2016 Obama’s America, a controversial new documentary that attempts to shine a negative light on the presidency of current US leader Barack Obama has fallen from the top spot in box office sales.
That doesn’t mean that the film isn’t doing well, however. It is still the second highest grossing new film and has settled at number 8 over the weekend. The film, directed by John Sullivan and Dinesh D’Souza, shocked the nation when it outsold other movies last weekend, including action thriller
Premium Rush.
Based on D’Souza’s book,
The Roots of Obama’s Rage, the film follows the narration of D’Souza who travels to Africa to meet Obama’s half-brother – George. A
previously released clip from the documentary shows D’Souza grilling George Obama with questions about his brother, in an attempt to get him to say that the president should be doing more to help his brother financially.
The film’s figures are especially impressive because it initially enjoyed a very limited release, and is still playing in fewer theatres across North America than other wider release films.
It has even earned its place as the #1 biggest grossing conservative political documentary of all time, and the 6th biggest political documentary of all time, following in the footsteps of political documentaries by Michael Moore and Al Gore. Producer Gerald R. Molen actually credits Moore for the film.
'When he released Fahrenheit 9/11 in 2004 ahead of the election, it sparked intense debate,' he
said.
The film enjoyed particular success through pre-sale tickets. It also took up a nationwide marketing campaign which spread the word through conservative based media such as Fox News.
Other films making some box office noise include
Expendables 2, which has slipped into the number one spot in its third week. The film, penned by Richard Wenk and Sylvester Stallone, has brought in $13 million for the weekend which is $1 million down from last year’s highest-grossing film of the same weekend,
The Help.
The Bourne Legacy came in second place this weekend, but no new movie was able to pull in more than $6.5 million.
'It’s exhausting working with numbers this bad,' one studio executive said.