If you're looking to see Straight Outta Compton in its namesake city, you better wait for the DVD.
The N.W.A. biopic — which earned more than $50 million at the box office over the weekend — isn't playing in Compton because the city does not have a movie theater. "It's a low income area, it's been heavily dis-invested in," Manuel Pastor, a professor of sociology at USC, told CBS Los Angeles. "When you live in a community that doesn't have that kind of retail, it's a sign that the community is devalued and people within the community feel devalued."
Compton City Manager Johnny Ford said things are changing: Negotiations are underway to open an entertainment complex with a 16-screen movie theater, and Dr. Dre says royalties from his new album Compton, a companion piece to the movie, will be used to build a new arts and entertainment center for local kids. Retailers are excited to be opening up shop in Compton, Ford said, and "that's what it's all about."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
August 23 editorial cartoonsCartoons Saturday's political cartoons include deficit dimness, steamroller-in-chief, and more
-
5 museum-grade cartoons about Trump's Smithsonian purgeCartoons Artists take on institutional rebranding, exhibit interpretation, and more
-
Settling the West Bank: a death knell for a Palestine state?In the Spotlight The reality on the ground is that the annexation of the West Bank is all but a done deal
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstancesSpeed Read
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2Speed Read
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governorSpeed Read
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditionsSpeed Read
-
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.55 billionSpeed Read
-
Bangladesh dealing with worst dengue fever outbreak on recordSpeed Read
-
Glacial outburst flooding in Juneau destroys homesSpeed Read
-
Scotland seeking 'monster hunters' to search for fabled Loch Ness creatureSpeed Read
