Doc box office: 'Kedi' cats curled up at no. 1; 'I Am Not Your Negro' nears $7 mil.

Ceyda Torun's film about felines of Istanbul has spent weeks on top 

via GIPHY

The surprise hit Kedi, a documentary about the cats of historic Istanbul, continues to reign supreme at the domestic box office.

The film by Ceyda Torun spent yet another weekend as the most popular documentary in theatrical release, pushing its total earnings to $2,359,857, according to audience measurement firm comScore. 

"If Grumpy Cat is the blockbuster franchise of cat videos, 'Kedi' is the 'Citizen Kane' of the genre," IndieWire's Eric Kohn wrote in his review, an opinion that may resonate with many feline-loving viewers of the film.

Claiming no owners, the cats of Istanbul live between two worlds, neither wild nor tame — and they bring joy and purpose to those people they choose to adopt.

--From the Kedi website

"I grew up in Istanbul and I believe my childhood was infinitely less lonesome than it would have been if it werenʼt for cats - and I wouldnʼt be the person I am today. They were my friends and confidants and I missed their presence in all the other cities I ever lived in," Torun wrote on the Kedi website. "This film is, in many ways, a love letter to those cats and the city, both of which are changing in ways that are unpredictable."

Deniz, one of the cats followed in the documentary "Kedi." He is "young and youthful, sleeps on market stalls, hassles cats and customers alike," according to the "Kedi" website. Image courtesy Oscilloscope

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Elsewhere at the doc box office, Raoul Peck's Oscar-nominated documentary I Am Not Your Negro neared the $7 mil. mark in overall earnings, per comScore. In 11 weeks of release, IANYN has tallied $6,963,135.

​That impressive total makes the film, based on unpublished writings of the late James Baldwin, one of the most successful documentaries of the last several years. The film is currently playing on 27 screens in North America.

The top five documentaries at the box office, as reported by comScore:

1. Kedi
2. A Beautiful Planet
3. I Am Not Your Negro
4. Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary
5. David Lynch: The Art Life