CANBERRA, July 19 (Xinhuanet) -- The controversial documentary feature Fahrenheit 9/11 has broken box office records in Australia almost two weeks before its opening in the country in July 29.

    The gross of sneak previews hit 760,000 Australian dollars (about 547,000 US dollars) in Australian cinemas over the weekend, compared with the previous record of 562,000 dollars (405,000 US dollars) made by The Real Cancun, the Australian Associated Press reported Monday.

    Sneak previews of the documentary, which criticizes the administration of US President George W. Bush's response to the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States in 2001, are limited to onlytwo sessions daily each on Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Australia before its opening.

    The film, released in the United States on June 25, took in a whopping 21.8 million US dollars in its first three days, becomingthe first documentary to debut as Hollywood's top weekend film.

    The film's Australian distributor Troy Lum has apologized to people who went to cinemas but missed out on seeing the feature over the weekend, saying the situation was above his expectations.Enditem