Elizabeth Holmes Documentary Earns $15 Million From Just 855 Screens

A24's Elizabeth Holmes documentary "You Can See Everything" grossed $15 million from only 855 screens this weekend, with over 2,000 sellout showings, according to the studio. That per-screen average — roughly $17,500 per location — dwarfs everything else in the top 10 and marks the biggest opening for a film on fewer than 1,000 screens since "Borat" took $26.5 million in 2006.

It is also the largest nonmusic documentary debut in two decades. The last comparable launch was "Fahrenheit 9/11," which earned nearly $24 million from 868 theaters. Those figures are not adjusted for inflation, which means the real gap between the two documentaries is wider than it looks.

By Olivia Hart

What drove the sellouts?

The audience skews young. More than 70% of the opening weekend crowd was under 35, according to A24 — the same Gen-Z dynamic behind this year's earlier hits "Backrooms" and "Obsession." For a nearly three-hour documentary about a convicted fraudster, that is an unusual demographic profile, and A24 has not said how much of the demand came from Fielder's existing fanbase versus curiosity about Holmes herself.

The film, directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, was made in secret over three years. Fielder spent more than a month with Holmes, her partner Billy Evans and her two young children in her final days before she reported to federal prison. Reviews have been emphatic: 99% on Rotten Tomatoes, 99 on Metacritic, and a 91% "definite recommend" score from audiences in PostTrak exit polls.

The economics are striking. The film reportedly cost under $7 million to make and less than $10 million to market. A $15 million opening weekend on that cost base means the project is already in profit territory before international or streaming revenue.

"Everybody underestimated the movie, because on paper this is like, wait, a three-hour documentary?" said Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends for Rentrak. "But he (Fielder) is a huge draw, and he has a huge following on social media, and then Elizabeth Holmes is just a character that you couldn't even make up. It's stranger than fiction, and that's really compelling."

The takeaway: cheap, fan-driven documentaries can now out-earn survival thrillers on a per-screen basis.

What happened to the rest of the chart?

Paramount's "Street Fighter" took first place with $31 million from 3,575 theaters, and $51 million globally including $20 million internationally. The reboot, starring Callina Liang, Noah Centineo and Andrew Koji, cost a reported $82 million before marketing. Its audience was 69% male. Against an $82 million production budget, a $51 million global launch leaves significant ground to cover.

Disney's "Whalefall" underperformed. The $60 million survival thriller, starring Austin Abrams and Josh Brolin, made $8 million from 3,065 North American locations — fourth place — despite stronger reviews than "Street Fighter." With $9.5 million internationally, its global launch stands at $17.5 million. Both "Street Fighter" and the Holmes documentary likely pulled from its potential audience.

The rest of the top five:

• "Other Mommy" (Universal) added $8.4 million in its second weekend, for a $44.9 million domestic total.
• "Sense and Sensibility" earned an estimated $7.3 million from 2,545 theaters, drawing a young, heavily female crowd — 58% aged 14 to 18, 84% female — and the week's best CinemaScore at A-.
• Warner Bros. Clockwork, the studio's new specialty label, released a restored cut of Ken Russell's 1971 "The Devils" in 350 locations for $1.6 million.

Why are two other documentaries in the news?

Alex Gibney's Elon Musk documentary "Musk" expanded to 472 screens and made $306,702 — a weak $649 per screen. Distributor Bleecker Street said the nearly four-hour film faces advertising blocks on X, which Musk owns, and on TikTok, which the distributor says permanently suspended the film's ad account this weekend. Bleecker Street offered no further detail on the suspension, and TikTok has not publicly responded.

Netflix, meanwhile, reported theatrical box office for the first time. The queer Spanish epic "La Bola Negra" made $277,500 from four locations — about $69,000 per screen, the highest average of the weekend. The streamer, which has historically withheld box office figures, is positioning the film as a best picture contender. It will play in theaters for 47 days before reaching Netflix.

The overall market generated about $101.6 million in ticket sales, up 45% from the same weekend last year, according to Rentrak. Year-to-date box office stands at $8.2 billion, up almost 20% from 2025 — and the Holmes documentary suggests the lowest-budget titles are doing more than their share of the lifting.