Warning: spoilers ahead

The long-awaited movie on iconic rap group N.W.A., "Straight Outta Compton," shows the meteoric rise of members Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and Eazy-E, but it also holds a mirror up to events dominating the news cycle today, like the latest unrest in Ferguson, Missouri and numerous stories about excessive force used by police.

One of N.W.A.’s first big hits on their 1988 debut album Straight Outta Compton was “F—k tha Police.”

The song became a rallying cry for youth living in urban areas of the country — like N.W.A.’s home turf of Compton, California — that constantly endured police brutality and racial profiling.

In fact, the film depicts the birth of the song following the police harassing the group when standing outside of a recording studio. 

Later in the movie they are ordered not to play “F—k tha Police” at a concert in Detroit. They do not abide and gun shots ring out while they perform the song, once more causing them to be handcuffed and taken to jail.

Chants of “F--k tha Police” have now changed to #BlackLivesMatter over the last year, but the tension between those living in urban areas of the country and the police are as high as ever. Particularly since last weekend in Ferguson. Following the one year anniversary of the death of Michael Brown on Sunday, protests in Ferguson have carried on that have led to arrests and gunfire between citizens and police.

“Police in our society are trained to win at all costs. They’re not trained to uphold the law, to know your rights, to protect,” Ice Cube told The Daily Beast while doing press for “Straight Outta Compton,” in which he’s a producer. “Their thing is to win—win the argument, win the struggle, win the scuffle. Win. And if you have to violate somebody’s rights, so be it. Win on the street—we’ll deal with it afterwards.”

While other movies may have attempted to put a positive, uplifting spin on the situation by the end of the movie, “Straight Outta Compton” doesn’t let you off the hook. The Rodney King beating, trial (where all the officers involved were found not guilty), and eventual riot are laid out front and center.

By the end of the movie you leave with the sobering reminder that in the 27 years following the release of the Straight Outta Compton album things haven’t gotten better when it comes to police relations in urban areas.

And as Ice Cube went on to tell The Daily Beast, it’s one of the points in the movie they wanted to drive home.

“The same thing happened before I was born; there was a riot in ’65 in Watts with the police,” said Ice Cube. “It happened when we were doing records, and it’s still happening today. It was important to show that nothing has changed.”

“Straight Outta Compton” opens in theaters on Friday.

SEE ALSO: Dr. Dre's first album in 16 years is exclusive to Apple

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An official White House Twitter account took an unusual approach on Thursday to try and sell the nuclear agreement with Iran.

The account, @TheIranDeal, tweeted at BuzzFeed's account and repurposed the "Straight Outta Compton" movie logo to declare that Iran would be "straight outta uranium" under the framework. (The White House was responding to a BuzzFeed story about how popular the "Straight Outta Compton" meme had become.)

Here's the US government's Iran deal meme:

People on Twitter were not impressed with the White House's creativity, however, and almost everyone who responded was either critical or mocking:

Other people quibbled with the White House's facts in the meme:

The nuclear deal — struck last month among the US, Iran, and other world powers — grants billions of dollars of sanctions relief in exchange for Tehran curbing its nuclear ambitions. Critics of the agreement hope to defeat it in Congress in a series of critical votes next month. They argue the deal will pave the way for Iran to obtain a nuclear bomb.

President Barack Obama's administration passionately maintains that the deal has the teeth to keep Iran honest or to snap international sanctions back into place.

Some of the international diplomacy involving the deal has actually been conducted via Twitter. A prominent critic, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), and the Iranian foreign minister repeatedly sparred over the social media platform and exchanged sarcastic shots.

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Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, and Eazy-E — that's who most people reflect on when they think about 1980s rap group, N.W.A.

Many feel that "Straight Outta Compton," the film documenting the group's rise, got the casting just about right.

Ice Cube is played by his son, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Dr. Dre is played by Corey Hawkins, and Eazy-E is played by Jason Mitchell.

But one casting call for the film posted in July last year raised some eyebrows because many thought it to be incredibly racist.

At the time, Sande Alessi Casting posted the notice on several social media platforms in search of different types of women to be extras in the film.

In the post, the company classified the girls they were looking for into four categories: A, B, C, and D girls. 

The "A-Girls," according to the company, are "the hottest of the hottest," and could be "black, white, Asian, Hispanic, Mid-Eastern, or mixed race too."

But then, the company got particularly specific about the types of girls it was looking for.

"B-Girls," as the company described them, were "Fine girls, long natural hair, really nice bodies. Small waists, nice hips." Skin color was limited to "light-skinned ... Beyonce is a prototype here."

Further down the list, the casting call got even more selective.

"C-Girls" were described as "African American girls, light-to-medium skin tone with a weave."

"D-Girls" were to be "African American girls. Poor, not in good shape. Medium-to-dark skin tone."

The posting was removed from all social media shortly after it was posted. The casting company told Jet Magazine last July that the categorization of the girls "is not by any means a ranking of A is better than B." Adding, "We obviously don’t want to leave anything up that’s offensive to people."

