You Can See Everything opened to $15 million across the US and Canada on more than 800 screens, marking the second strongest launch ever for a documentary behind 2004's Fahrenheit 9/11. It ranked No. 2 overall for the weekend, trailing Street Fighter - a Legendary Entertainment release based on the video game and distributed by Skydance Corp.'s Paramount Pictures - and edging out Whalefall from Walt Disney Co.'s 20th Century Studios. According to A24, roughly 70% of viewers were younger than 35 and turnout was almost evenly split by gender; reviewers have embraced it as well, reflected in a near-perfect 99% on Rotten Tomatoes.
New York-based A24, the independent distributor known for promoting original films, is also fielding a heavy lineup of awards hopefuls this year.
Directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, the film leans into Fielder's reality-bending style familiar from Nathan for You and The Rehearsal. The pair actually lived with Elizabeth Holmes and her family in a leased beach home in Del Mar, California, shooting nonstop for the 34 days leading up to her prison report date, and Fielder introduces a notable mid-film pivot to propel the narrative after she is incarcerated.
Holmes had never cooperated on a full feature film until now. She and her partner Billy Evans approached A24 to share a "human story" before she began serving an 11-year sentence in 2023 for defrauding investors. Earlier takes include Alex Gibney's 2019 documentary and Hulu's award-winning series The Dropout.
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Buzz kicked off after a surprise Telluride Film Festival screening last month, and awards chatter followed. It may even break ground as the first documentary ever nominated for best picture at the Oscars.
It is arriving amid a run of tech-centric releases. Alex Gibney's four-hour Elon Musk documentary expanded nationally on Oct. 16. The Social Reckoning, centered on a Facebook whistleblower, opened Oct. 9 to mixed reviews. Artificial, about OpenAI and its leader Sam Altman, is slated to play in select theaters on Christmas.
For a yardstick, You Can See Everything more than doubled the opening of Melania, which debuted in January with $7 million on 1,700 screens from Amazon.com Inc.'s Metro-Goldwyn Mayer. A24's broader lineup could keep the momentum going: Primetime, Oppenheim's first narrative feature centered on To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen, bowed last month amid significant buzz and broadly positive notices, while The Debut, with Jesse Eisenberg in the director's chair and Julianne Moore in the cast, lands in December.
Why it matters: a young audience mix, strong reviews, and awards potential can lengthen theatrical runs and raise downstream streaming value. The bottom line for your portfolio is a distributor with heat and a slate in position to benefit from that halo.
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