About: Highest-Grossing Documentary Films of All Time

Overview of the data behind this chart

Documentary films ranked by total worldwide box office gross, measured in millions of USD. Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) by Michael Moore remains the highest-grossing documentary in cinema history with $222 million worldwide — a theatrical achievement that demonstrated the commercial viability of politically engaged documentary filmmaking and opened the door for a generation of high-budget documentaries that audiences would pay to see in cinemas rather than simply watch on television.

Key Findings

Auto-computed highlights from this dataset

🏆

Free Solo (2018) leads with 29 in 2018.

📊

Average value in 2018: 29 · median: 29.

📅

2004 recorded the highest combined total across all categories.

Chart Controls Customize your visualization

Chart Type

Bar

H-bar

Line

Area

Table

Filter by Categories

Additional Data

Highest-Grossing Documentary Films of All Time

Data Insights Below

Data Insights

Numbers, trends & sources behind this chart

Guest

⬡

Data Points

8 categories · 8 years

↑

Top Value

222

Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)

Worldwide Box Office (Million USD) · 2004

◈

Metrics

Worldwide Box Office (Million USD)

◷

Period

2002 – 2018

8 years of data

Statistical Summary — 2018

Maximum

Minimum

Average

Median

What This Data Shows

Auto-generated trend summaries per category

→

Bowling for Columbine (2002)

Recorded 58 Worldwide Box Office (Million USD) in 2002.

Source

→

Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)

Recorded 222 Worldwide Box Office (Million USD) in 2004.

Source

→

March of the Penguins (2005)

Recorded 127 Worldwide Box Office (Million USD) in 2005.

Source

→

An Inconvenient Truth (2006)

Recorded 49 Worldwide Box Office (Million USD) in 2006.

Source

→

Earth (2007)

Recorded 109 Worldwide Box Office (Million USD) in 2007.

Source

→

Oceans (2009)

Recorded 80 Worldwide Box Office (Million USD) in 2009.

Source

→

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (2011)

Recorded 99 Worldwide Box Office (Million USD) in 2011.

Source

→

Free Solo (2018)

Recorded 29 Worldwide Box Office (Million USD) in 2018.

Source

Full Data Table

8 records across 8 years

8 sourced

Category	Metric	2002	2004	2005	2006	2007	2009	2011	2018
Bowling for Columbine (2002)	Worldwide Box Office (Million USD)	58	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)	Worldwide Box Office (Million USD)	—	222	—	—	—	—	—	—
March of the Penguins (2005)	Worldwide Box Office (Million USD)	—	—	127	—	—	—	—	—
An Inconvenient Truth (2006)	Worldwide Box Office (Million USD)	—	—	—	49	—	—	—	—
Earth (2007)	Worldwide Box Office (Million USD)	—	—	—	—	109	—	—	—
Oceans (2009)	Worldwide Box Office (Million USD)	—	—	—	—	—	80	—	—
Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (2011)	Worldwide Box Office (Million USD)	—	—	—	—	—	—	99	—
Free Solo (2018)	Worldwide Box Office (Million USD)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	29