'Won't You Be My Neighbor?' Crosses $20 Million at Indie Box Office

Focus Features’ “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” hit a big milestone this weekend, crossing the $20 million mark.

Earning rave reviews at Sundance and going on to find success with “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” fans worldwide, Morgan Neville’s documentary now sits among the top 15 highest grossing non-fiction films of all-time after two months in theaters. While its theatrical run has never exceeded 900 screens, “Neighbor” has outgrossed four Disneynature documentaries like “Oceans” and “Monkey Kingdom,” all of which opened to more than 1,000 screens.

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While the life and times of Fred Rogers continues to charm audiences, a new documentary, “Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood,” had a big start from its single-screen release at the Arclight Hollywood. From that one venue, the documentary made $30,941, putting it second behind “Three Identical Strangers” ($34,301) for per screen averages earned by docs this year.

Released by Greenwich Entertainment, the new documentary explores the life of Scotty Bowers, a bisexual ex-Marine who after World War II became Hollywood’s most popular underground pimp, hooking up closeted celebrities during Tinseltown’s Golden Age. Among the celebrities Bowers says were his clients are Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, while others like Gore Vidal and game show maven Merv Griffin have openly spoken about their time with him. Critics have praised the film, giving it 95 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

On the fiction side, Sony Pictures Classics released Marc Turtletaub’s drama “Puzzle” in five theaters, earning a solid per screen average of $12,673 for a total of $63,364. Starring Kelly Macdonald, the film follows a middle-aged mother who finds a passion for jigsaw puzzles, but which results in a conflict with her husband (David Denman) after she begins to grow fond of her supportive puzzle-solving partner (Irrfan Khan). The film has an 87 percent Rotten Tomatoes score.

Also Read: 'Dark Money' Film Review: Campaign-Finance Doc Uncovers Secret Corruption

Among holdovers, Summit/Lionsgate’s “Blindspotting” expanded to 532 screens in its second weekend, making $1.32 million for a total of just under $1.8 million. Bleecker Street added one screen to “McQueen” for its second weekend, giving it $84,378 from five screens and a per screen average of $16,878. The documentary now has a total of $247,700.

A24’s “Eighth Grade” added $1.3 million from 158 screens in its third weekend, bringing its total to just under $3 million. Annapurna’s “Sorry to Bother You” added $1.45 million from 802 screens to bring its total to $13.3 million. Finally, NEON’s “Three Identical Strangers” added $1.27 million from 433 screens in its fifth weekend to push its total to $6.7 million.

15 Top Grossing Documentaries at the Box Office, From 'An Inconvenient Truth' to 'Fahrenheit 9/11' (Photos)

Documentaries are rarely big money makers, but they can have the power to influence change and motivate people to action in a way narrative films cannot. So when a documentary does make a splash at the box office, it's an even bigger surprise. This list of the top-15 grossing documentaries ever is an interesting mix of political, nature and concert docs, and several of them likewise went on to win Oscars and critical acclaim. All numbers are domestic totals via Box Office Mojo.
Warner Bros./National Geographic Films/Paramount Classics
15. "They Shall Not Grow Old" (2018) - $17.9 million

Director Peter Jackson went to painstaking lengths to digitally restore and transform 100-year-old archival footage for his powerful documentary on World War I. Jackson restored color and sound to the Great War, something that was previously only known through black and white silent film. The documentary performed well in part because of a release that even transformed the footage into 3D.
Warner Bros.
14. "Oceans" (2010) - $19.4 million

You'll see a lot of Disneynature documentaries on this list. Pierce Brosnan narrates this 2010 documentary filmed across the world's oceans.
Disneynature
13. "Bowling for Columbine" (2002) - $21.5 million

Michael Moore's provocative documentary about American gun violence (and one of his best) won the Oscar for Best Documentary and broke international box office records for a documentary in 2002.
United Artists
12. "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" (2018) - $22.8 million

Morgan Neville's portrait of Fred Rogers and "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" proved to be a crowd-pleasing hit in the summer of 2018 because of the absolute niceness at its heart. Neville in his film explains that Fred Rogers was the rare person who really did not have a dark side, and in "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" it shows.
Jim Judkis / Focus Features
11. "An Inconvenient Truth" (2006) - $24.1 million

Davis Guggenheim's documentary spotlighting former Vice President Al Gore's plea to alert the world to the effects of global warming and climate change went on to win two Oscars and earn a sequel.
Paramount Classics
10. "Sicko" (2007) - $24.5 million

Another Michael Moore movie to crack the list, "Sicko" was Moore's look at the healthcare industry in America compared to other nations, with Moore sailing sick veterans down to Cuba to receive the care they couldn't have had at home.
Lionsgate
9. "Katy Perry: Part of Me" (2012) - $25.3 million

This 2012 concert movie followed Katy Perry on her California Dreams World Tour.
Paramount Pictures
8. "One Direction: This Is Us" (2013) - $28.8 million

"Super Size Me" filmmaker Morgan Spurlock directed this concert doc about the then wildly popular British boy group.
TriStar
7. "Chimpanzee" (2012) - $28.9 million

Tim Allen narrated this Disneynature doc about a three-month old chimp separated from his flock and adopted by another grown male.
Disneynature
6. "Earth" (2007) - $32 million

The first of Disneynature's documentaries, "Earth" was a theatrical version of the popular "Planet Earth" miniseries from 2006. "Earth" was finally given a stateside theatrical release in 2009.
Disneynature
5. "2016: Obama's America" (2012) - $33.4 million

Dinesh D'Souza's anti-Obama documentary speculated about where the country would be if Obama won a second term in office in 2012.
Getty Images
4. "Michael Jackson's This Is It" (2009) - $72 million

The footage in "This Is It" comes from a behind-the-scenes look at preparation for Michael Jackson's 50 shows at London's O2 Arena. It wasn't originally meant to be made into a film, but it provided an intimate look at Jackson in his final days.
Getty Images
3. "Justin Bieber: Never Say Never" (2011) - $73 million

The Biebs holds the spot for the highest-grossing concert film ever and the documentary with the biggest opening weekend of all time.
Paramount Pictures
2. "March of the Penguins" (2005) - $77.4 million

People sure love penguins. Morgan Freeman narrates the nature documentary that opened on just four screens but soon spread into a nationwide hit.
National Geographic Films
1. "Fahrenheit 9/11" (2004) - $119.1 million

Michael Moore's scathing documentary about President George W. Bush and the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks is the highest-grossing documentary of all time and it isn't even close. The film won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Opening at over $23 million, the movie at the time opened higher than any other documentary had ever grossed in its lifetime. Moore followed up the film with a documentary about the 2016 election and Donald Trump, titled "Fahrenheit 11/9," which refers to the day after he was elected.
Miramax

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Michael Moore, Disneynature and several concert films top the list

Documentaries are rarely big money makers, but they can have the power to influence change and motivate people to action in a way narrative films cannot. So when a documentary does make a splash at the box office, it's an even bigger surprise. This list of the top-15 grossing documentaries ever is an interesting mix of political, nature and concert docs, and several of them likewise went on to win Oscars and critical acclaim. All numbers are domestic totals via Box Office Mojo.

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15 Top Grossing Documentaries at the Box Office, From 'An Inconvenient Truth' to 'Fahrenheit 9/11' (Photos)

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