In news sure to please churchgoing types always yelling at their grandkids to turn that hippity-hop nonsense down, Jesus Christ himself—i.e. the Evangelical drama War Room—triumphed over baggy pants and swear words—i.e. Straight Outta Compton—at the box office this weekend. Surely, somewhere at this very moment someone is presenting War Room’s No. 1 spot and $12.5 million three-day weekend haul as tangible evidence of the power of prayer. (Come on, like the producers didn’t have a prayer closet dedicated to the film’s box office.) Somewhere else, someone is presenting Straight Outta Compton’s continued success—the film dropped to No. 2 in its fourth week after three weeks at No. 1—as tangible evidence of the power of nostalgia. Which you put your faith in is up to you.
Meanwhile, the long, lazy Labor Day weekend apparently put moviegoers in the mood for some gentle ambling and misanthropy, as A Walk In The Woods took the No. 3 spot with $10.5 million. The week’s other new (English-language, but we’ll get to that in a minute) release, The Transporter: Refueled, wasn’t as lucky, coming in at No. 5 after Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation, still clinging desperately to the side of that plane at No. 4 in its sixth week. The rest of the Top 10 was populated by holdovers from previous weeks—No Escape, Inside Out, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Sinister 2—with one exception: Un Gallo Con Muchos Huevos, a Spanish-language family film with a title that even a C student in Spanish 101 could tell you is a double entendre. The cheeky barnyard comedy debuted at No. 9 with $4.4 million in 395 theaters; reportedly the widest release for a Mexican animated film in history, the distributor’s huevos in aggressively pushing Un Gallo Con Muchos Huevos paid off with for an impressive $11,190 per-theater average.
For more detailed numbers, visit Box Office Mojo.