Documentaries have a reputation for being, as Jerry Seinfeld put it at the 2007 Oscars, “incredibly depressing.” But not this year.
While 2018 has seen its share of high-profile political docus, including Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 11/9” and Errol Morris’ “American Dharma,” audiences seem to be in serious need of inspirational non-fiction films that don’t deal directly with politics. The evidence is the abnormally lofty documentary box office numbers over the summer.
At the height of popcorn season, when franchises were taking over multiplexes, Morgan Neville’s “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” about Fred Rogers — the minister and famed children’s TV host — drew in more than $22 million domestically in 14 weeks. That’s the highest amount a documentary has made theatrically since 2013.
“What Mr. Rogers did with his show was to help kids navigate the fear they felt and didn’t understand,” says Neville. “And that’s exactly what he does for adults too.
While 2018 has seen its share of high-profile political docus, including Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 11/9” and Errol Morris’ “American Dharma,” audiences seem to be in serious need of inspirational non-fiction films that don’t deal directly with politics. The evidence is the abnormally lofty documentary box office numbers over the summer.
At the height of popcorn season, when franchises were taking over multiplexes, Morgan Neville’s “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” about Fred Rogers — the minister and famed children’s TV host — drew in more than $22 million domestically in 14 weeks. That’s the highest amount a documentary has made theatrically since 2013.
“What Mr. Rogers did with his show was to help kids navigate the fear they felt and didn’t understand,” says Neville. “And that’s exactly what he does for adults too.
- 11/9/2018
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
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