Box Office Shocker: Anti-Obama Doc Bests Other New Films on Friday

8:56 AM PDT 8/25/2012 by Pamela McClintock

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Becoming the top-grossing documentary of the year, "2016: Obama's America" earns $2.2 million for the day to outpace "Premium Rush," "Hit & Run" and "The Apparition."

Dinesh D’Souza and John Sullivan’s conservative documentary 2016: Obama's America expanded nationwide Friday to pleasing results, grossing $2.2 million to place No. 4 overall behind a trio of holdovers.

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The anti-Barack Obama film is now the top-grossing documentary of the year (excluding nature docs), besting the $3.5 million earned by Bully.

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Obama's America came in ahead of three other new films opening at the domestic office: Premium Rush, which earned $2 million to come in only No. 8 for the day; offbeat indie comedy Hit & Run, which placed No. 10 with $1.4 million; and Dark Castle's supernatural thriller The Apparition, which grossed $1.2 million to rank 12th.

Topping the box office for the second Friday in a row was Lionsgate and Millennium Films' The Expendables 2, which grossed in the $3.8 million to $4 million range. Universal's The Bourne Legacyheld at No. 2, grossing $2.8 million. Focus Features' animated family entry ParaNorman grossed roughly $2.3 million Friday.

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It's not clear where Obama's America, distributed by Rocky Mountain Pictures, will end up for the weekend, though most box-office observers believe it will gross in the $6 million range. On Friday, the documentary upped its theater count from 169 to 1,090, just as Republicans began heading to Tampa, Fla., where the Republican National Convention begins Monday.

Obama's America did well in a number of the large cities where it opened Friday, including Denver, Phoenix and San Diego. Smaller markets also turned in stellar numbers, including Baton Rouge, La., Wichita, Kan., Grand Junction, Colo., and Albany, NY.