A documentary about disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes has pulled off an extraordinary theatrical run, proving that nonfiction films can still draw substantial crowds. Titled You Can See Everything, Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s project has turned a modest production budget into a major box-office achievement in just two weekends.
You Can See Everything increases its second weekend haul with 3x theaters
A24 expanded the documentary’s U.S. release from 855 theaters to 2,655 for its second weekend, adding 1,800 locations. The move paid off and You Can See Everything collected an estimated $19.5 million from Oct. 23-25, a 25% increase over its $15.6 million opening weekend (via Box Office Mojo).
Few expected such a modestly budgeted documentary to make this kind of noise at the box office. After just 14 days in theaters, You Can See Everything had collected roughly $45.1 million in North America, setting a 15-year record for the genre in the domestic market and delivering a major win for A24.
The numbers impress more when measured against the film’s reported $7 million production cost. Its domestic haul has also made it the most successful documentary in A24’s release history. So far, the movie has reported no revenue from overseas markets.
Last year’s biggest documentary release in the U.S., Becoming Led Zeppelin, wrapped up its theatrical run with $16.7 million. You Can See Everything has already blown past that benchmark by a wide margin, with more time left in theaters (via EW).
The documentary claimed second place in North America, finishing behind Clayface, which launched with $24 million domestically and $43 million worldwide. The horror movie’s reported production budget falls somewhere between $30 million and $44 million.
Not every release enjoyed the same box-office run. LAIKA Studios’ animated adventure Wildwood struggled to find an audience, earning $11.7 million in North America and another $2.9 million overseas. With production costs estimated at $100 million, those returns leave the film facing a steep uphill climb toward profitability. Meanwhile, Olivia Colman’s Wicker brought in $5.7 million worldwide against a reported $10 million budget.
