Sony's faith-based drama "War Room" has the edge on N.W.A biopic "Straight Outta Compton" with $9.3 million to lead the modest U.S. box office over the Friday-Sunday weekend.
"Straight Outta Compton" took in $8.9 million at 3,094 locations in its fourth weekend, ending its impressive three-week winning streak at domestic multiplexes. The title should add another $2.3 million on Monday to cross the $150 million milestone, representing another triumph for Universal in a stellar 2015.
Sony/Affirm's "War Room" has continued to exceed projections following its surprisingly robust opening weekend, when it took in $11.4 million. The film, playing at 1,526 sites, is on track for a four-day Labor Day weekend haul of $12.3 million, bringing its 11-day total to $27.6 million.
See More:How 'War Room' Became a Biblical Box Office Smash
"War Room" stars Priscilla Shirer, T.C. Stallings and Karen Abercrombie and was directed by Alex Kendrick. It carries a low-budget price tag of $3.5 million and is the best performer in the genre since Sony's "Heaven Is for Real" took in $91 million in the U.S. last year.
"It's clearly a movie that's resonating with underserved audiences that are usually left out of the conversation -- it was really perfect timing by Sony," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst with Rentrak.
The holiday weekend appears to be the quietest of the year, which will be first of 2015 without a title topping the $10 million mark over the three-day period. Dergarabedian said the final total of U.S. box office receipts will be between $87 million and $89 million -- only the third time since 2010 that the figure has not hit $100 million.
The Sept. 5-7 weekend last year totaled only $87.7 million when the sixth weekend of "Guardians of the Galaxy" led with $10.3 million. The Sept. 7-9, 2012, weekend finished with $89.8 million, led by "The Possession" with $9.3 million in its second weekend.
Robert Redford's comedy "A Walk in the Woods" led the rest of the pack with $8.1 million at 1,960 sites and is projected to tack on $2.2 million on Monday. That's a decent performance for the first wide release from year-old Broad Green Pictures, the ambitious studio launched by brothers Gabriel and Daniel Hammond.
Paramount's sixth weekend of "Mission: Impossible -- Rogue Nation" and EuropaCorp's launch of "The Transporter Refueled" were battling for fourth place. The fifth "Mission: Impossible" took in $7.2 million at 2,849 locations for the three days and was projected to add $2.1 million on Labor Day to boost its domestic total to $182.5 million.
The fourth "Transporter" brought in $7.1 million in 3,494 locations for Friday-Sunday and is projected to wind up with $8.7 million for the four days.
The Weinstein Co.'s second weekend of Owen Wilson thriller "No Escape" came in sixth with $5.3 million at 3,425 sites.
Pantelion's opening of Mexican animated comedy "Un Gallo con Muchos Huevos" (A Rooster with Many Eggs) turned in a solid $3.4 million at 395 theaters for Friday-Sunday.
"Un Gallo" was batting two titles for the seventh slot -- Gramercy's third weekend of "Sinister 2" and Warner's fourth weekend of "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." The latter will cross the $40 million mark on Monday.