“You Can See Everything” achieved true success at the box office, becoming a rare must-see documentary on the big screen.
Directors Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s much-hyped look at Elizabeth Holmes has grossed a whopping $15 million from just 855 theaters. Those ticket sales were enough for second place behind another newcomer, Paramount’s video game adaptation “Street Fighter,” which opened to $30 million from 3,575 locations. Over the weekend, “You Can See Everything” was aiming for $7 million to $8 million, which would have been remarkable for a documentary, especially one that doesn’t involve music or a wildly popular concert. Needless to say, it ran for about three hours and was not on someone’s Radar till two months ago.
Following a surprise world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival, “You Can See Everything” became a word-of-mouth sensation, bolstered by some of the best reviews of the year. A24, which produced the film in secret over three years for about $7 million, reported more than 2,000 sold-out screenings, as audiences flocked to theaters to avoid being spoiled on the weird-as-fiction story about the Theranos founder before he began his 11-year prison sentence for defrauding investors. People are clearly fascinated by the drama surrounding Holmes, whose rise and spectacular fall from grace was depicted in the Hulu series “The Dropout” starring Amanda Seyfried. But the turnout for “You Can See Everything” also reflects the commercial appeal of Fielder, who has developed a penchant for blending reality and fantasy through works like HBO’s “The Rehearsal” and Comedy Central’s “Nathan for You.” Oppenheim, his co-director, recently directed another A24 hit, the Robert Pattinson-led “Primetime,” which has grossed nearly $50 million against a $15 million budget.
About 70% of the opening weekend crowd was under the age of 35, and they liked what they saw on screen. According to exit polls, 90% of ticket buyers would “definitely recommend the film” and 80% said it was “better than expected”. Those reactions give a signal tall Theatrical life for the film, which is expanding nationwide in the coming weeks.
“It’s a huge weekend for the genre,” analyst David A. says Gross, who publishes the box office newsletter FranchiseRay. “Documentaries rarely get wide releases – there’s only one every other year – and they average $3 million in their first three days.”
This year has been an exception for two major docs, the other being Amazon MGM’s “Melania,” a $40 million-budgeted portrait of first lady Melania Trump. That film grossed $7.1 million from 1,778 theaters – at the time the biggest opening for a non-musical or concert in more than a decade – and finished its gross with $16.3 million. (“You Can See Everything” has and will have a single-digit budget excess More profitable than “Melania”.)
In its opening weekend, “You Can See Everything” achieved the biggest debut for a film playing on fewer than 1,000 screens since 2006’s “Borat”, earning $26 million from 837 theaters (not adjusted for inflation). And it’s the biggest debut for a documentary in more than 20 years since 2004’s seminal “Fahrenheit 9/11,” which premiered to $24 million in 868 theaters (not adjusted for inflation). The ticket sales of “You Can See Everything” are remarkable, not just for a documentary, but for any arthouse release these days. By comparison, A24’s box office winner “The Drama,” anchored by two of Hollywood’s biggest stars Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, grossed $14.3 million from 3,087 theaters earlier this year.
Elsewhere at the box office, “Street Fighter” collected another $20.1 million overseas for a good global debut of $51.1 million. Critics and audiences were indifferent to the video game reboot, which received a “B-” grade on CinemaScore exit polls and a 42% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Directed by Kitao Sakurai and starring Noah Centineo and Andrew Koji, “Street Fighter” tells the story of two different fighters who are recruited to enter a tournament that forces them to fight against each other.
Renowned and video game developer Capcom co-financed “Street Fighter” for $82 million, with Paramount only on the hook for distribution. The long-running film was originally set at Sony as part of Legendary’s deal with the studio and was transferred to Paramount after the initial deal expired. It is the third film based on the Capcom video game series, following the 1994 box office winner “Street Fighter”, which starred Jean-Claude Van Damme, and the 2009 misfire “Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li”.
“Whalefall” and “Sense & Sensibility”, two other newcomers, launched in fourth and fifth place, respectively. Disney and 20th Century’s “Whalefall,” a survival thriller starring Austin Abrams as a scuba diver who is swallowed by a sperm whale, missed expectations with $8 million from 3,065 locations. The film also grossed $9.5 million from 51 territories at the international box office for a global total of $17.5 million. Reception was mixed, with audiences giving a “B” grade on CinemaScore and critic reviews averaging 71% on Rotten Tomatoes. “Whalefall” cost $60 million and required considerable staying power, since theater owners keep about half of the ticket sales.
“Sense and Sensibility,” the latest remake of Jane Austen’s classic, earned $7.2 million from 2,545 screens. The well-reviewed film has grossed $11 million internationally, bringing its worldwide gross to $18.5 million. Led by Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esme Creed-Miles, the Focus Features film has a budget of $25 million and doesn’t have that big of a hurdle to overcome in Red.
Neither were able to perform better than Universal’s horror film “Other Mommy”, which took the No. 3 spot with $8.3 million in its second weekend of release. Despite a painful 70% decline in its debut, “Another Mommy” is already a hit with $44.8 million domestically and $78.7 million globally against a modest budget of $18 million.
Among special releases, Netflix’s coming-of-age drama “La Bola Negra” collected $277,500 from four theaters in Los Angeles and New York — an average of $69,375 per location. The return is the second-highest screen average ever for a non-English-language film, behind 2019’s “Parasite,” which grossed $393,216 from three theaters — an average of $131,072 per location. For a more recent comparison, Neon’s multilingual legal thriller “Fjord” opened last weekend to $124,000 from four theaters — that’s $31,000 per venue.
This weekend is notable because it marks the first time Netflix has reported box office earnings. The streamer plans to keep “La Bola Negra” in theaters for 45 days, a traditional window in the post-pandemic period, before the film’s Netflix release on Dec. 2. Directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrosi, known as Los Javis, “La Bola Negra” was accepted with a 16-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival and won the Toronto Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award, which has become an Oscar precursor.