'Beautiful' film tops doc box office; Werner Herzog rises to second

Dinesh D'Souza's attack film on Hillary Clinton and Democratic Party drops spot

Werner Herzog's latest documentary is finding traction at the documentary box office.

Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World claimed the number two spot over the weekend, with $122,322 in ticket sales according to audience measurement firm Rentrak. That was up one spot from its debut weekend when Lo and Behold took third place.

It was just edged out for number one by A Beautiful Planet, the IMAX space film narrated by Jennifer Lawrence. That film made $125,673 over the weekend, upping its box office total to an impressive $5,653,889, Rentrak reported.

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By far the most successful documentary of the year remains Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party, directed by conservative author Dinesh D'Souza. After seven weeks of release the film has earned $12,474,172, more than double the take of A Beautiful Planet. However, it could only muster a third place finish at the box office over the weekend, indicating much of the wind may be out of its sails.

Critics have not been kind to D'Souza's film, with many calling it poorly produced and self-serving [the director spends a good portion of his film explaining away a felony conviction for making an illegal political campaign contribution]. The documentary rates on 4-percent approval on rottentomatoes.com, but according to that site 83-percent of viewers liked the film, suggesting it is playing to a receptive audience.

Rounding out the top five at the box office: Miss Sharon Jones! came in fourth. The film by acclaimed director Barbara Kopple documents Sharon Jones' singing career and her battle with pancreatic cancer.

In fifth place was Gleason, the documentary about former NFL player Steve Gleason and his struggle with ALS. Gleason has made $576,589 in five weeks of release, Rentrak reported.