'Dolores' captures top spot at doc box office

Film about labor organizer Dolores Huerta expanded to West Coast over weekend

The weekend produced a new number one documentary at the box office.

Peter Bratt's film Dolores, about United Farm Workers Union co-founder Dolores Huerta, ascended to the top position held for weeks previously by An Inconvenient Sequel. Dolores  expanded from just two locations over the Labor Day to five this past weekend, earning $9,729 per screen, for a total of $48,646, according to audience tracker comScore.

Dolores benefitted from a serious effort by Huerta to promote the film. She appeared at screenings in Los Angeles and the Bay Area, joined at some of them by the director and celebrity supporters.

Huerta will appear at screenings in Washington DC and Philadelphia this coming weekend as the film expands to those markets. More details here.

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Related: photos from Dolores screening in L.A.

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The documentary Twenty Two, about the few remaining survivors of the estimated 200,000 Chinese women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II, debuted in second place. It earned $22,222 total, comScore reported.

The film by Guo Ke has become the top-grossing documentary in Chinese history, according to a report in the South China Morning Post.

The doc box office top five, as reported by comScore:

1. Dolores, directed by Peter Bratt
2. Twenty Two, directed by Guo Ke
3. Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World, directed by Catherine Bainbridge. Co-directed by Alfonso Majorana
4. Step, directed by Amanda Lipitz
5. A Beautiful Planet, directed by Toni Myers