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'Fahrenheit 9/11' sets documentary record

Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" took in a whopping .8 million in its first three days, becoming the first documentary ever to debut as Hollywood's top weekend film.

If Sunday's estimates hold when final numbers are released Monday, "Fahrenheit 9/11" would set a record in a single weekend as the top-grossing documentary ever outside of concert films and movies made for huge-screen IMAX theaters.

Adding the film's haul at two New York City theaters where it opened two days earlier than the rest of the country, boosted "Fahrenheit 9/11" to .96 million.

"Bowling for Columbine," Moore's 2002 Academy Award-winning documentary, previously held the documentary record with .6 million.

"Fahrenheit 9/11," Moore's assault on US President Bush's actions after the 2001 terrorist attacks, won the top honor at last month's Cannes Film Festival and has attracted attention from both sides in the US presidential campaign.

The movie has been embraced by left-wing groups, which mobilized members to see it during the opening weekend. Conservative groups sought to discourage theaters from showing it and asked the Federal Election Commission to examine its ads for potential violations of campaign-finance law regulating when commercials may feature a presidential candidate.

"I want to thank all the right-wing organizations out there who tried to stop the film, either from their harassment campaign that didn't work on the theater owners, or going to the FEC to get our ads removed from television, to all the things that have been said on television," Moore said. "It's only encouraged more people to go and see it."

"Fahrenheit 9/11" opened in 868 theaters, a wide release for a documentary but narrow compared to big Hollywood flicks.

Distributors Lions Gate and IFC Films plan to put "Fahrenheit 9/11" into a couple of hundred more theaters this Wednesday, when competition heats up with the release of "Spider-Man 2," summer's most-anticipated movie.

(Agencies)

美國導演邁克爾·摩爾的紀錄片《華氏911》上映頭三天的票房收入就達到驚人的2180萬美元，成為第一部首映即登上好萊塢周末電影排行榜榜首的記錄片。

如果周一公布的最終收入正如周日所預計的那樣,《華氏911》將創造記錄，成為除了音樂片和超大屏幕電影之外單周周末票房最高的紀錄片。

該片在紐約兩家影院的上映時間比全美其他地方提前兩天，加上這兩家影院的票房收入，《華氏911》的票房已經達到2196萬美元。

摩爾的作品《科隆拜恩的保齡》曾獲得2002年奧斯卡最佳紀錄片獎。在此之前，該片保持著2160萬美元的紀錄片票房紀錄。

摩爾在《華氏911》中抨擊2001年恐怖襲擊后美國總統布什的行為。該片贏得了上個月舉行的戛納電影節的最高榮譽金棕櫚獎，同時也吸引了美國總統競選雙方的注意。

左翼團體大力支持這部影片并動員組織成員在首映周末觀看該片。而保守團體則力求阻止影院放映該片，并請求聯邦選舉委員會調查其廣告是否在影射一位總統候選人時有可能違反了競選經費籌集法的規定。

摩爾說：“我要感謝右翼組織為阻止放映這部電影所做的一切，不管是對電影院老板的騷擾活動沒有得逞，還是游說聯邦選舉委員會刪除我們的電視廣告，到他們在電視上所講的一切。這只會促使更多的人去觀看這部電影。”

《華氏911》在868家影院上映，對于紀錄片來說，發行規模相當大了，但是與好萊塢大片相比范圍仍然很窄。

發行商萊昂·蓋特和獨立電影發行公司IFC計劃本周三在兩百多家影院上映《華氏911》。屆時，夏季最令人期待的影片《蜘蛛俠2》將公開上映，競爭會更加激烈。

top-grossing: 票房收入最高的
IMAX: 超大屏幕
haul: 票房收入
FEC: 聯邦選舉委員會
flick: 電影

（中國日報網站譯）

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