Fahrenheit 9/11 grossed $23.9M this weekend, the first documentary ever to hit #1. And in one weekend, it grossed more than any documentary ever has in its entire run. (The previous record was Bowling for Columbine, which earned $21.6M in its eleven-month theatrical run.

(You may have seen a lower figure reported on the news today. Studios make estimates each Sunday, which gets reported in the Monday papers. They release final revisions Monday. The estimate for 9/11 proved two million low.)

And boxofficeguru said the performance "shattered all industry expectations."

It accomplished this playing in about a quarter of the theatres of a major wide release. It's per theater average of $27,558 per location beat even Shrek 2's opening average: $25,952. That's the most stunning part. (Other opening-weekend per-theater averages for the top movies this summer (all via boxofficeguru): Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ($24,303), and The Day After Tomorrow($20,071).

Check out this analysis of the marketing, from boxofficeguru, again:

All aspects of the distribution and publicity were executed brilliantly. The director, who has now officially gone mainstream, popped up on all the right talk shows to promote his moneymaking venture. The distributors also picked out a key weekend to launch. With Spider-Man 2 swinging into theaters on Wednesday, studios refrained from opening any really big titles on the June 25 frame. That left the field wide open for a $20M+ gross to capture first place. Now, with red-hot averages, and a new round of publicity touting its historic top spot debut, Fahrenheit 9/11 will be able to add even more locations hoping to tap into the country's patriotic mood over the upcoming Independence Day holiday frame. This Wednesday, the distributors plan to widen to over 1,000 sites.