All - time — in what had to be dispiriting for Guggenheim, director of the very successful An Inconvenient Truth — Waiting For Superman ranks 19th in domestic
box office sales among documentaries (and, unlike with Babies or Oceans, the international appeal of WFS is almost nonexistent).
Not exact matches
Heading into the weekend, Warner Bros. was in fifth place in domestic ticket
sales among the major studios, with revenue of $ 235 million, according to
Box Office Mojo, another researcher.
It's worth noting that another Fox Searchlight film, Birdman, was
among the lowest - grossing Best Picture Oscar winners of all - time, but it went on to gross more than $ 100 million worldwide, while 12 Years a Slave (another slavery - themed period drama) grossed $ 187 million in global ticket
sales, according to
Box Office Mojo.
The researchers found their automated method of movie citations is better at predicting greatness, especially in movies 25 years old or older, than these runners - up: the expertise of movie critics (a group of critics or a single critic), the wisdom of the crowd, the numbers of awards won and the amount of
box office sales,
among others.