From Peter Baker
Marcus Chown repeats the claim that the drama-documentary What the Bleep Do We Know? released in 2004, “is the fifth-biggest-grossing documentary in the US” (19 August, p 47). Can anyone tell me the source of this information? It seems extraordinary. based on what I’ve read.
The editor writes:
• If you accept the film as a documentary, and the producers’ statement that it has taken $12 million, then at the time we checked www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=documentary.htm it would rank sixth among all documentaries since 1981. That industry statistics site, however, does not appear to list the original film. It categorises the re-cut What the Bleep?: Down the Rabbit Hole, released in February 2006, as “comedy/drama”, and records total US box-office takings (in mainstream cinemas) at the considerably lower figure of $138,913 therefore ranking it 6482 among all films and 187 on the documentary rankings. (http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=whatthebleep2.htm).
Sierra Madre, California, US