The company later said it would use a different method to cast women as extras. 

As the film's release date nears, posts from last July — when the casting call was originally published — have re-surfaced on social media:

Universal Pictures, the company that produced the film, slammed the offensive casting call in a statement: "The filmmakers did not approve and do not condone the information in this casting notice," they said. "We regret and sincerely apologize for being in any way associated with the offensive descriptions it contained."

Business Insider has reached out to Universal Pictures for comment on how the casting process was changed.

"Straight Outta Compton" is not the first film to be called out for questionably racist casting. But this instance raises questions about where the line is drawn with regard to casting practices. 

A casting call for "The Hobbit" in 2010 was panned for requiring potential applicants to have "light skin tones." The casting agent was fired.

Here's a transcipt of the entire "Straight Outta Compton" casting call, via Gawker.

"Straight Outta Compton" releases in theaters Friday, August 14.

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Universal looks to have another hit on its hands.

The N.W.A. biopic “Straight Outta Compton” took in an incredible $4.96 million during its Thursday night preview screenings at 2,264 theaters, according to Deadline. 

That’s more than the $4 million “Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation” took in during its Thursday showings, and that was at 500 more theaters.

“Compton” will be in wide release today at over 2,700 theaters and will likely be No. 1 at the box office this weekend, with estimates having the movie earning a weekend total of between $40 million and $50 million.

Fandango, which tracks advance ticket sales, reports that 70% of sales for this weekend are for “Straight Outta Compton,” making it the top-selling musical biopic in the company’s history.

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In May, rapper-mogul Dr. Dre called together a meeting with top-level marketing executives from Universal Pictures, Universal Music’s Interscope label, Apple and his own Beats audio company.

The release of Universal’s N.W.A biopic "Straight Outta Compton," which he produced, was just three months away, as was the launch of his first album in 14 years, Compton, a companion piece to the film.

So he looked around the room and said: “What do you guys got?”

During the past two weeks, leading up to today's Aug. 14 release of "Straight Outta Compton", he got his answer: The efforts of the four companies resulted in several attention-getting plays: When UFC champ Ronda Rousey knocked out Bethe Correia in 34 seconds on Aug. 1, the "Straight Outta Compton" label was right below her on the mat; there was an ad for the film that played during the first Republican presidential debate on Aug. 6; the “Straight Outta Somewhere” meme went viral with nearly 6 million personalized labels being shared on the Internet; and the word “Compton” was literally painted over the skies of Los Angeles.

 "You very rarely see companies like this in a room together,” Beats by Dre CMO Omar Johnson tells The Hollywood Reporter.“But we were all super aligned with Dre’s goals and he’s been a great maestro to conduct all of these brands working together.”

The “Straight Outta Somewhere” meme was the brainchild of Beats by Dre, in partnership with Universal. After three junior Beats employees were tasked with coming up with a campaign, they stumbled upon a video of Dre talking about how the members of N.W.A named their debut album "Straight Outta Compton" because they wanted to show they were proud of where they came from.

“That is where the campaign took its form,” says Johnson. “It wasn’t about Compton as a place anymore, it became about being proud of where you’re from.”

 Beats hired North Kingdom agency to create the meme generator, which allows anyone to input their own hometown in N.W.A’s signature black and white logo. The Aug. 5 launch of the site featured a handful of Beats partners, including Dre, tennis star Serena Williams and NFL player Richard Sherman, presenting their own “Straight Outta Somewhere” stamps, and it’s taken off from there. Since its launch on Aug. 5, the site has had 7 million visitors and nearly 6 million downloads of the meme (as of Aug. 13). It simultaneously trended No. 1 two days in a row across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and, during that time, there were an average of 15,000 #Straightoutta tweets and retweets per minute. According to Twitter, there have been more than 400,000 Tweets mentioned #StraightOutta since Aug. 6.

“We see this as just the beginning,” adds Johnson, who points to celebrities like Jennifer Lopez who have created their own memes, leading to big spikes in activity. “I think it has room to grow and we’re seeing traffic increase day after day after day.”

Tweeted images of the word “Compton” peppered across the sky all over Los Angeles also became a viral sensation.

Interscope Records organized the skywriting as a promotional tool for Dre’s new album. It was only on Aug. 1 that Dre announced he’d be releasing Compton: A Soundtrack By Dr. Dre, and that the album, from Dre’s Interscope label Aftermath Entertainment, would be released exclusively on  iTunes and Apple Music on Aug. 7.

“We really had six days to prepare for the launch,” says Interscope vice chairman Steve Berman. “We wanted to make as much of a statement, especially in Dre’s hometown, as we possibly could.”

The skywriting took over Los Angeles on Aug. 7 and 8, and also appeared in skies above the Outside Lands music festival in San Francisco that same weekend. Plus, Interscope booked skywriting for Monday, Aug. 10, to coincide with the red carpet premiere of "Straight Outta Compton" in downtown Los Angeles.

