Straight Outta Compton has gone straight to the top of the box office.
The thrilling biopic about the gangsta rap group N.W.A electrified audiences enough to grab the top spot with more than $60 million, according to updated data Monday, followed by previous top dog Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, and big-budget flops The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Fantastic Four.
Compton is now the top August debut for an R-rated film, sailing past 2001's American Pie 2 ($45 million). The giant opening weekend also makes Compton the highest-grossing music biopic of all time, trumping Walk the Line, the Johnny Cash story starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, which banked a little over $22 million in its 2005 opening weekend.
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The massive film's viral marketing campaign -- a meme generator that allowed users to custom create an image with a "Straight Outta (somewhere)" label -- couldn't have hurt.
Where you from? http://t.co/kiL7QWQnjT #StraightOutta #StraightOuttaCompton pic.twitter.com/zKZod6V0U0— StraightOuttaCompton (@ComptonMovie) August 13, 2015
The hashtag #StraightOutta has been used 400,000 times since the generator was launched, and the generator's site had nearly 6 million downloads by Aug. 13.
Another thing that helped? Actors who looked almost exactly like their real life counterparts. The main trio of actors who played Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and Eazy-E all perfectly resembled their real life characters. (It was a given for Cube, considering his real life son played him.)
Beyond the main cast, the film was full of spot-on cameos that made you want to do a double take, going above and beyond to cast true look-alikes. Here are five perfectly cast actors who helped bring Straight Outta Compton to life.
1. Marcc Rose as Tupac Marcc Rose x @DrDre #Tupac #BehindTheScenes #StraightOuttaCompton A photo posted by Marcc Rose (@marccrose) on Aug 4, 2015 at 5:06pm PDT
He's not in the film for long, but Rose's impact as Tupac is stunning. He resembles the late rapper so much, that all it took was the iconic bandana and facial hair to seal the deal. The actor told USA Today that people have stopped him in the street for years, amazed at his similarities to 'Pac.
2. Lakeith Lee Stanfield as Snoop Dogg
At first glance, Stanfield might not be a Snoop doppelganger. But in the film, he nailed the Cali rapper's lanky mannerisms and smooth voice so well it was impossible to deny the likeness.
3. Sheldon A. Smith as Warren G.
#SheldonASmith @eleonorachessaphoto Styled:@megerfjr Shirt:@athingthing Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true. -MLK #LetStopTheHate A photo posted by Sheldon A. Smith (@sheltodapharaoh) on Jul 30, 2015 at 6:19pm PDT
Smith has a tiny role as Warren G, but the young actor has got the look of the rapper down pat.
4. Rogelio Douglas Jr. as Chuck D.
Excited to perform at Celebrity Fight Night Tonight! W/ @brennawhitaker! Thank you David Foster! A photo posted by Rogelio Douglas Jr. (@rdtripthret) on Mar 28, 2015 at 9:17pm PDT
Rogelio Douglas Jr. briefly appears as Public Enemy rapper Chuck D, an artist who greatly influenced N.W.A.
5. Mark Sherman as Jimmy Iovine
That Nike hat and the glasses make Mark Sherman a picture perfect replica of Interscope Records cofounder Jimmy Iovine, who also now heads Apple Music.