How a movie about black NASA heroes became the crowd-pleasing…

The box-office success of best picture nominee “Hidden Figures” is as much an underdog story as the one it tells. When director Theodore Melfi’s look at the black female mathematicians who were vital in getting Americans in space in the 1960s hit wide release in January, industry insiders regarded it as the latest release to get crowded out by “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” which still at No.