“It’s a very effective tool in certain markets, especially the way social network can create a buzz,” says Berman. “We definitely caught that wave in this campaign.”

Interscope will also be tying their album promotion to the film over opening weekend by running an album teaser in front of screenings of "Straight Outta Compton."

“The synergy that was taking place between Beats and Apple and the film company and the record company is something that was being orchestrated for the past couple of months when everything started to crystalize,” says Berman. “The promotions all complement each other going into the launch of the film, and it’s created a huge amount of energy and excitement.”

SEE ALSO: 'Straight Outta Compton' is going to crush the weekend box office

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Universal continues to dominate the summer, as its latest release, "Straight Outta Compton," the biopic on groundbreaking gangster-rap group N.W.A., exceeded all expectation by topping the weekend domestic box office with $56 million, according to Exhibitor Relations.

That's the largest opening weekend ever for a music biopic in the US. Buzzfeed's Adam B. Vary tweeted this chart to prove it:

 Projections had the film grossing around $25 million, with its more than two-hour running time and R-rating. But following Thursday preview screenings that made $4.96 million, which was more than "Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation" (and in fewer theaters than "M:I" for its Thursday preview), things were looking strong for the film.

"Compton" followed that with a $24.3 million Friday, which is the fourth-highest opening day ever for an August release, according to Deadline.

With a film that has now not just grabbed the attention of moviegoers but has also struck a cultural nerve in the wake of incidents of police unrest like in Ferguson, Missouri, it will be interesting to see if Universal can mount an Oscar campaign for the film through the crowded upcoming fall award season.

Things were not as good for the other new release this weekend. Spy thriller "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." only made $13 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

To put that in perspective, "U.N.C.L.E." cost around $80 million to make. "Straight Outta Compton" had a budget of $29 million.

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The N.W.A. biopic “Straight Outta Compton” is shaping up to be this year’s award season underdog story.

The two-and-a-half hour R-rated drama about the history of the members behind one of rap music’s most iconic groups has already exceeded the expectations of most in Hollywood with a historic opening weekend in theaters.

As of Monday, the film took in an estimated $60.5 million in the US over the weekend, making it easily the biggest domestic opening weekend ever for a music biopic. 

But now it sounds like Universal is gunning for the ultimate prize.

GoldDerby.com’s Tom O’Neil has confirmed to Business Insider that the studio has already begun their Oscar push for the film as they had a screening for Academy voters in Beverly Hills on Saturday.

“The theater was packed with 700 people who gave the film a hearty response,” O’Neil emailed to BI.

Most studios wait to release their award season hopefuls until September or October at the earliest as it can use the prominent fall film festivals like Telluride, Venice, Toronto, and New York film festivals to garner buzz, but it looks like the incredible response to the film has motivated Universal to roll the dice.

“Universal didn’t position ‘Compton’ as an awards contender,’ O’Neil notes. “But it’s suddenly getting that buzz because of its quality and audience impact. Once it plays out in theaters, the studio will campaign it aggressively to Academy members via DVDs shipped to their homes.”

The Oscar campaign could also include getting the film’s director F. Gary Gray and actors in the film like O’Shea Jackson Jr. (who is receiving rave reviews playing Ice Cube, who is his father in real life) to host parties where they mingle with award season voters before the nominations deadline.

But just because the film is raking in the dough in theaters doesn’t mean it’s a shoe-in for award season nominations.

Mike Hogan, Vanity Fair’s digital director, believes the film has an up-hill battle to become a contender.

“Music biopics in general don’t perform terribly well with the Academy,” he wrote to BI in an email. “'La Bamba' and 'The Doors' were blanked. 'What’s Love Got To Do With It' and 'Walk the Line' were shut out of Best Picture [Oscars] even though they scored in acting categories.”

Hogan notes the Best Picture nominations for "Ray," the biopic on Ray Charles in 2005, and "Coal Miner’s Daughter," biopic on Loretta Lynn in 1980, as exceptions because those he believes had the perfect mixture of focus on universally beloved legends and directors who were industry veterans.

There’s also the factor that “Straight Outta Compton” doesn’t shy from the raw realities surrounding the group, from their violent upbringing in Compton, their in-your-face lyrics, and their groupie lifestyle on the road.

“That rawness could make it a tough sell with Oscar voters who are older, whiter, and more sentimental than the general public,” said Hogan.

But O’Neil believes this might be the perfect moment for a film like “Straight Outta Compton.”

“The Academy is hungry to recognize African-American movies,” he believes. “'Selma' suddenly became a strong contender last year out of the blue one year after '12 Years A Slave' won Best Picture.”

O’Neil believes the buzz for “Compton” is real and that it could “snag a nomination for Best Picture.”

BI reached out to Universal for comment but has not yet receives a response.

