‘2016: Obama’s America’ beats ‘Bully’ to highest-grossing documentary (VIDEO)
A young lady is seen walking past a promotional poster at the Rave Fairfax Corner movie theater in Fairfax, Virginia, announcing the new movie ‘2016: Obama’s America’ that opened in theaters across the US, August 24, 2012.
"2016: Obama's America" opened to national audiences Friday with a bang, grossing $2.2 million its first day to become the top-grossing documentary so far this year.
The film, a critical examination of Obama from right-wing author Dinesh D’Souza and co-director and producer John Sullivan, beat out "Bully," the heat-wrenching examination of child-on-child cruelty in US schools that grossed $3.5 million, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The documentary, which is based off D'Souza's 2008 best-selling book "The Roots of Obama’s Rage," comes just in time for the Republicans to gear up for their national convention in Tampa, Florida.
"2016" is this presidency's answer to Fahrenheit 9/11: a highly critical look at how Obama has made decisions over the past four years, argues Boston Globe reviewer Mark Feeny.
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"The film becomes increasingly overt in its opposition to Obama, as insinuation gives way to accusation and assertion," Feeny wrote. "The final 25 minutes or so — the third movie — is like an episode of “The Colbert Report” with D’Souza as guest host."
D'Souza's critical doc beat out "Premium Rush" and indie comedy "Hit and Run" to be the fourth-highest grossing opener this weekend.
“The film should do close $6 million for the weekend,” Paul Dergarabedian, President of Box-office Division of Hollywood.com told the Wall Street Journal via email. “That would bring the total to date to right around $9 million.”