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Zac Efron's new film has third-worst opening weekend of all time

"We Are Your Friends" stars the actor and Wes Bentley as electronic music DJs.

By Annie Martin
Zac Efron at the Los Angeles premiere of 'We Are Your Friends' on Aug. 20. The movie had the third-worst opening weekend of all time following its release Aug. 28. Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI
1 of 3 | Zac Efron at the Los Angeles premiere of 'We Are Your Friends' on Aug. 20. The movie had the third-worst opening weekend of all time following its release Aug. 28. Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- The Zac Efron film We Are Your Friends had one of the worst opening weekends of all time following its release in theaters Friday.

The movie, which stars the 27-year-old actor as an aspiring DJ, earned just $1.8 million in over 2,300 theaters nationwide. The performance is the third-worst on Box Office Mojo's list, which includes films released in 1982 and later in at least 2,000 theaters.

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"This was a passion project for Zac Efron, and we believe in him," Warner Bros. domestic distribution Executive Vice President Jeff Goldstein told The Hollywood Reporter. "Yes, the result was disappointing, but this was a small film."

The 2012 movie The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure had the worst opening of all time, earning just $443,901, while the 2008 film Delgo opened to $511,920. Other titles in the top 10 include Major League: Back to the Minors and The Adventures of Pluto Nash.

N.W.A. biopic Straight Out of Compton, meanwhile, topped the box office for the third weekend in a row. The Christian drama War Room also had a strong showing, leading Sony head of distribution Rory Bruer to say, "We knew that we were going to get a lot of love, we just didn't expect quite this much love."

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Efron will star in Dirty Grandpa with Robert De Niro, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising with Seth Rogen and Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates with Anna Kendrick in 2016. The actor came to fame as Troy Bolton in the High School Musical movies on the Disney Channel.

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