SEE ALSO: Here's the "Straight Outta Compton" casting call that everybody thought was racist

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F. Gary Gray’s "Straight Outta Compton" hit theaters this past weekend and gave audiences an inside look into the formation and disbanding of the iconic hip-hop group N.W.A. Though some of the scenes depicted seemed implausible to those unfamiliar with the story, original group members are speaking out to their validity, especially in regards to one eye-popping scene involving a pit bull and a man in his underwear. 

The real Dr. Dre and Ice Cube broke their silence on "Straight Outta Compton" to The Hollywood Reporter, and the former had an interesting tale to tell about that crazy moment that, yes, actually happened. 

In 1996, Dre left Suge Knight’s record company, Death Row, to establish his own, which he would call Aftermath Entertainment. Apparently, test audiences watching an early cut of the film were confused as to the events leading Dre to this decision, so Universal, the director and the real Cube decided to film an additional scene in June, just two weeks before the final cut of the film had to be locked. This was the intense pit bull scene. 

Dre, played by Corey Hawkins in the film, is shown walking out of his recording session with Tupac (Marcc Rose) and into a rowdy room where Knight (R. Marcos Taylor), surrounded by his posse, is using a pit bull to torment a frightened man. The animal barked as the man huddled underneath a pool table, shirtless, partially beaten and with his pants drawn down. Dre said of the scene, and of the real-life event:

"I was like, 'What the f— is going on?’… I was ready to leave anyways. This was the extra push. The guy in the underwear — all this shit actually happened."

Earlier in the film, we saw the character of Knight physically beat Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell) into releasing Dre from his previous contract, and bash a bystander who inadvertently took his parking spot, both of which addressed Dre’s ambivalence to stay. 

There are more stories from the real Dre and Cube over at THR, but Selma director Ava DuVernay also wrote about the film’s validity. Having grown up in Compton herself, the filmmaker posted a series of tweets praising F. Gary Gray for his work and remembering the events as depicted on screen. She specifically cited the "militarized Batterrams," as shown in the film's opening; the "cavalier way women were treated in hip-hop spaces"; the "Rodney King Uprising"; and "that shot of the red and blue bandannas tied together," symbolizing the truce between the Bloods and the Crips.

"Straight Outta Compton" is in theaters now. 

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As far as historically accurate biopics go, "Straight Outta Compton" is a sigh of relief.

But it doesn't show the whole picture: Many critics have questioned the filmmakers' decision to leave out Dr. Dre's violence against women, specifically a 1991 attack against journalist Dee Barnes in which she claimed he slammed her against a wall and kicked her in the ribs. (Dre would later receive a fine, community service, and probation.) Gawker recently brought that incident back into the public memory, while Dr. Dre himself shrugged off the violence in an interview with Rolling Stone, calling his past actions the "mistakes" of someone "young [and] f------ stupid."

At a Q&A with fans, the film's director, F. Gary Gray, explained why you won't see that particular part of Dr. Dre's life in "Straight Outta Compton," saying, "we couldn't fit everything into the movie." Instead, he chose stories that better "served the narrative."

His point is that the film is an N.W.A. biopic, not a Dr. Dre biopic, and so he didn't want to distract from the group's narrative with "a lot of side stories."

The film, of course, does focus on one very particular side story: how Ice Cube quit the group. And it's within that side story that we do get moments like a time Cube eviscerated an interviewer on-camera who'd been more concerned with scolding Cube for his lyrics than allowing him to speak about Rodney King. And we also see the group's stars fall in love with their future wives.

Dre's beating of Dee Barnes, however, apparently just wasn't the right kind of "side story."

SEE ALSO: Dr. Dre admits to assaulting women

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Following the huge box office for the N.W.A. biopic ‘Straight Outta Compton’ over the weekend, there’s a lot of handshakes and back slapping going around Hollywood. But one person that likely isn’t that happy is Suge Knight.

The Wrap talked to the former rap mogul’s lawyer, Thomas Mesereau, who is representing Knight for allegedly running over and killing one man, injuring another, with his truck following a promotional shoot for “Straight Outta Compton” on January 29.

According to Mesereau, Knight wouldn’t like the movie because “it is exaggerated and silly and ridiculous,” The Wrap reports.

In the film, Knight is portrayed as a bodyguard who is looking to get into the music business and does so through tactics of intimidation and violence.

In one scene, Knight looks on as a man only wearing his underwear is terrorized by a pit bull in the offices of Knight's Death Row label. In another scene, when Knight sees someone has parked in his parking space, he gets out of his car and beats up the man.

“A lot of the media does not realize how many good things he did for people, particularly in his community,” Mesereau said of his client to The Wrap. “He financed athletic facilities in schools, he gave money to the homeless, money to people in need. He tried to arrange truces on the streets so people weren’t killed.”

Knight is currently being held at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in LA on $10 million bail. According to Mesereau, Knight is unable to see the film.

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As their "Straight Outta Compton" film enjoys tremendous success in theaters across the nation, Dr. Dre and Ice Cube have filed court papers demanding they be released from a lawsuit over an incident earlier this year that's loosely connected with the film.

