Bowling for Columbine earns the highest box office for a non-concert documentary, topping the previous record held by a title made in the 1970s.
2003
Michael Moore wins the Best Documentary Oscar for Bowling for Columbine. Moore brings all his fellow nominees onstage to accept the award, and he then proceeds to blast the Bush administration, which gets boos from the audience. Campaigns later start to get his award revoked.
The winner of the Documentary Short Subjects is Twin Towers.
2004
Academy Awards: Short Subjects winner is Chernobyl Heart, and Features winner is The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara.
Fahrenheit 9/11 breaks exhibition records for a documentary in wide release. In its opening three weeks, the film is shown on 868, 1725, and 2,011 screens respectively, the most for any documentary. The film eventaully earns more than $100 million in the United States, the first documentary to do so.
2005
Academy Awards: Short Subjects winner is Mighty Times: The Children’s March, and Features winner is Born Into Brothels: Calcutta’s Red Light Kids.
March of the Penguins waddles to the No. 2 top-grossing documentary in the United States, beating the record previously held by Bowling for Columbine.