The Daily Mail is reporting that the movie, which opened in a handful of theaters in mid-July, expanded into 1,091 theaters this weekend, which propelled it into the top 10. The documentary, which is produced by Gerald Molen (Schindler's List) and based on the book by Dinesh D'Souza, The Roots of Obama's Rage, is making a splash at a time of year when the summer blockbuster season winds down and young viewers are focused on getting back to school.
"It's extremely rare for a documentary to break into the top-10, but August can be a land of opportunity for smaller films," said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. "Also, there's the fact that this is a very conservative film. Normally, it's Michael Moore-branded documentaries, the liberal documentaries that make all the money."
As of this weekend, the documentary has climbed to a $9.1 million domestic total, with prospects for an even stronger showing in weeks ahead as the Republican National Convention kicks off this week and the film continues to roll out into more theaters.
D'Souza says the movie will probably remain in theaters throughout the month of September. A DVD release in the weeks preceding the Nov. 6 election is planned.
Even though most of the documentary's audience is conservative thus far, he believes that just as the anti-Bush movie, Fahrenheit 9/11, drew some conservatives out of curiosity, the "buzz" surrounding 2016 will probably draw some liberal viewers in to see it.
"What's happening is that people are really hungry for new information about Obama. There really is this sense that he remains an elusive figure," D'Souza said. "Then there's a second sense that the American dream is in the balance, the American dream is at stake, and that gives people a sense of anxiety about where the country is going."
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