"Earth" Has Lucrative Earth Day

Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield's documentary "Earth," released by Disney, opened to big numbers on Earth Day yesterday. The film, a feature-length version of the documentary TV series "Planet Earth," grossed $4,023,788 to easily open in the top slot, taking in nearly four times the second place finisher, Zac Efron comedy "17 Again." On 1,804 locations, the film marks the widest ever opening for a documentary, and it is already the 21st highest grossing documentary of all time. Though its possible its grosses might falter post-Earth Day, it remains a heavy contender to top the overall box office this weekend, and could potentially be one of the five highest grossing docs ever by Sunday night.