I can’t find it now, but I seem to recall seeing a banner ad for Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed recently which stated that it was the top-grossing documentary of the year.
If such an ad did exist, then there is a good reason why it might not be online any more: the film, which comes out on DVD next week, is about to be surpassed by Religulous.
Josh Friedman of the Los Angeles Times reports:
“Expelled,” hosted by commentator and character actor Ben Stein, opened April 18 at a whopping 1,052 theaters and grossed a total of $7.7 million at the domestic box office during its full run, according to data tracker Box Office Mojo.
That was nothing like the breakout blockbusters “Fahrenheit 9/11” ($119.2 million), “March of the Penguins” ($77.4 million) or even “An Inconvenient Truth” ($24.1 million), but nothing to sneeze at either: It was the 12th-highest gross ever for a documentary. . . .
“Religulous,” playing at 568 theaters, is benefiting from positive word of mouth. The controversial documentary, hosted by comedian Maher (“Politically Incorrect”) and directed by Charles (“Borat“), dropped only 35% in its second weekend, compared with the industry average of about 51%. By Monday it had topped $7 million, on pace to surpass $7.7 million by Friday and ultimately to a spot in the all-time top 10 for the documentary genre. . . .
Anybody up for a double bill?
UPDATE: Aha! I found the banner ad in question at Beliefnet — so now the question is, will they still be running it next week?
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