Elizabeth Holmes Documentary ‘You Can See Everything’ Pulls Off a Box Office Shocker

Elizabeth Holmes has been the subject of more screen projects than almost any other fallen founder. The Theranos saga has already inspired HBO’s documentary ‘The Inventor’ and Hulu’s series ‘The Dropout’, in which Amanda Seyfried played Holmes. Few people expected another Holmes film to feel fresh, let alone become a theatrical event.

The timing makes that even more surprising. Documentaries have struggled at the box office for roughly the past 5 years, and a nearly three-hour running time is not the usual recipe for a crowd-pleaser. Yet A24’s ‘You Can See Everything‘ arrived with a mystery around it, after being made in secret over 4 years and revealed only 2 months ago at a surprise premiere at the Telluride Film Festival.

Now the results are in, and they are remarkable. The film opened to an estimated $15 million domestically from just 855 screens, finishing second behind ‘Street Fighter’. That marks the second-best opening for a non-music documentary ever, behind only ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ and its $23.9 million in 2004.

The context makes the number even bigger. Counting all documentaries, it is the best opening since 2013’s ‘One Direction: This Is Us’, which debuted to $15.8 million from 2,735 screens. Remove music documentaries from the list, and this is the highest opening since ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’, which holds the all-time unadjusted record for the genre.

The per-theater average came to roughly $17,500. Deadline noted it was the biggest opening for a title playing in fewer than 1,000 theaters since ‘Borat’. The weekend broke down to $5.5 million on Friday, $5.2 million on Saturday and $4.2 million on Sunday.

Predictions had been far lower. Pre-release projections ranged from about $7 million to $10.5 million, with The Hollywood Reporter at $7 million, Variety at $7 million to $8 million, and Deadline at $10 million. Thursday previews of about $1.7 million, a total described as unheard of for a documentary, hinted at something bigger.

A24 reported that the film sold out more than 2,000 screenings. Reports from theaters said showings were selling out in markets big and small. With a production budget of about $7 million, the film is already set up for a very profitable run.

‘You Can See Everything’ was directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, and it runs 174 minutes. It begins 34 days before Holmes reports to prison, when she invites a skeptical film crew to document her every move. The project started when a seven-person crew visited the home she shares with her partner, Billy Evans, in 2023.

Fielder, known for ‘Nathan for You’ and ‘The Rehearsal’, makes himself part of the story. Critics have described the result as far from a pure documentary, a film that questions Holmes’ believability and then the nature of documentaries themselves. Oppenheim, who also released the A24 film ‘Primetime’ last month, brings a track record of inviting subjects into the filmmaking process.

The reviews have driven much of the buzz. The film holds a 99% to 100% score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and a 98 on Metacritic, which falls under the site’s universal acclaim label. A 98% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 92% definite recommend rating in PostTrak polling show that viewers are on board as well.

CNN’s review said the film lives up to the hype, while others praised the way it keeps asking what goes on inside a person like Holmes. Some critics had reservations about the runtime and about how Fielder treats Holmes. Even so, the overall response has been rapturous.

The teaser trailer ‘YOU CAN SEE EVERYTHING,’ a documentary by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim. Thirty-four days before she’s sent to prison, Elizabeth Holmes invites a skeptical film crew to document her every move. In theaters this October. https://t.co/LHRvYLXULH

— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) September 7, 2026

The success adds to a big year for A24, with one outlet calling the studio Hollywood’s hottest brand. The studio spent less than $10 million on production and marketing, which makes the opening a major win. The film is also expected to enter awards conversations, with the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards scheduled for Nov. 8.

International audiences will get their turn soon. A24 has set a Nov. 20 release date in the U.K. and Ireland. After an opening like this, expectations for the film’s wider run will be high.

It also raises an intriguing question for the industry. If a nearly three-hour documentary can turn into a sold-out event, other filmmakers may take bigger risks with the format. For now, ‘You Can See Everything’ has proved that curiosity, secrecy and great word of mouth can still fill theaters.

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