httpss://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrlLcb7zYmw
F. Gary Gray’s N.W.A. biopic is on track to make $57 million in its opening weekend.
Demonstrating that, for this weekend anyway, it’s better to be a rapper from Compton than a man from U.N.C.L.E., Universal’s Straight Outta Compton is in the midst of completely cleaning up at the box office, pulling in almost $30 million between Thursday night and Friday, and now on track to hit $57 million for the weekend.
By comparison, the weekend’s other major release, Warner Bros.’ The Man from U.N.C.L.E., is projected for a disappointing $13 million for the full weekend.
Once again, it appears just like the box-office projections for an African-American-centered picture with wide commercial appeal were wildly lowballed.
Directed by F. Gary Gray and starring O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Paul Giamatti, was just projected to make between $25 and $29 million, according to Variety; in reality, the film is going to nearly double that.
We’ve seen this before, with the Kevin Hart comedy smash Ride Along and together with the romantic-comedy crowd-pleaser The Best Man Holiday.
How many more “Surprise” hits with African American leads will there be before we stop seeing them as surprises?
Probably as you read this informative article, Universal is crossing the $2 billion domestic box office threshold, the first in the year that any studio has reached that high-priced milestone.
Here’s hoping everybody at Universal gets an extra summer Friday for their achievements this season.