An Elizabeth Holmes documentary has done what few nonfiction films ever do: it finished first at the North American box office. A24’s You Can See Everything, directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, edged DC Studios’ Clayface over the Halloween weekend of October 30 to November 1, according to Sunday studio estimates.
What We Know
The documentary earned an estimated $10.6 million from 2,655 locations in its third weekend, the Associated Press reported. That was enough to beat Clayface, the R-rated body-horror film about the Batman villain, by just $200,684. Clayface, released by Warner Bros., took in about $10.4 million in its second weekend, a 57% drop from its $24 million debut.
The margin is so thin that the order could still flip when final numbers arrive on Monday, but either way it is a remarkable result for a film that runs nearly three hours and contains no fiction at all. It is the documentary’s first weekend at No. 1.
You Can See Everything has now grossed around $63.9 million in the U.S. and Canada, against a reported production budget of about $7 million.
The rest of the top five was led by Laika’s animated Wildwood with $7.5 million, followed by Wicker, a comedic fantasy starring Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård, with $4.1 million, and Street Fighter with $3.2 million.
Background
Fielder, best known for the cult TV series Nathan for You and The Rehearsal, teamed with Oppenheim to follow Holmes and her partner, Billy Evans, in the weeks before she began her federal prison sentence. Holmes, the founder of the blood-testing startup Theranos, was convicted of wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud investors and went to prison in 2023. The film had a surprise premiere at the Telluride Film Festival.
The film arrived with strong buzz and has kept building. It opened to more than $15 million on fewer than 900 screens, with many screenings in New York and Los Angeles selling out despite the three-hour running time. That was the biggest documentary opening in more than 20 years and the strongest for a non-music documentary since Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 in 2004. A second weekend of $19.5 million followed as A24 expanded the release.
Holmes’s story has fascinated audiences for years. Amanda Seyfried won an Emmy for playing her in the Hulu drama The Dropout, but Fielder’s film appears to have reached a much broader crowd in theaters.
Clayface, meanwhile, has reached $44.1 million domestically, roughly matching its reported $44 million budget. Batman’s world remains a reliable draw, as fans of Robert Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz in The Batman know well.
A Quiet Weekend Overall
Halloween fell on a Saturday this year, which pulled moviegoers away from theaters. The AP reported that total ticket sales were not expected to top $63 million, which would make it the third-lowest-earning weekend of 2026. Despite the slow frame, the domestic box office is still up more than 17% year over year, at close to $8.5 billion.
The documentary is also beating expectations with critics and fans. It holds a 99% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a record-high 4.8 rating on Letterboxd, according to the AP.
What’s Next
Final weekend figures will confirm whether You Can See Everything holds on to first place. The film’s international rollout is only beginning, so its global total still has room to grow. If the momentum continues, it could climb even higher on the all-time documentary chart in the weeks ahead.
Sources
- Associated Press (via ABC News) – ‘You Can See Everything,’ ‘Clayface’ lead sleepy Halloween weekend
- Deadline – Box Office: ‘You Can See Everything’ & ‘Clayface’ in staring contest
- Gold Derby – You Can See Everything and Clayface rematch for No. 1
- ABC30 – ‘You Can See Everything’ becomes one of the biggest documentary releases in decades