smash, non-sequel, non-superhero, black-cast movie. Hopefully, with all those qualifiers, Hollywood is able to learn a lesson other than, "So more biopics then."
Loved Mistress America and I too am surprised it's not being treated like a bigger deal. Admittedly it's not quite Frances Ha but it doesn't have to be. It's still a delight and features Gerwig being genius as well as an extended central setpiece that recalls the great screwball comedies of the 30s and 40s.
Another film I would've expected to be a much bigger deal is Diary of a Teenage Girl.
I'm very happy for Straight Outta Compton, and looking forward to seeing it.
I saw Mistress America on Saturday and I'm afraid I was unimpressed. I felt it was trying far too hard to be clever and memorable - it was like a film watching itself. And I thought the supporting characters were far more interesting than the two leads. I did enjoy the central section in the house in Connecticut to a degree, and I do think the film was well-paced, but other than that, it didn't make much of an impression.
Mike in Canada: You mean Prestigewood, right?
Amir: I saw The Man from U.N.C.L.E. It was...I thought it got the fashion, dialogue and production design generally right, but the cinematography and editing are such boiler plate "now" cusinart action filmmaking and there's such a twist pile up in the last fifteen-twenty minutes that it's a shockingly bland sit in spite of getting the first three elements at least close to right.
The Man From Uncle. Great costumes! Although the male leads had muscles and action sequences, they seemed a little lumpen.
Excellent: Alicia Vikander, Hugh Grant, Elizabeth Debicki.
Passable: Henry Cavill.
Negligible: Armie Hammer. He's not a box office draw, so why not hire someone new and exciting? The Pushkin Theatre of Moscow collaborates with a theatre in London, England. Why not hire one of those actors, an actual Russian? Their reviews were that they were volatile and sexy.
I'm in agreement with Volvagia's description of the action.
Cop Car - great first and last ten minutes, but that's about it.
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation - so much fun.
At home I watched two Tsai Ming Liang films, The River and The Hole. They were both glorious.
Mistress America looks like it's Gerwig's same character from Frances Ha just a few years later and I don't really have any desire to see a sequel to that movie.
I saw The Diary of a Teenage Girl which was really interesting, complicated, well-acted and beautifully filmed, taking the girl's POV to the nth degree with fantastic animation and fantasy sequences. I keep thinking about it and all these great little moments and scenes keep popping up, fighting for my attention.
Bel Powley, Wiig and Skarsgaard were all great. And Christopher Meloni as a buttoned-up professor! Thank you, unconventional casting choices! FINALLY! God, you NEVER see that anymore. Everyone is just always cast by type. I barely recognized him in his first scene. It was refreshing.
While watching The Man from U.N.C.L.E., I kept thinking if Henry Cavill has enough comedy in him to play Sterling Archer.
Kind of soon to say that either "Mistress" or "Diary" should be a bigger deal, isn't it? "Mistress" is playing literally 4 screens right now, and "Diary" isn't much higher.
I finished Season 3 of Six Feet Under. Emotionally grueling but so cathartic. That last arc is drawn out to the breaking point but really gets under your skin.
Watched Neighbors. Utterly wretched stuff. Not funny, and a humiliation for Rose Byrne despite her game efforts.
Saw Ricki and the Flash... much better than I had anticipated.... even with the tried and true plot... it all worked for me somehow...
It's interesting... I am a huge Streep fan so on Aug. 7 I went to iTunes and listened to the film's soundtrack and hated it... Streep's voice sounded, well, not very good...
After seeing the movie, I felt the songs were performed, they fit into the movie's plot, very well and I will now down load the soundtrack...
I like 3-4 songs from the Ricki soundtrack: American Girl, Cold One, Drift Away and Wooly Bully. The others sound like Ricki is kind of a bad singer, which may make sense for the movie if she is supposed to be a never-was, but it also makes you question why Sony bothered to put out a soundtrack with some bad covers. You could have thrown in the Kinks or something and made a great soundtrack, but I'm not one to second-guess Sony, which has had problems for over a year. I am glad that people are seeing the Ricki film, however. If you don't support a good movie with a female lead, the studios will use it as a reason to not make more of them.
"Straight Outta Compton"'s actual weekend gross is 60.2 million!
WHEN WILL UR FAVS?
I saw It Follows on DVD, which isn't what I was expecting yet still a breath-of-fresh-air addition to the horror genre. I appreciate that the filmmaker didn't bog down the narrative with backstory -- what "it" is, from where it derives, etc. It makes for a tighter, more suspenseful tale.
"Fantastic Four" which was not as horrible as I was expecting but not very good either. The actors have zero chemistry and the adult supporting cast is specially dull. The script creates a new complicated plot but it takes for ever for the four to become mutants and the climax with Dr Doom seems rush. Why spend so much time with Reed and Grimm as kids if there is no emotional pay off? They made the Human Torch black and I'm all for inclusiveness but why not make another of the Four gay? The money is on screen and some of the FX work is excellent- next time get a better script, cast and a director who can actually direct.
Jaragon: Here's your new, modernized FF and their first villain. Consider this my release into the aether to Marvel Studios: PLEASE DO THIS. Or, at the bare minimum, SOMETHING with the first four.
Reed Richards: Glenn Howerton
Sue Storm: Kaitlin Olson
Johnny Storm: Charlie Day
Ben Grimm: Rob McElhenny
Villain #1 (Mole Man): Danny DeVito.
That's your modern opening salvo for the FF, Ladies and Gents. Tease Nikolaj Coster-Waldau or Mads Mikkelsen or whoever else you've cast as Doctor Doom at the end and: BOOM. Marvel Studios has possibly revived the FF AND given the entire core Always Sunny cast a massive moment in the sun.
I saw "paddington" and "Gandhi" for a nice British empire twofer this weeked