In January, rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight used his pickup truck and ran over one of the film's technical advisors Cle “Bone” Sloan and Compton businessman Terry Carter. The death of Carter has led to a wrongful death and negligence lawsuit by his widow, who in a complaint filed in June painted the "tragic tale of how reckless corporate greed, disguised as a quest for authenticity, lead to a foreseeable altercation that resulted in the death of a successful businessman named Terry Carter, and left his wife of 28 years, and his two daughters asking why his death ever had to occur."

Dr. Dre and Knight have been feuding for years ever since the hip-hop star left Death Row Records. Dre has a restraining order against Knight.

Last January, a commercial for "Straight Outta Compton" was being filmed when Knight showed up because of reported unhappiness about his portrayal and financial participation.

According to the complaint, Universal and Pretty Bird Pictures hired Sloan to recruit gang members to serve as extras as well as provide security for on-location shooting in gang-controlled neighborhoods. When Knight showed up at "base camp," Sloan directed him to leave.

Knight and Carter, who was acting as a peacemaker, then arranged to meet up in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant about three miles away. It was there that Sloan re-appeared to continue his verbal altercation with Knight, who slammed down on his gas pedal with the alleged intent of running over Sloan. Knight also hit and killed Carter.

The lawsuit against those involved with "Straight Outta Compton" alleges that the defendants should have known about the tensions between Dr. Dre and Knight and should have made security provisions to create a safe environment. It's also alleged that Dr. Dre and Cube are vicariously liable for Sloan's conduct.

In a demurrer filed last week, Dr. Dre and Cube say they committed no malfeasance, that their only affirmative act was a "specific request" that Sloan direct Knight to leave camp. This, they say, "did not create undue risks for anyone, let alone Carter."

The two also say they owed no duty to Carter, that Knight's assault wasn't foreseeable, and raise the prospect of what might have happened if they allowed Knight to stay at base camp.

According to their motion, "These allegations plainly demonstrate that allowing Suge to remain at the base camp posed a serious risk that Suge could have injured someone at the camp — including Dr. Dre, Bone or one of the numerous cast and crew working on the film. Certainly, the risk that Suge might leave the base camp and proceed to his fatal confrontation with Carter was no more foreseeable than the possibility that Suge would injure or kill someone else if he had been permitted to stay."

The former N.W.A. members represented by attorney Alexander Cote say that there's no proximate cause connecting their actions to Carter's fatality, and argue that public policy and common sense can't possibly demand "tolerating the presence of a dangerous and violent criminal with a grudge."

Suge Knight is currently awaiting trial for murder of Carter and attempted murder of Sloan.

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"Straight Outta Compton," the hit biopic about the rise of hip-hop group NWA, leaves out a troubling part about the group's rise to fame, says journalist and rapper Dee Barnes in a recent post on Gawker.

The omission: Dr. Dre's violence towards women.

In 1991, Barnes was viciously beaten by then-N.W.A. rapper Dr. Dre on the floor of the woman's bathroom of the Po Na Na Souk nightclub in Los Angeles.

Barnes says Dr. Dre was provoked by a recent segment which aired on her FOX show "Pump It Up!" in which Ice Cube, who had just left the group, trashed his former colleagues. According to Barnes, Dr. Dre slammed her head against a wall, kicked her, stomped on her fingers, and attempted to throw her down a flight of stairs.

Barnes later filed a civil suit against Dre that was eventually settled out of court.

When the timeline of "Straight Outta Compton" skips over her attack without so much as a mention, she says she found herself "a casualty of Straight Outta Compton’s revisionist history."

"[My attack] isn’t depicted in Straight Outta Compton, but I don’t think it should have been, either. The truth is too ugly for a general audience. But what should have been addressed is that it occurred." Barnes writes, adding that "Straight Outta Compton transforms N.W.A. from the world’s most dangerous rap group to the world’s most diluted rap group," by ignoring their misogyny.

Barnes says Dr. Dre — who produced the film along with Ice Cube — should have owned up to his numerous alleged attacks on women in the film, including a 1990 alleged assault on rapper Tairrie B and numerous alleged assaults on his ex-wife Michel'le. Barnes notes that those assaults, along with hers were considered "side stories" by director F. Gary Gray.

“The original editor’s cut was three hours and 30 minutes long, so we couldn’t get everything in the movie," Gray said in a recent interview with Ebony. "We had to make sure we served the narrative; the narrative was about N.W.A. It wasn’t about side stories.”

Barnes finds his comments particularly offensive considering he was the cameraman that filmed her interview with Ice Cube in 1990 that supposedly provoked Dr. Dre's attack on her. 

"I think a huge reason that Gary doesn’t want to address it is because then he’d have to explain his part in history. He’s obviously uncomfortable for a reason," Barnes writes.

She adds that many of the women who worked with the N.W.A. rappers were not featured in the film, and that most women were either "naked in a hotel room or dancing in the background at the wild pool parties."

