Box office 'inconvenience': global warming sequel claims no. 1

Follow up to Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth opens with strong performance

More than a decade after the release of An Inconvenient Truth, the sequel to the groundbreaking global warming documentary is making an impact at the box office.

An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power earned the top spot among nonfiction films over the weekend, taking in $124,823 according to audience tracker comScore.

The film by Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk played on only four screens, but earned an impressive $31,206 at each venue. A heavy promotional effort by former Vice President Al Gore, who again is the centerpiece of the sequel, helped lift its box office fortunes. 

From the New York Times review of "An Inconvenient Sequel," written by critic Ben Kenigsberg.

An Inconvenient Sequel "is a reboot that justifies its existence," New York Times critic Ben Kenigsberg wrote in his review. "If there is a thesis in this new documentary... it’s that a rise in extreme weather is making the impact of climate change harder to deny," 

The film expands to more locations this Friday. It premiered in January at the Sundance Film Festival, where the original -- directed by Davis Guggenheim -- also debuted. 

A scene from "An Inconvenient Sequel" where Al Gore visits Tacloban City in the Philippines after it was hit by Typhoon Haiyan. Photo by Jensen Walker/Paramount Pictures

Last weekend's number one film, City of Ghosts, dropped to third place. The Matthew Heineman documentary has earned $101,635 in four weeks of release, comScore reported.

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Related: a conversation with Matthew Heineman on his City of Ghosts. 'It's an homage to a group of people who have risked everything to fight for the truth'

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The number two documentary over the weekend has been around for over a year, the IMAX film A Beautiful Planet, narrated by Jennifer Lawrence. Playing at a single location, the film created in association with NASA pushed its total to $11,638,062.

The top five films as reported by comScore:

1. An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power by Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk
2. A Beautiful Planet Toni Myers
3. City of Ghosts by Matthew Heineman
4. Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World by Catherine Bainbridge and Alfonso Maiorana
5. The Last Dalai Lama? by Mickey Lemle

He is right. No more climate change. It's climate crisis.

Please go see #inconvenientsequel It is perspective changing, hopeful even. https://t.co/O0ivW9mmre

— Lou Freshwater □□ (@loufreshwater) July 29, 2017

Al Gore's #InconvenientSequel screening snubbed by Capitol Hill Republicans https://t.co/co1Ux8necx pic.twitter.com/d5llVjxQRt

— Hollywood Reporter (@THR) July 25, 2017

Join us on Wed, Aug 2nd at 12pm, when @algore will be here signing his new book #AnInconvenientSequel!

Guidelines: https://t.co/VUjp7v1nFn pic.twitter.com/RW3IcUzrmB

— Barnes & Noble (@BNFifthAvenue) July 17, 2017