Theatrical Documentary Market in ‘Robust Shape,’ Dogwoof’s Oli Harbottle Says

The theatrical market for documentary films is in “robust shape,” with 2019 proving to be a strong year for the genre after an exceptional 2018, reports Oli Harbottle, head of distribution and acquisitions at leading U.K.

documentary outfit Dogwoof.Harbottle says 2019 was always going to struggle to match 2018’s “blockbuster” year, which saw the release of hits “Rbg,” “Free Solo,” “Three Identical Strangers” and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” All four surpassed $10 million in ticket sales at the U.S.

box office, with “Free Solo” taking nearly $30 million worldwide.“The big question was whether 2018 was a weird anomaly and a bubble with those four films,” says Harbottle.

“I would say thankfully no.

It looks like the market is in robust shape in terms of documentaries that have been able to deliver at the box office this year.”Although this year hasn’t seen the same number of blockbuster successes, space doc

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