‘Hidden Figures’ narrowly edges out ‘The Bye Bye Man’ to top Friday box office

“Hidden Figures� continued to rule the box office Friday, edging out competition from “La La Land� and “Patriots Day� and supernatural newcomer “The Bye Bye Man.�

The crowd-pleasing drama about female African American mathematicians at NASA grossed $5.5 million Friday.

The underdog tale starring Octavia Spencer and Taraji P. Henson finished narrowly ahead of the blockbuster “Rogue One� last weekend, its first in wide release, and looks poised to win again over the Martin Luther King Day Jr. holiday.

But it faces an unexpectedly strong challenge from newcomer “The Bye Bye Man,� which beat projections on Friday by taking in an estimated $5.43 million. The modestly budgeted supernatural thriller is on track to make $15 million over the holiday weekend.

Meanwhile, the feel-good musical romance “La La Land� appears to have gotten a boost from its record seven wins at Sunday’s Golden Globe Awards. The Lionsgate release starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone grossed $4.1 million Friday at 1,848 locations, including 148 IMAX screens. That’s an improvement of 38% over last weekend.

“La La Land� is virtually tied with “Patriots Day,� which grossed an estimated $4.13 million Friday, its first weekend in wide release. Directed by Peter Berg, the Mark Wahlberg-starring drama about the Boston Marathon bombing is on track to make $15 million over the long weekend. After a three-week limited run, the CBS Films/Lionsgate release has been boosted by strong word-of-mouth and generally positive reviews.

“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story� continues to perform in its fifth week in release. The Lucasfilm/Disney film grossed an estimated $3.24 million at Friday’s box office. It finished just behind “Hidden Figures� last weekend.

New release “Monster Trucks,� a live-action family film about a teenager and the tentacled creature that resides in his rickety truck, earned $2.6 million Friday, putting it on track to make $14 million over the holiday. This is slightly ahead of expectations, but nowhere near enough to make back its reported $125-million budget.

And the news for “Live by Night,� in its first weekend of wide release, was nothing to celebrate.

In 2,822 locations, the Prohibition-era drama written and directed by Ben Affleck took in just $1.95 million.

Based on a novel by Dennis Lehane, the Warner Bros. release has been hindered by poor reviews. The cumulative total for “Live By Night,� which cost an estimated $65 million to make, now stands at $2.14 million.

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Octavia Spencer likes to research her roles, but there wasn’t much on file about her “Hidden Figures� character, Dorothy Vaughan.

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Several of the year’s actresses in supporting roles - Naomie Harris, Felicity Jones, Nicole Kidman, Aja Naomi King, Octavia Spencer and Michelle Williams - describe the routes they took to connect with their characters.

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