'Compton' holds off 'War Room' at box office

Bryan Alexander | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption 'Compton' tops box office for 3rd week; 'War Room' surprises "Straight Outta Compton" marked three consecutive weekends atop the box office, while the Christian drama "War Room" proved an unexpected success. Universal's N.W.A biopic grossed an estimated $13.2 million over the weekend.

Straight Outta Compton continued to rule the box office for the third weekend in a row, holding off a spirited charge by the faith-based film War Room.

Compton triumphed again with $13.2 million in a dog-day, late-August box office battle, according to studio estimates.

The biopic centered on '80s rap group N.W.A. has earned $134.1 million to date domestically, making it the highest-grossing musical biopic ever, passing the lifetime U.S. total of Johnny Cash tale Walk the Line ($119.5 million).

"Straight Outta Compton is taking full advantage of being a great movie released at a great time in the movie calendar," says Paul Dergarabedian, box office analyst for the movie tracking firm Rentrak. "There's just not a lot of competition out there."

But all eyes were on the stealth box-office power of War Room, which took in $11 million. The Christian drama stars T.C. Stallings, Priscilla Shirer and Karen Abercrombie and follows a couple who work to solve their marital problems through prayer.

On Friday, Compton and War Room were tied with $3.8 million, which prompted a victory cry from co-writer and producer Stephen Kendrick, who called it "surreal."

"We are ecstatic!" Kendrick said in the statement. "God totally gets the credit for what's happening. Thousands of people have been praying for this movie. With all of our inadequacy, God keeps taking what is said to be impossible and makes it undeniable. We are so grateful."

With only 11 reviews on the aggregate site RottenTomatoes.com, War Room received a lowly 18% critical approval rating. But its faithful audience scored it an A+ on CinemaScore.

Dergarabedian points out that many experts didn't "see this one coming."

"It shows that when you create a film for the faith-based audience, they will support that movie," he adds. "This is an audience pretty much left out of the conversation each week."

Meanwhile, the other big story in the weekend's releases was Zac Efron's flop as an EDM DJ with big music ambitions in We Are Your Friends.

Friends took in a paltry $1.8 million as it received an anemic 43% critical approval on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences graded it a C+ on CinemaScore.

Phil Contrino, analyst for BoxOffice.com, said the opening was a setback for Efron, who excelled in the 2014 comedy Neighbors.

"This is one of the biggest box-office disappointments of the year coming from a major studio," says Contrino. "And it hurts Efron's Neighbors momentum."

Owen Wilson fared comparably better with the opening weekend for his drama No Escape, playing a businessman trying to save his family during a violent uprising in an unspecified country.

No Escape, which also stars Pierce Brosnan, opened in fourth place with $8.28 million — earning a weak 41% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes and a B+ on CinemaScore.

That total wasn't enough to put it ahead of Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation in its fifth weekend. Tom Cruise's fifth installment of the action series took in $8.3 million for a total $170.4 million, good enough for third place for the weekend.

The horror movie Sinister 2 rounded out the top five with $4.7 million in its second weekend, which brings its total to $18.5 million.

Final numbers are expected Monday.