Tom Cruise was still king of the markets this week as Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation managed to gather an extra $46 million out of 62 territories, for a worldwide gross of 
$373 million. Mission’s 5th installment was number one in France and in Brazil, where it celebrated its debut with $7 and $3.5 million respectively. Japan was good for $5 million, while some major markets such as Italy have not had their start yet. And then, there
is China.
 
So it was another good week for Mr. Cruise and for his agent Ethan Hunt. It was not such a great one for Fantastic Four, which on its second week out had to travel to 54 countries to squeeze just $16 million, for a disappointing global total of $100 million. But if we put aside the foreign markets and we concentrate on North American, the undisputed champ of the week was Straight out of Compton, the biopic that revisits the many rises and falls of the iconic rap band N.W.A. Directed by F. Gary Gray, Compton was produced by Dr. Dre and Ice Cube and is interpreted by Ice Cube’s son, O’Shea Jackson Jr., and Corey Hawkins. With the help of excellent reviews and even stronger word of mouth, it ended its first outing with a bounty of over $60 million, more than twice the original projections. It’s by far  the best opening ever for a music biopic. Starting with Germany, the UK and Norway next week it will test the overseas waters, where it can count on the hip-hop popularity of Dr. Dre and Ice Cube. Compton is also further proof that Universal is still the studio which can do no wrong: the music biopic comes on the heels of an amazingly successful 2015 that includes titles such as Furious 7, Jurassic World, Fifty Shades of Grey and Minions. The Despicable Me spin-off actually does not seem to go away and with a worldwide total of $957 million is very close to the $1 billion milestone.
Meanwhile Sony’s Pixels and Warners’ The Man From U.N.C.L.E. added approximately $12 million each, with the Guy Ritchie spy caper based on the old British TV series and starring Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer and Alicia Vikander debuting at the top in the UK and in Russia. In other international news, Wanda’s Go Away, Mr. Tumor opened in China with a bang: $21.5 million. It’s a romantic comedy, based on cartoonist Xiong Dun’s real life experience with cancer. Meanwhile, the monster hit Monster Hunt took an extra $11.6 million, or a total so far of $350 million. Last week it passed Transformers: Age of Extinction to become China’s second highest grossing film and now it has its sight on all-time champion, Furious 7. Next week Monster will have to compete with Bride Wars, a remake of the romantic comedy starring Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson. And as the Middle Kingdom’s two months blackout of foreign movies comes to an end, next week will see also the debut of Arnold Schwarzeneggers’s Terminator: Genisys.
Lorenzo Soria