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 t 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.