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The worst August in 21 years is fortunately put out of its misery. Story by Matt Cummings 2015 might become the biggest box office draw ever, but August will go down as one of the all-time worst. Theater owners saw empty lines for popcorn and even more depressing receipts last month, as the industry experienced a perfect storm of unprecedented flops, poorly-timed releases, and a lackluster set of films that kept audiences away in droves. The problem actually began in July, which included the under-appreciated ( Southpaw and Self/Less ), the dull ( Paper Towns ), and the just plain awful ( Vacation ). This set the stage for three nearly-instant August duds, The Fantastic Four , Ricki and the Flash , and The Man from UNCLE , before delving into two of the worst weekends of the year. In fact, August 2015 has achieved a set of records that theater owners and Hollywood fat cats would just as soon forget. Here are just a few: August 2015 was the worst since August 1994

The NWA biopic registers the fourth largest August bow while Man From U.N.C.L.E. gets taken out. Story by Matt Cummings Straight Outta Compton delivered solid box office numbers over the weekend, crushing its competition with $60.2m. Led by strong word of mouth and solid reviews, the biopic about rap group NWA including a very strong $24.12m Friday on its way to the fourth largest opening for an August film. These numbers are all the more impressive when you consider it did not play either in 3D or at any IMAX - that privilege went to The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Although its 'A' rating from CinemaScore and impressive 96% audience score from Flixster should bode well for its immediate future, the film will most likely endure for another reason: the lack of strong candidates remaining for the month. Under those conditions, we think this and at least one other film on our list should do well as the summer winds down. With a modest drop of 40%, the Tom Cruise spy

The Fantastic Four utterly fails as Ethan Hunt triumphs again. Story by Matt Cummings In a devastating blow to one of 20th Century Fox's tentpoles, The Fantastic Four drew one of the lowest opening box office tallies for a super hero film, bringing in just $26.2 million from 3,995 US theaters. That's after receiving a crushing 8% from Rotten Tomatoes critics and a tidal wave of poor audience feedback including a 'C-' from CinemaScore. Perhaps what's more surprising is that the Tom Cruise spy action/thriller Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation easily won the weekend box office with an estimated $29.4 million from 3,988 theaters. That down just 48% from its opening, bringing its 10-day total to $109.5m. We were estimating a much closer race, and perhaps even a defeat for Ethan Hunt and his IMF team. There's little doubt that Josh Trank's film was torpedoed both internally and externally, capping off with a Tweet on Thursday by the directo