Overall, Barnes says the movie glorifies N.W.A. by showing how they "articulated the frustrations of young black men being constantly harassed by the cops." However, the movie fails to acknowledge the flipside of N.W.A.'s guiding philosophy by explaining the connection between the oppression of black men and the violence perpetrated by black men against black women.

"It is a cycle of victimization and reenactment of violence that is rooted in racism and perpetuated by patriarchy," Barnes says, adding that "the biggest problem with Straight Outta Compton is that it ignores several of N.W.A.’s own harsh realities."

SEE ALSO: Here’s the ’Straight Outta Compton’ casting call that everybody thought was racist

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"Straight Outta Compton" has raked in a whopping $67.7 million at the box office since its release last Friday.

The hit biopic centers on the true story of the rise of Dr. Dre and Ice Cube's hip-hop group, N.W.A.

One person who wants to cash in on the film's success is Ice Cube's "Next Friday" costar, "The African King of Comedy,"Michael Blackson.

Blackson played "Customer #1" in a memorable cameo in 2000's "Next Friday," in which he tries to return a CD after chewing on it, yelling at the cashier, "This is whack! I can't get jiggy with this!"

Blackson has since acted in a string of unmemorable TV shows and movies, but he tours the country as a stand-up comedian and has an impressive 693,000 Instagram followers and 639,000 Twitter followers.

On Tuesday, Blackson posted a photo of the measly residual check he still receives for his scene in "Next Friday" and jokingly asked Ice Cube to put his newfound "Straight Outta Compton" money towards another "Friday" sequel he could star in.

Blackson wrote in the photo's caption:

"Damn #IceCube ya made $60mil over the weekend with #StraightOutOfCompton so take some of that money and let's make #LastFriday and tell Warner brothers to stop sending me this $14 checks it cost $10 to cash it by the time I buy gas I'm negative $11. Can ya tag that neega n tell him to help his African broda."

Blackson's fans appreciated his humor:

SEE ALSO: A woman who was allegedly assaulted by Dr. Dre says 'Straight Outta Compton' left out an 'ugly' truth

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The biopic “Straight Outta Compton” opened this past weekend and beat expectations by debuting at $60.2 million in ticket sales, making it the fifth largest August movie debut ever.

But residents from the namesake city have to drive to a nearby city (about 4 miles away) to actually watch the movie in a theater.

This quirk was first reported on Los Angeles' CBS network, and quickly posted to the "Not the Onion" subreddit (a forum dedicated to real news articles that sound satirical).

Fusion noted that "the median household income in Compton in 2013 was $42,953, 19% below the national median of $53,000; 26.3% of residents live below the poverty line, compared with 15.4% for the nation as a whole, according to U.S. Census data." The CBS local channel also indicated that there are current negotiations in place to bring an entertainment district, including a movie theater, to Compton, while Redditors pointed out that it's not unusual for cities in L.A. to lack a movie theater, because "they're part of the greater Metropolitan area and [anyone] can just drive a couple miles to find one."

Perhaps by the time "Straight Outta Compton" gets a Hollywood style reboot, the origin city will have its own theater.

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"Straight Outta Compton" made $60.2 million this weekend, but no one saw it in, well, Compton.

The city of Compton doesn't actually have a movie theater. So to watch the biopic of Compton-hailing rap group N.W.A., many Compton residents are going to the Cinemark Carson & XD in Carson, the nearest movie theater.

To meet demand, the Cinemark scheduled screenings all day, at every hour. They've devoted four screens to the film.

"A lot of people seem to like it," Lorreanne Yalung, a box office receptionist at the theater, told Business Insider. "Yesterday was our biggest day. The whole day was sold out."

Ironically, even though Compton residents can't yet watch the movie in their own city, "Straight Outta Compton" was shot on location.

"I haven't lived in Compton for quite a while, but it felt great," Dr. Dre told The Hollywood Reporter. "Everybody was really excited about the fact that we were not only making a movie but making it in Compton. It feels like Compton is another character." Dre, whose real name is Andre Young, is one of the main characters in the movie as well as one of the film's producers.

The city of Compton itself is currently in negotiations to bring an entertainment district to the city, which would include a 16-screen cinema.

“Seventy percent of that would be the movie theater, and then there would be an additional thirty percent retail space,” Compton City Manager Johnny Ford told CBSLA. “As they’re coming in, retailers are making in Compton, and that’s what it’s all about.”

Dre also said he'd donate royalties of his new album towards to the city for an arts and entertainment center for children. He said he was inspired to make the album, "Compton," after he watched an early cut of the movie.

SEE ALSO: A woman who was allegedly assaulted by Dr. Dre says 'Straight Outta Compton' left out an 'ugly' truth

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O'Shea Jackson Jr., 24, is receiving rave reviews for playing Ice Cube in the hit N.W.A. biopic "Straight Outta Compton."

