A documentary about disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes has become one of the biggest box office surprises of the year, earning approximately $15 million in its opening weekend in North America, the strongest debut for a non-concert documentary since Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" in 2004.
"You Can See Everything," directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim and distributed by A24, opened Friday in just 855 theaters across the United States and Canada. Despite its nearly three-hour running time, the film recorded more than 2,000 sold-out screenings and finished second at the weekend box office, behind Paramount's "Street Fighter."
Filmed largely in secret over three years, the documentary follows Holmes, the former Silicon Valley entrepreneur whose blood-testing startup Theranos collapsed after its claims of revolutionary medical technology were exposed as fraudulent. Holmes was convicted of wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud investors and began serving her prison sentence in May 2023.
The film begins 34 days before Holmes enters prison, when she allows Fielder and his crew into her home to document her life with her partner, Billy Evans, and their two young children. What initially appears to be an intimate portrait of a convicted fraudster evolves into an unconventional examination of truth, deception and manipulation, blurring the boundaries between documentary filmmaking and staged reality.
Lance Oppenheim and Nathan Fielder at the 'You Can See Everything' premiere during the 64th New York Film Festival
(Photo: Cindy Ord/Getty Images for FLC)
The unusual approach has generated extraordinary enthusiasm among critics and audiences. The film has earned a 99% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes and emerged as a potential Oscar contender. A24 is campaigning for a Best Picture nomination, a distinction no documentary has achieved in Academy Awards history. Its commercial success is particularly striking for a genre that rarely attracts large theatrical audiences.
From 'You Can See Everything'
(Photo: A24)
Israeli audiences may also get a chance to see the film. Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions has acquired distribution rights for Israel and several other international markets, including Europe, Latin America and Asia, Deadline reported Monday. However, no Israeli theatrical release date has been announced, and details of its local rollout remain unclear.