"Straight Outta Compton” won the box office, beating out the big budget blockbuster “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”

The movie opened to a massive $60 million, which is higher than most pundits expected. The success of “Straight Outta Compton” demonstrated that biopics and viral campaigns can be useful in creating successes. The film tells the story of the group NWA and its emergence from the streets of Compton, California.

Universal had an aggressive campaign that promoted Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, both of whom have extremely big followings, especially since they are the subjects of the film's narrative. Additionally, it didn’t hurt that the memes of the title created a viral campaign, which brought emphasis and awareness to the title of the film.

Great reviews were also useful, especially since the movie received an 88 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, a rating that is extremely good for an R&B film.

Last year the Weinstein Company also showed legs with “The Imitation Game.” The Oscar-winning film made a total of $90 million in its run and was helped by word of mouth and awards buzz. However, the Weinstein Company began a human rights campaign through the picture that allowed the movie to gain exposure. For a dark film with a gay central character, the viral campaign also proved incredibly successful, as demonstrated through the box office.

The summer is winding down, and August is usually a month where studios release the smaller films. However, this past weekend Warner Bros. released “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” a big budget film based on a popular show from the 1960s. Nostalgia from older audiences was not evident, and audiences were obviously not interested in another action movie. Even though the movie received rave reviews, it was obvious that at this point, audiences are tired of action films and reboots.

The past two weekends' two reboots have flopped in major ways. “Fantastic Four” was at first expected to make north of $40 million but ended up making $25 million. Meanwhile “U.N.C.L.E” was expected to open in the higher teens but ended with $13.3 million. These numbers are no surprise, as last summer major sequels also failed to capture audiences.

“Straight Outta Compton” reassures studios that sometimes biopics and original, lower budgeted films can be successful and become breakouts. If the movie continues its success, perhaps the studios could end up reshaping their strategies and the type of movies they produce.

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