Climbing to record heights

British docu-drama film Touching the Void today overtook Bowling for Columbine as the highest grossing documentary in UK box office history.

The movie won the Alexander Korda Award for Outstanding British Film of the Year at the recent BAFTA Awards as well as the Evening Standard’s Best Film Award.

Touching the Void tells the true-life story of climbers Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, who became the first people ever to make their way up to the top of the 21,000 foot Siula Grande peak in the Peruvian Andes.

However, after a series of life-threatening disasters, Yates was forced to make a tough decision to cut Simpson's rope in order to prevent them from both falling to their deaths. Miraculously, both men survived.

The film - directed by Oscar-winning Kevin McDonald - re-tells this incredible tale using interviews and re-enactment footage to amazing effect.

Released in December last year, and now in its 11th week in cinemas, the current gross box office is £1,681,619 and climbing...

The current list of documentary grosses is as follows:

1. TOUCHING THE VOID (2003) £ 1, 681, 619
2. BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE (2002) £ 1, 667, 625
3. IN BED WITH MADONNA (1991) £ 1, 246, 070
4. BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB (1999) £ 955, 278
5. ETRE ET AVOIR (2003) £ 704, 582