Doc box office: Ai WeiWei's 'Human Flow' No. 1

Brett Morgen's Jane debuts in second place

A still image from "Human Flow," directed by Ai WeiWei. Courtesy Amazon Studios

Artist and filmmaker Ai WeiWei's compelling documentary on the world refugee crisis remains on top of the doc box office.

Human Flow, filmed in 23 countries from the Middle East to Europe and the U.S.-Mexico border, earned $85,953 over the weekend, according to audience measurement company comScore. Its two-week total stands at $154,791.

Brett Morgen's documentary Jane, about the primatologist and conservationist Jane Goodall, made its theatrical debut over the weekend, coming in second place. It collected $58,348 on just three screens, for an impressive average of $19,449 per screen.

Jane expands to more than a dozen cities in the coming days and weeks, including San Francisco, Chicago and Washington DC.

Jane gets a standing ovation every day of her life.

--Brett Morgen, joking about the veneration Jane Goodall receives from an admiring public

National Geographic produced the film, which is constructed around rediscovered film of Goodall that was shot in the early 1960s as she conducted research on chimpanzees in the wild in Gombe, Tanzania.

Director Brett Morgen at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills. Tuesday, October 10, 2017. Photo by Matt Carey

Third place belonged to Faces Places, the documentary collaboration between 89-year-old filmmaker Agnès Varda and the 33-year-old photographer JR. Its three week total now stands at $159,272, according to comScore. The film currently enjoys a "100-percent fresh" rating on RottenTomatoes.com, with unanimous praise from 47 critics surveyed.

Taking fourth place was Chavela, the documentary about the great Mexican singer Chavela Vargas directed by Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi. Chavela's emotional and passionate rendition of  traditional música ranchera won her acclaim from Mexico City to Madrid and Paris.

Fifth place went to Dina, directed by Dan Sickles and Antonio Santini. The story of a neuro-diverse woman and her relationship with an autistic man won the grand jury prize for U.S. documentary at the Sundance Film Festival last January.

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Related: Dan & Antonio on working with Dina -- 'The second she steps away I miss her like nothing else'

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Chavela: singer triumphed over homophobia and alcoholism to become a legend

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Top quotes from Agnès Varda: 'We have to have the power of imagination. We should not lose that power.'

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Director Brett Morgen on working with the great Jane Goodall: 'When you're around Jane you can't help but think, "What can I do today to make the world just a little bit better?"'

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Human Flow director Ai WeiWei on the refugee crisis and the Trump administration: America 'betrayed its own values' 

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