Box Office: 'War Room' Stuns With $11 Million, Zac Efron's 'We Are Your Friends' Tanks

By Brent Lang
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 30 (Variety.com) - The box office
underwent a religious conversion this weekend as Christian
crowds flocked to "War Room," lifting the low-budget salute to
prayer above the Zac Efron drama "We're You're Friends" and the
Owen Wilson thriller "No Escape."
Filmed for a mere $3 million and distributed by Sony's
Affirm division, "War Room" more than tripled its production
budget in a single weekend, picking up $11 million. That also
easily topped projections that had it debuting in the $4 million
to $5 million range, although in retrospect those estimates were
overly conservative given that advance ticket sales were
unusually strong.
The film is the latest faith-based hit from director Alex
Kendrick and his brother, writing and producing partner Stephen
Kendrick, the pair behind "Fireproof" and "Courageous." It marks
the biggest debut of their careers.
Despite the success of the "War Room," "Straight Outta
Compton" topped charts for a third consecutive weekend, becoming
the first film to manage that feat since "Jurassic World." The
rap biopic about the early days of N.W.A. pulled in an
impressive $13.2 million, pushing its domestic total to $134.1
million. It is now the highest-grossing musical biopic, trumping
the Johnny Cash drama "Walk the Line" and its $119.5 million
domestic haul.
"War Room" reaffirms the potency of faith-based crowds,
ranking along previous hits such as "God's Not Dead" and "Heaven
is for Real," but aside from its success, there was very little
to celebrate.
The month of August sputtered to a close as the trio of new
releases failed to inject much life into ticket sales. The
overall box office was down more than 20 percent from the
year-ago period when "Guardians of the Galaxy" was still drawing
big crowds. That comparison is problematic, however, given that
Labor Day fell during that period and the holiday has been
pushed back a week this year.
"No Escape," a thriller about an American family ensnared in
a violent political coup in a nameless Asian country, finished
in fourth place with $8.2 million. It has earned $10.2 million
since debuting on Wednesday. The Weinstein Company paid just
under $5 million for rights to the film, which was criticized in
by some critics for being retrograde in its depiction of a
developing country's culture and politics.
Not even the presence of Efron could lift "We Are Your
Friends" at the multiplexes. The look at the electronic music
scene bombed, eking out a paltry $1.8 million from 2,333
theaters, making it the worst wide-release launch of the "High
School Musical" star's career. The film fell far short of
projections, which had it debuting to roughly $9 million. Warner
Bros. spent $2 million to acquire it out of the American Film
Market.
The top five was rounded out by "Mission: Impossible - Rogue
Nation," which captured third place with $8.4 million, and
"Sinister 2," which nabbed fifth position with a $4.7 million
finish. The latest "Mission: Impossible" has earned $170.5
million since debuting in July, while the second "Sinister" film
has racked up $18.5 million in two weeks.