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Straight Outta Compton Goes Straight to the Top

Straight Outta Compton, a biopic about the controversial and influential rap act N.W.A., busted through the box office noise and climbed to the top, banking a pretty phenomenal $56.1 million. It crushed the rest of its competitors, earning more than the rest of the Top Five combined.

Bad rap? Well, the movie certainly didn’t wow reviewer Adam Holz, who called the flick “one of the harshest films we’ve ever reviewed.” But you won’t hear Universal Pictures complaining about its 600-plus obscenities. Compton is just the latest win for a studio that’s already had the best year in cinematic history. The previous record had been 20th Century Fox’s $5.52 billion set last year. But buoyed by such movies as Jurassic World, Furious 7 and Minions, Universal has earned more than $5.6 billion worldwide—and we’ve still got four months to go.

And I thought that this was going to be a Disney sort of year, what with Avengers: Age of Ultron, two Pixar movies and a new Star Wars flick on the docket. Go figure.

After two weeks at the top, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation slipped to second, collecting around $17 million. Its strong showing spoiled the debut of another spy movie based on a 1960s T.V. show, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. the stylish, Guy Ritchie-helmed flick managed just $13.5 million—barely enough, one would think, to pay for Napoleon Solo’s wardrobe.

The much maligned Fantastic Four sank, fittingly, into fourth place with $8 million. That represents a 70% loss of the movie’s audience from last week, and it leaves the superhero flick with a not-so-super $42 million gross thus far. Meanwhile, The Gift rounds out the Top Five with $6.5 million.

Final figures update: 1. Straight Outta Compton, $60.2 million; 2. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, $17.2 million; 3. The Man From U.N.C.L.E., $13.4 million; 4. Fantastic Four, $8.2 million; 5. The Gift, $6.5 million.