• by Wayne Friedman , August 17, 2015

Not only did Universal Pictures’ “Straight Outta Compton” exceed U.S. box office expectations for its weekend debut; it was also relatively efficient when it came to its national TV spending.

Pulling in $60.2 million in U.S. box office revenue, “Compton” has spent a total $23.1 million in national TV dollars, according to iSpot.tv -- with the major build up of its spending started around July 20.

For its last week before its opening, “Compton” spent $4.4 million in national TV advertising from 992 national airings of the commercial. The biggest TV network recipient went to MTV ($463,900); then came Comedy Central ($463,800); and CBS ($410,200).

By way of comparison, Warner Bros. pulled in a humble $13.5 million in U.S. box-office revenue for the first weekend of “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” It has spent $31.3 million over its entire pre-launch.

During its last week before its opening, “U.N.C.L.E.” paid $8.3 million in national advertising from 1,758 national airings of the commercials with the biggest spending going to ABC ($1.1 million); Fox ($820,000); and CBS ($739,000).

Paramount Pictures’ “Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation” -- in its third week of release -- took in sturdy $17.0 million in U.S. box-office revenue. It now totals $138.2 million in box office sales with a U.S. national TV media budget of $40.5 million to date.

On the flip side, the underperforming “Fantastic Four,” from 21st Century Fox, in its second weekend, pulled in an expected weak $8 million in box office, now totaling $41.9 million with spending of $24.2 million in total national TV advertising sales.

STX Entertainment's “The Gift,” also in its second week, earned $6.5 million, now at a total of $23.6 million. It has spent $11.4 million in total national TV advertising.