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 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. ().
Sierra Madre, California, US
