"You Can See Everything" Took $15 Million From 855 Screens — About $17,500 Each
"You Can See Everything" — Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim's film about Elizabeth Holmes — took $15 million from just 855 theaters on its opening weekend, second only to "Street Fighter's" $30 million from 3,575 venues. Divide it out and that is roughly $17,500 a screen for the documentary against about $8,400 for the video-game adaptation.
A24 produced the film in secret over three years for about $7 million and reported more than 2,000 sold-out screenings. Heading into the weekend it was projected at $7 million to $8 million — a figure Variety called remarkable for a documentary, especially one that doesn't involve music or capture a wildly popular concert. It runs nearly three hours and, until two months ago, wasn't on anyone's radar.
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The audience numbers are the real surprise: around 70% of opening weekend crowds were under 35, and exit polls found 90% of ticket buyers would definitely recommend it. That is not the traditional documentary crowd, and it is why the film is expanding nationwide.
Careful with the genre lesson. Analyst David A. Gross describes a market where documentaries rarely get a wide release — roughly one every other year — averaging $3 million over their first three days. This film never entered that market; it is an outlier event, and outliers are not trends.
Scarcity did some of the work. More than 2,000 sold-out screenings means plenty of would-be ticket buyers were turned away, and their money simply arrives in week two and week three as the film widens.