Like N.W.A, 'Compton' likely to inspire imitations

NEW YORK -- Underestimate the crossover appeal of N.W.A at your peril.

More than 25 years after the Los Angeles hip-hop group went double platinum with its unheralded debut album largely without the benefit of radio play, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and the rest shook up Hollywood in the dog days of summer.

"Straight Outta Compton," the N.W.A biopic produced by Cube and Dre, blew away industry expectations over the weekend with a $60.2 million debut, higher than the $56.1 estimated Sunday. The film, co-financed by Universal Pictures and Legendary Pictures for just $29 million, was propelled by a provocative trailer, savvy digital marketing, strong reviews and the same kind of audacity that made N.W.A famous.

Just as N.W.A's debut album stood out from the pack in 1988 when hair metal bands such as Def Leppard and Guns N' Roses were dominating the airwaves, "Straight Outta Compton" stands apart from the majority of movies to land at the multiplex this summer.

The only other film with a largely African American cast to hit theaters this summer was the independently made "Dope." It's a long-term trend that's attracted increasing scrutiny. A recent study by the University of Southern California found nearly three-quarters of all speaking or named characters in the top 100 highest-grossing movies of 2014 were white.

So "Straight Outta Compton" -- a fresh and brash alternative to the usual summer spectacles -- arrived with a wave of enthusiasm behind it, rising to the level of must-see cultural flashpoint. The social conditions of N.W.A's rise from South Central Los Angeles also bear particular relevance to recent protests over abusive and biased police enforcement.

On Sunday, filmmaker Ava DuVernay, whose Oscar-nominated January release "Selma" struggled at the box office despite rave reviews and similar relevance, tweeted a passionate response to "Compton," saying it "captured the plight of the black artist."

"We rapped along, clapped, laughed, cried. For all that has happened," said DuVernay. "All the stifling of our voices as young black people in that place at that time while a war was going on against us."

The success of "Straight Outta Compton" could encourage studios to embrace more racially charged stories. Certainly, many will hope for such an effect, even if it stands against the prevailing risk-adverse nature of today's Hollywood.

"I don't think this movie is going to change anything, but I do think we're in the midst of a change. I think it's subtle," says David Poland, editor of Movie City News. "There is going to be a little less resistance in the next couple of years to movies about women and movies about people of color and things like rap -- cultural things of the generation that is now 30."

Before Universal jumped in, Warner Bros. passed on "Straight Outta Compton" in part because of the project's riskiness.