You could say he was born to play the role, as he's the real-life son of N.W.A. member Ice Cube, whose real name is O’Shea Jackson. But the part wasn’t handed to him.

To earn the role, Jackson went through a grueling two-year process that included constant auditions and working with three different acting coaches.

"It's all these things to build confidence within me," Jackson told Entertainment Weekly about the process.

And though Cube was supportive of this son's growth, as a producer on the film he had to find the best actor to play himself.

"If we found a better Cube, then we had to go with the best man for the job," Cube told People. "That's how acting and movie shoots work. So I couldn't give it to him — and I wouldn't if I could because that's easy."

Actors and rappers also auditioned for the role, with a short list coming down to Jackson and two others gunning for the Cube role, Jackson told People.

But the final decision didn’t come down to who had the look or tone of Cube, but to who had the best rapping skills.The actors chosen to play the members of N.W.A. had to also be able to convincingly perform the classic songs from the group's debut album, "Straight Outta Compton." There would be no dubbing of voices for the songs featured in the movie — they would have to rap just like the legends they were portraying.

It was Jackson's prowess on the mic that inevitably landed him the role.

Ultimately, Jackson perfectly portrayed his dad in the movie. Many who have seen the film have been blown away by Jackson's performance. Cinema Blend writes that it's Jackson's "uncanny ability to embody his father, from his presence to his quirks, that gives the film its oomph."

After viewing the final cut of the film, Jackson got his father's seal of approval.

"As a parent, you always are proud of the moments when you kid steps up," Cube told Tribune News. "So I'm forever grateful that he stepped up to this challenge and portrayed me in the movie. I couldn't picture anyone else doing it. I was totally engulfed watching him perform. See, I've never been to an N.W.A. concert — I've done an N.W.A. concert, but never had the chance as an audience member to experience it, and I was like, 'Pretty powerful!'"

O'Shea Jackson Jr. is one of Ice Cube's four children with Kimberly Woodruff, the rapper's wife of 23 years.

Here's the family at the premiere of "Barbershop 2: Back in Business" in 2004:

And here's the trio at the Los Angeles premiere of "Straight Outta Compton" on August 10:

Since its release last Friday, "Straight Outta Compton" has raked in a whopping $67.7 million at the box office.

SEE ALSO: A woman who was allegedly assaulted by Dr. Dre says "Straight Outta Compton" left out an 'ugly' truth

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"Straight Outta Compton," the biopic on rap group N.W.A., has received critical acclaim and broken records at the box office during its opening weekend. But there's a glaring omission from the movie that has led to some serious criticism of the film.

One of the most infamous moments in N.W.A. lore was Dr. Dre allegedly physically assaulting female hip-hop journalist Denise “Dee” Barnes.

In 1991, Barnes claims she was viciously beaten by then-N.W.A. rapper Dr. Dre on the floor of the woman's bathroom of the Po Na Na Souk nightclub in Los Angeles.

Barnes says Dre was provoked by a recent segment which aired on her FOX show "Pump It Up!" in which Ice Cube, who had just left the group, trashed his former colleagues.

According to the LA Times, a version of the incident was included in an early draft of the screenplay for "Straight Outta Compton." Here’s a description of the scene from the Times piece:

In the scene, the fictional Dre, “eyes glazed, drunk, with an edge of nastiness, contempt” (per noted from the script) spots Barnes at the party and approaches her.

“Saw that [expletive] you did with Cube. Really had you under his spell, huh? Ate up everything he said. Let him diss us. Sell us out.”

“I just let him tell his story,” Barnes’ character retorts, “That’s what I do. It’s my job.”

“I thought we were cool, you and me,” Dre fires back. “But you don’t give a [expletive]. You just wanna laugh at N.W.A, make us all look like fools.”

The conversation escalates, Barnes throws her drink in Dre’s face before he attacks her “flinging her around like a rag-doll, while she screams, cries, begs for him to stop.”

This is one of numerous scenes that were never shot. Others included Dre being shot four times in the leg, his house catching on fire during a wild party, and a flashback of his younger brother in the fight that ended his life.

At a public Q&A, the film’s director F. Gary Gray addressed the omission of the Dee Barnes incident saying, “We couldn’t fit everything into the movie,” saying he chose stories that better “served the narrative.”

Barnes wrote about the incident not being in the movie for Gawker recently:

“[My attack] isn’t depicted in 'Straight Outta Compton,' but I don’t think it should have been, either,” she wrote. “The truth is too ugly for a general audience. But what should have been addressed is that it occurred." 

Barnes sued Dre for damages and the two settled out of court. 

This is not the only incident. Dre’s former fiancée Michel’le told Vlad TV that he physically abused her, even “shooting at” her during an argument.

In a story for Rolling Stone recently, Dre admitted to being violent towards women in the past.

“I made some f------ horrible mistakes in my life,” he said.

“I was young, f------ stupid. I would say all the allegations aren't true — some of them are.

“Those are some of the things that I would like to take back. It was really f------ up.

