Nathan Fielder Documentary Opens to Fifteen Million Dollars
Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s nearly three-hour Elizabeth Holmes documentary, You Can See Everything, opened to an extraordinary $15m domestic box office from just 855 screens, according to the production company A24. Industry tracking had anticipated an opening around $12m, but the film surpassed expectations by drawing more than 2,000 sold-out screenings over its weekend. reported that the figure marks the biggest opening weekend for a documentary in North America in more than 20 years, trailing only Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, which made nearly $24m from 868 theaters in 2004.
New look at Nathan Fielder and Elizabeth Holmes in ‘YOU CAN SEE EVERYTHING’, a new documentary produced by A24.• Thirty-four days before she’s sent to prison, notorious Silicon Valley founder Elizabeth Holmes invites a skeptical film crew to document her every move. •… pic.twitter.com/G4IZCt71D9
Audience Demographics and Screen Count Records
Ticket sales for You Can See Everything relied heavily on younger moviegoers in North America, with more than 70% of the opening weekend audience under the age of 35, The Guardian reported. The release also set a benchmark for limited-run features, marking the largest opening for any film playing on fewer than 1,000 screens since Borat debuted to $26.5m in 2006. Paul Dergarabedian, the head of marketplace trends for Rentrak, told the Associated Press that the project defied initial industry assumptions. Everybody underestimated the movie because on paper a three-hour documentary seemed a hard sell, Dergarabedian noted, adding that Fielder’s large social media following and the stranger-than-fiction nature of Elizabeth Holmes fueled the draw.
Secret Production and Three Years in the Making
The film was made in secret over three years, featuring Fielder spending more than a month with the disgraced Theranos founder, her partner Billy Evans, and their two children in her final days before reporting to federal prison. Reviewers and audiences responded with extremely positive reviews, registering a 99% score on Rotten Tomatoes, a 99 on Metacritic, and an unprecedented definite recommend score from PostTrak exit polls. The production cost less than $7m to make and less than $10m to market, positioning the film as a commercial success for A24 ahead of its international rollouts in Australia on November 12 and the UK on November 20.