What did you see this weekend?

Question: Do you think that that amazing Straight Outta Somewhere internet meme, which was going strong for weeks before the film opened, helped the amazing box office tally for Straight Outta Compton?

The film has no "name" actors and is performing like a true blockbuster these past two weekends. I mean even I got into the act on twitter and instagram (see image below) and I have no real emotional connection to N.W.A. (Rap and Hiphop were never really an interest of mine outside of Missy Elliott in totality and a couple of dozen other songs and/or artists) 

In limited release both Grandma and Learning to Drive had solid starts and if word of mouth kicks in they could be looking at healthy runs. Phoenix, the German sleeper hit, continues to expand and will break the magical $1 million mark for arthouse imports any second now. Joe Swanberg's latest Digging For Fire with Rosemarie DeWitt had a tough time finding its audience though.

BOX OFFICE WIDE
August 21st-23rd estimates

01 Straight Outta Compton $27.8 (cum. $112.5)
02 Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation $11.7 (cum. $157.7) Tim's Review
05 Sinister 2  $10.5 new  Interview
03 The Man From U.N.C.L.E. $7.6 (cum. $26.8) Kyle's Review
04 Hitman Agent 47 $7.5 new 
05 American Ultra  $5.7 new
06 The Gift  $4.3 (cum. $31) Jose's Review
07 Ant-Man  $4.2 (cum. $164.6)  Tim's Review, Podcast, on Paul Rudd
08 Minions  $3.9 (cum. $320.1)  Tim on the Minions phenom
09 Fantastic Four $3.6 (cum. $49.5) Tim's Review

BOX OFFICE LIMITED (EXCLUDING PREVIOUSLY WIDE RELEASES)
August 21st - 23rd estimates

01 Mr Holmes $.6 (cum. $15.3) on 430 screens
02 The End of the Tour $.5 (cum. $1.6) on 355 screens
03 Phoenix $.3 (cum. $.9) on 108 screens Interview
04 Mistress America $.2 (cum. $.3) on 32 screens
05 Diary of a Teenage Girl $.1 (cum. $.4) on 69 screens Michael's Review
06 Amy  $.1 (cum. $7.6) on 100 screens Glenn's Review
07 Grandma  $.1 on 4 screens NEW Nathaniel's Review, Joe's Review, Posterized: Lily Tomlin
08 Learning to Drive  $.06 on 4 screens NEW
09 Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet $.04 (cum. $.1) on 24 screens
10 Listen to Me Marlon  $.04 (cum. $.2) on 26 screens Amir's Review

Miscellania: Mad Munn Mortal Minority Musicians

Newsweek Before Straight Outta Compton: race and the black musician biopic
Awards Daily makes a great case for why Mad Men should win the Drama Emmy
MNPP playing lumberjack with Patrick Wilson
Vanity Fair Katey and Richard survey the summer movie season, get nostalgic for Mad Max Fury Road already
The Envelope talks to Lily Tomlin on her great year "If one looks at years that way."
Instagram Olivia Munn wire training for her superheroic antics as the X-Men's Psylocke. Physicality is getting to be so essential in the CG action age that I hope aspiring actors are taking gymnastic and dance courses

Vox why The Chronicles of Prydain is the best literary fantasy series (when do you suppose they'll try to film it after Disney's 80s botch job?) 
Interiors Film Journal looks at the dance scene in Tom at the Farm
THR looks back at unlikely hit Mortal Kombat when videogame movies were ridiculed
Towleroad Trans bodybuilder Aydian Dowling now a top 5 finalist for Men's Health "Ultimate Guy" cover contest
Self Styled Siren on an old book about a possibly violent but definitely tumultous John Barrymore marriage
i09 gets excited for the Minority Report tv show
Film Stage deleted scenes from Mad Max Fury Road
Starf*cker Matthew Rettenmund's (Encylopedia Madonnica, Boy Culture) new book is available for pre-order 

Today's Watch
On baffling uses of CGI... I didn't know this about 50 Shades of Grey or John Wick and definitely blocked out the "pear" from Star Wars. Repressed memory!  

Box Office: Straight Outta Competition

 

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?