By Mike Snider
USA Today

Documentaries have arrived as a potent movie force - it's not just record-breaker Fahrenheit 9/11. Theaters and moviegoers are more welcoming of the genre, once relegated to art-house theaters.

So far this year, 45 documentaries have been released in theaters, up from 29 by this time last year and 28 the year before, says box office tracking firm Nielsen EDI.

Michael Moore's anti-Bush documentary passed the $100 million mark, unprecedented for a documentary and considered a hit for a big-budget film, let alone one made for $6 million. But taking Fahrenheit from the equation, documentaries have taken in about $25 million this year, ahead of the pace for the past two years, according to EDI numbers.

"More people can relate to the subject matters of the current documentaries than at any time in the past," says Joe Amodei, head of Hart Sharp Video, which is co-distributing Super Size Me, Morgan Spurlock's hit about eating only McDonald's food for a month.

A big theme for this year's documentaries, including Fahrenheit, is politics and power, and that has helped. "When you have subjects that incite passion, you have more interest and more sales," says Nielsen EDI's Adrienne Becker.

More are capitalizing on interest in current events:

• Documentaries that came out first on DVD are popping up in theaters. Bush's Brain, about presidential adviser Karl Rove, will run in New York and Austin next month. Uncovered: The War on Iraq hits major markets in late August and eventually will play in 200 theaters. Director Robert Greenwald is adding about 30 minutes for the theatrical version.

• The Yes Men, a political satire about a duo who impersonate World Trade Organization officials, is scheduled to open Sept. 24 in New York and Los Angeles.

The box office success will ripple through to home viewing as well.

Randy Wells, vice president of Miramax Home Entertainment, says, "You are still more likely to find documentaries on DVD than in theaters, but with each new successful theatrical campaign, the door opens (even) wider."