As the Presidential race in the US nears D-Day, an anti-Obama documentary made by an Indian-American has suddenly become a surprise box office hit and a must watch for Republican delegates trooping to storm-drenched Tampa.
The film '2016: Obama's America', which claims death and dismemberment of the US if Barack Obama wins a second term in the November 6 elections, has over the past week grossed about USD 6.5 million, jumping to the seventh spot in top 10 movies of the nation.
Based on Mumbai-born director Dinesh D'Souza's New York Times bestseller book, 'The Roots of Obama's Rage', the documentary claims Obama inherited a left-wing world view from his father and if re-elected he would turn to socialism and bankrupt the nation.
"After a very successful run in limited release, 2016 Obama's America expanded to 1,091 locations and earned USD 6.5 million this weekend," reported Box Office Mojo, the most comprehensive box office database on the Internet.
After its phenomenal success, the movie is now being expanded to 1,800 theaters across the country.
"This is one of the best weekends ever for a political documentary, and only falls behind the first few frames for Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 (which this movie is clearly mimicking in its pre-election release pattern)," Box Office Mojo said.
"2016 has now earned USD 9.35 million, which makes it the highest-grossing conservative documentary ever ahead of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (USD 7.7 million).
"It also already ranks sixth all-time among political docs behind four Michael Moore movies and Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, and it could pass a few of these movies if it's able to maintain this momentum after this week's Republican National Convention," it said.
Living a true American dream, Mumbai-born Dinesh moved to the US to attend Dartmouth University on a Rotary Scholarship. Following graduation he went to work in the Reagan White House as a policy analyst.
Dinesh has been a fellow of the Hoover Institute at Stanford University and the American Enterprise Institute. His other titles include the popular 'What's So Great About Christianity', 'Letters to a Young Conservative', and 'The End of Racism'.
He is a popular speaker and has appeared on Hannity, The Colbert Reporter, Glenn Beck and Politically Incorrect.
The documentary according to its producers takes audiences on a gripping visual journey into the heart of the world’s most powerful office to reveal the struggle of whether one man’s past will redefine America over the next four years.
The film examines the question, "If Obama wins a second term, where will we be in 2016? Immersed in exotic locales across four continents, bestselling author Dinesh D'Souza races against time to find answers to Obama's past and reveal where America will be in 2016," a media release said.
During this journey he discovers how 'Hope and Change' became radically misunderstood, and identifies new flashpoints for hot wars in mankind's greatest struggle.
The journey moves quickly over the arc of the old colonial empires, into America's empire of liberty, and thus the unfolding realignment of nations and the shape of the global future.
"Film 2016, came out of nowhere to burn up the box office," screams the Washington Post, calling it the "most successful" political documentary of all times.
John Sullivan, D'Souza's co-director, credits "a grass-roots campaign" for the film's relative success, the paper said.