“But I paid for those mistakes, and there's no way in hell that I will ever make another mistake like that again."

SEE ALSO: Here's the "Straight Outta Compton" casting call that everybody thought was racist

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The Los Angeles Times reported that the script for Straight Outta Compton originally included a scene depicting Dr. Dre’s assault of journalist Dee Barnes at a Hollywood nightclub in 1991.

According to the paper, “in the scene, the fictional Dre, ‘eyes glazed, drunk, with an edge of nastiness, contempt’ (per noted from the script) spots Barnes at the party and approaches her.

“Saw that [expletive] you did with Cube. Really had you under his spell, huh? Ate up everything he said. Let him diss us. Sell us out.”

“I just let him tell his story,” Barnes’ character retorts, “That’s what I do. It’s my job.”

“I thought we were cool, you and me,” Dre fires back. “But you don’t give a [expletive]. You just wanna laugh at N.W.A, make us all look like fools.”

The conversation escalates, Barnes throws her drink in Dre’s face before he attacks her “flinging her around like a rag-doll, while she screams, cries, begs for him to stop.”

It should be noted that in Barnes’ account of the assault, she never threw a drink at Dre. Since it’s release, Barnes has criticized the film’s erasure of Dre’s violence against women, including ex-girlfriend Michel’le and rapper Tairrie B.

In a recent screening and Q and A, director F. Gary Gray said that those moments were left out of the movie because “we couldn’t fit everything [in]” and they had to chose “side stories” that “served the narrative.” But as noted by Vulture, there are plenty of decidedly less misogynistic side stories that were included in the final cut, including the group’s members falling in love and meeting their future wives.

Barnes recently uploaded MTV’s original news segment in which reporter Tabitha Soren discusses Barnes’ lawsuit against Dre, including a quote from NWA’s lawyer saying, “I know Dr. Dre as a gentle soul and a loving father of a baby boy. I can’t imagine him treating any lady in anything but a gentlemanly fashion.” The quote is immediately followed by a clip of MC Ren addressing the attack by saying “That’s what she get and I hope she gets it again.”

SEE ALSO: A woman who was allegedly assaulted by Dr. Dre says 'Straight Outta Compton' left out an 'ugly' truth

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Before we say goodbye to summer, it’s time to look back on how the movie business did the last few months.

Overall, Hollywood had an incredible summer at the multiplex with numerous record-breaking releases — incidentally coming from the same studio. But there were also some major disappointments.

So let’s look back at the movies, people, and studios that make up the winners and losers of this summer movie season.

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WINNER: Universal

No one saw this coming. Without a superhero franchise on its summer slate, few could imagine Universal would be at the top of the heap at the global box office.

But it turned out what the studio had this summer were titles that had stories with built-in mass appeal. Thanks to the sensational performances of "Furious 7,""Jurassic World," and "Minions," to name a few, Universal has made more than $5.52 billion at the worldwide box office, making it the highest grossing year ever for a studio.

LOSER: Josh Trank

It's hard to find anyone in Hollywood who lost more over the summer than filmmaker Josh Trank. At one time he was the new "it" director, with the "Fantastic Four" reboot by 20th Century Fox coming out and prepping to direct one of the "Star Wars" anthology projects.

But following reports of Trank’s alleged erratic behavior on the set of "Four," Trank left the "Star Wars" film. Now with "Four" bombing at the box office and Trank’s Twitter response to the critics' reaction, the 31-year-old is at a crossroads.

WINNER: "Straight Outta Compton"

After years of teasing, a biopic on the legendary rap group N.W.A was finally released over the summer, and it turned out a few people wanted to see it.

Actually, a lot of people. The film had the highest-grossing opening weekend for a music biopic of all time with $60 million. And yes, it's another successful release by Universal this summer.

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"Straight Outta Compton" took home an astounding $24.2 million on opening night alone, so it makes sense that a sequel is already in the works.

According to TMZ, this time around it'll focus on the famed rap careers of Snoop Dogg, Tupac Shakur, and the early '90s hip-hop group "Tha Dogg Pound." 

The movie reportedly will be called "Dogg Pound 4 Life."

The film would be set in what many call a legendary time in hip-hop, when "gangsta rap" label Death Row Records basically dominated the music landscape.

Suge Knight, one of the founders of Death Row, will be played in the movie as well, but he won't be personally associated with the film for obvious reasons.

While music will be the focus of the film, like "Straight Outta Compton," it will also address social issues like police brutality and gang violence.

According to TMZ, the actors in the new biopic won't be the same as "Straight Outta Compton."

Some of hip-hop's most iconic albums were released during the early '90s. Dr. Dre's "The Chronic" was released in 1992, and Snoop Dogg's "Doggystyle" was released in 1993 — both considered to be on the list of top rap albums ever.  

SEE ALSO: Ice Cube​'s real-life son plays him in 'Straight Outta Compton'​ — but the 2-year audition process wasn't easy

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