Earth, the debut film from the Walt Disney Company's Disneynature division, has, since its record-breaking premiere on Earth Day April 22, grossed a total of $15,217,689 through Tuesday, making it the sixth highest-grossing docs of all time, according to boxofficemojo.com
The Disneynature team ought to know how to sniff out a hit: Earth is helmed by Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield, whose Planet Earth, footage from which is repurposed in Earth, was a high-visibility project for Discovery Channel and BBC. Jean-Franco Camilleri, one of the co-producers on the Oscar-winning March of the Penguins, heads Disneynature, and the next film out of the Disneynature label, Oceans, is directed by Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud, whose Winged Migration grossed $11,689,053 in 2003.
Earth is the second doc to top the $1 million mark in 2009; the first was Ari Folman's Waltz with Bashir, now at $2,273,903. Here's a rundown of the top ten highest grossing docs of the year so far:
1) Earth (Dirs.: Alastair Fothergill, Mark Linfield): $15,217,689
2) Waltz with Bashir (Dir.: Ari Folman) $ 2,273,903
3) The Cross: The Arthur Blessit Story (Dir.: Matthew Crouch) $ 675,000
4) Valentino: The Last Emperor (Dir.: Matt Tyrnauer): $ 571,977
5) Every Little Step (Dirs.: Adam Del Deo, James D. Stern): $ 151,200
6) Brothers at War (Dir.: Jake Rademacher): $ 113,674
7) Ballerina (Dir.: Bertrand Normand): $ 98,616
8) Enlighten Up! (Dir.: Kate Churchill): $ 93,311
9) Examined Life (Dir.: Astra Taylor): $ 87,700
10) Tyson (Dir.: James Toback): $ 85,046