Dinesh D’Souza’s new $2.5 million documentary 2016: Obama’s America, is “on the verge of breaking into the national zeitgeist” reports Entertainment Weekly. This week, the story of Obama’s radical roots jumps to 1,090 theaters. It’s the top-selling movie on Fandango for people buying tickets for films they’ll see this weekend. Last weekend it took in $1.24 million even though it was on only 169 screens. EW says it’s on track to do far better than the average documentary.
It’s still not in Michael Moore territory. His anti–George Bush screed Fahrenheit 9/11 eventually earned $119.2 million. But 2016: Obama’s America is more cerebral and subdued. D’Souza, a bestselling author and the president of King’s College in New York, emigrated from India as a boy, and he used the film to tell us how Obama’s exotic upbringing in Hawaii and Indonesia might have shaped his views, such as his curious belief that small-business owners can’t take credit for their own success.