As the summer of 2015 inches slowly toward its Labor Day conclusion, Straight Outta Compton is looking more like the last hit of the season. The story of rap pioneers NWA, Compton earned an estimated $3.8 million yesterday, towards what looks like at least $12 million in its third weekend. That should be enough to claim first place for a third straight frame, even though Compton was not the big winner on Friday.

The film that claimed that honor (just barely) was War Room. If that title isn’t immediately familiar to you, you probably fall outside the marketing reach of the evangelical Christian film industry (yes, it’s a thing). War Room is the fourth feature from director Alex Kendrick, the man who proved the power of the independent faith-based release with Fireproof (along with star Kirk Cameron), back in 2008. Fireproof was produced for just $500,000 but earned over $33 million by the end of its run. Kendrick followed that with Courageous, in 2011. Once again, the Christian-themed drama made a strong box office impression – especially compared to its modest budget and theatre count.

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War Room earned an estimated $3.87 million from 1,135 locations on Friday. That indicates a first weekend of over $10 million, which would double the film’s pre-release projection. That won’t be enough to beat Straight Outta Compton, though it will give Kendrick a career-best debut. In terms of major Christian openings, however, The Passion of the Christ is still the obvious king with $83.8 million.

In terms of Friday’s other new releases, No Escape took third place with an estimated $2.4 million from 3,355 locations. The Owen Wilson-led action pic got a jump on the weekend with its $1.2 million Wednesday debut. For its first three-day weekend, No Escape should collect $7.5 million.

Warner Bros.’ We Are Your Friends opened outside the top ten altogether. The R-rated drama, starring Zac Efron, earned just $725,000 from 2,333 locations yesterday and is not expected to top $2 million by Sunday. That marks a stunning disappointment for a film that was expected to earn $5 to $10 million just one week ago. Check back tomorrow for complete details on summer’s penultimate frame.

Here’s Friday’s top five films:

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