The Encampments has turned out looks like the highest per-screen average opening for a documentary with an anticipated $80k+ and sold-out screenings at an exclusive run at the Angelika Film Center in New York.

It’s a major step for indie distributor Watermelon Pictures, a new label, which had moved up the doc’s release given the timeliness of its subject matter. It follows students at Columbia University who in 2024 launched a movement protesting the war in Gaza. The film features detained activist Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student active in the demonstrations who also served as a spokesperson for the group with the University. He was arrested by ICE agents on March 8 and has been held in a detention center in Louisiana, where he faces deportation amid a legal fight over where his case should be heard.

“This film matters, and people are ready for it. It confirms our decision to fast-track the release — we knew the urgency was there, and we knew the demand was real,” said Justin DiPietro, EVP of Watermelon Pictures’ parent, MPI Media Group.

The top documentary performance over the last decade was 2018’s Free Solo, which took in $300.8k on four screens, or about $74k per theater.

“This landmark opening is also a testament to our incredible grassroots effort and the powerful social push we built,” DiPietro added. “Along with Executive Producer Macklemore, we brought this story to the people, and the people showed up.” The Encampments expands to Los Angeles and other top markets next Friday.

Documentary October 8 from Briarcliff Entertainment, which explores the surge in U.S. anti-semitism, including on college campuses, after Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, passed the $1 million mark this weekend with $103k at 114 theaters. That’s a cume of $1.09 million in week 3.

No Other Land (which opened in late January) is now at $2.055 million after an estimated weekend gross of $135k. Hamdan Ballal, one of the Palestinian co-directors of the Oscar-winning documentary, was freed earlier this week in Israel after being beaten and detained. The film was directed by a group of Palestinian and Israeli activists and filmmakers.

Wide-ish: Sony Pictures Classics opened The Penguin Lessons to $1.21 million on 1,017 screens.

Moderate: Filipino romantic comedy My Love Will Make You Disappear is grossing $500k on 225 screens opening weekend.

Other limited releases: Focus Features’ The Ballad Of Wallis Island by James Griffiths kicked off with $92k at 4 locations in New York and Los Angeles ($23 PTA). With a 96% Critics Score, initial exit polls from these two markets show a total positive recommend of 92%; with a definite recommend at 79%. Expands into circa 50 theaters in the top ten markets next week

Bleecker Street’s The Friend saw $66.8k on two NYC screens driven by strong reviews and positive work of mouth. Continues a major press push and heads into nationwide expansion next week.

In week 2, documentary Secret Mall Apartment directed by Jeremy Workman and self-released by Wheelhouse Creative/mTuckman media, saw $23.5k at its IFC Center debut with multiple sold out shows and a gross limited by theater capacity. It also held in Providence and adding select runs across Rhode Island and neighboring areas. So it’s looking at a healthy weekend gross of $61k and a cume of $123k including its opening week theater, Providence Place, which sits atop the titular secret abode populated for years by a group of artists and renegades.

Documentary Janis Ian: Breaking Silence from Greenwich Entertainment, on the illustrious six-decade career of the singer/songwriter and LGBTQ activist that began in the Greenwich Village folk scene of the 1960’s, opened to $9k on 2 screens, IFC Center and New Plaza Cinema. Debuted at DocNYC last November. Opens in LA on Friday, April 4 at the Laemmle Monica and Glendale, then expands to San Francisco Bay the following week in 4 locations as part of national arthouse tour. Airs on PBS’ American Masters in June.

Drafthouse Films opened Thank You Very Much to $17k on 27 screens with multiple sold-out screenings in NYC and LA.