“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” is tearing up non-fiction film records, surpassing the $20 million mark at the domestic indie box office this weekend, The Wrap reported.
After two months in theaters, the documentary from Academy Award-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville has become one of the top 15 grossing non-fiction films, despite never exceeding 900 screenings.
“Won't You Be My Neighbor” looks at the life of Fred Rogers, host of the venerable children's show “Mister Rogers' Neighborhood” which ran from 1968 until 2001.
The film received a huge boost from its single-screen release at the Arclight Hollywood, raking in $30,941 from that one venue alone.
The Focus Feature documentary has received praise from critics and audiences alike, generating a 99 percent tomatometer rating and 97 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes as of Monday morning.
The documentary's success came as a surprise even to its filmmaker.
"People thought the market for documentaries was extinct … We thought that if our film did anything close to $10 million, it would be a home run," Neville said, according to Collider.
"Anybody who says they aren’t surprised how well our film has done is lying … A year ago, it seems like you couldn’t pay people to go see documentaries in theaters. There were a bunch of big acquisitions at Sundance in 2017, but nothing did so well."
Focus Feature's president of distribution Lisa Bunnel noted that “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” had become a phenomenon.
"It’s cathartic," she said.
Included in the documentary are interviews with cast members from the show, including such favorites as Elizabeth Seamans (Mrs. McFeely) and François Clemmons (Officer Clemmons).
The documentary also features footage from the award-winning series, as well as interviews with Rogers, who died 15 years ago.
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