Hit movie “Straight Outta Compton” has broken the $130 million mark at the box office this past weekend as the film chronicling the rise of hip-hop group N.W.A. was locked in Friday battle with faith-based marriage movie “The War Room.”
The two movies topped box-office sales on Friday, providing an interesting dichotomy of movie-going tastes. The fairly straight-laced “The War Room” took in $3.9 million in gross sales while “Compton” pulled in $3.8 million, according to an article this weekend by Variety.
The F. Gary Gray-directed “Compton,” which stars O’Shea Jackson Jr., has been the darling of entertainment headlines over the past few weeks for its no-holds-barred approach to the Los Angeles hip-hop scene.
Meanwhile, “The War Room”, directed by Alex Kendrick, offers a narrative about a married couple on the rocks who resolves their difference through prayer. The film stars T.C. Stallings, Karen Abercrombie and Priscilla Shirer.
Entertainment Weekly also reported the Friday box-office sales, noting that “War Room” was the surprise of the weekend and was not expected to take down the “reigning box-office champ.”
The faith-based drama War Room earned an estimated $3.875 million on Friday, putting it slightly ahead of reigning box-office champ Straight Outta Compton, which grossed an estimated $3.83 million.
Kendrick has a knack for producing surprising movies, as evidenced by the $9.1 million in box-office sales his 2011 film “Courageous” grossed.
Though “War Room” ticket sales point to a favorable response from movie goers, critics weren’t so kind to the tame drama.
The movie was “torn apart” by critics.
Directed by Alex Kendrick, War Room was torn apart by critics (the film scored just 18 percent on Rotten Tomatoes).
While “Compton” and “War Room” battled it out for the top spot, blockbuster franchise “Mission Impossible — Rogue Nation” raked in $2.2 million on Friday and Owen Wilson’s drama “No Escape” took a $2.4 million share of the day’s receipts.
