Elizabeth Holmes documentary 'You Can See Everything' opens to $15M, second-biggest documentary weekend ever
The film, which gained extensive access to Holmes and her family before her imprisonment, earned $15 million in its opening weekend across just 855 theaters with widespread critical acclaim.
What happened
The documentary 'You Can See Everything' opened to $15 million in its first weekend, the second-largest opening weekend for a documentary film on record. The nearly three-hour film played in only 855 theaters but reported 2,000 sellout screenings and currently holds a 99% score on both Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic. The film was co-directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, and the filmmakers obtained extensive access to Elizabeth Holmes and her family during the month before she entered prison following her conviction for defrauding investors in her blood-testing startup Theranos.
Context
The documentary represents another retelling of Holmes' rise and fall at Theranos—a story previously covered in books, podcasts, scripted miniseries, and other documentaries. The film's strong performance and critical reception in a limited theatrical run suggest significant audience interest in the Holmes narrative. The documentary's commercial success may be affecting other tech-focused films: Aaron Sorkin's Social Network follow-up opened to $5.5 million last weekend and has already fallen out of the top 10, while Alex Gibney's four-hour documentary 'Musk' earned only $306,702 this weekend.