How ‘You Can See Everything’ Became a Surprise Box Office Hit (and Likely One of the Biggest Docs of All Time)

“You Can See Everything” has remained a must-see at the box office, collecting a remarkable $19.5 million from 2,655 theaters in its second weekend — a notable increase in ticket sales from its sizable opening. A24‘s buzzy documentary about Theranos fraudster Elizabeth Holmes has grossed $45.1 million domestically to date and will be wildly profitable for the studio against a lean $7 million budget. With electric word-of-mouth, awards chatter and repeat viewings from audiences who are trying to make sense of what they saw on screen, the movie should remain a big-screen draw through the fall. It’s primed to leave theaters as one of the biggest non-musical documentaries of all time, a true feat for a nearly three-hour film that wasn’t publicized until a month before debuting in cinemas. Right now, “Michael Jackson’s This Is It” is the highest-grossing documentary ever with $267 million in 2009, not adjusted for inflation. Meanwhile Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11” is the biggest non-music doc with $222 million in 2004, followed by two nature films, “March of the Penguins” with $127 million in 2005 and “Earth” with $107 million in 2007. “You Can See Everything” needs to become a hit overseas to crack the top five. Popular on Variety After a strong second weekend in North America, here are four takeaways from the surprise success of “You Can See Everything.” Restraint bolstered demand A24 began rolling out “You Can See Everything” in 855 theaters, a huge footprint for a documentary. (By comparison, Bleecker Street launched “Musk,” a four-hour look at the world’s richest man, in four locations.) The film opened to $15.6 million — thanks to the more than 2,000 sold-out showings — as cinephiles rushed to theaters to avoid spoilers; the stranger-than-fiction story follows Holmes right before she begins her 11-year prison sentence for defrauding investors. The decision to launch the movie in moderate release — rather than limited in just a handful of venues or nationwide on more than 2,000 screens — proved wise because the studio was able to bolster awareness while cultivating a sense of scarcity. (In New York City and Los Angeles, good luck catching the film during its first weekend in theaters if you didn’t buy a seat way in advance.) Then ticket sales climbed by 28% as “You Can See Everything” expanded to 2,666 theaters in its second weekend, underscoring the film’s genuine commercial viability beyond the coasts. “Opening ‘You Can See Everything’ in 855 theaters was a really smart move, allowing the film to establish itself and build momentum before going much wider,” says Rentrak’s head of marketplace trends Paul Dergarabedian. “The fact that we’re seeing a documentary deliver such a significant second-weekend increase is remarkable.” Secrecy around the project dialed up the anticipation Nobody knew about the existence of “You Can See Everything” until its surprise world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival in early September. (That’s nothing short of a miracle in Hollywood, where even your waiter knows your P&A spend.) In the scenic Colorado mountain town, the movie became a word-of-mouth sensation after garnering near-euphoric reviews. Shrouding the film in secrecy became an effective marketing tactic. After all, there’s no shortage of movies and television shows about Holmes. Her rise and spectacular fall from grace has been depicted in the Hulu series “The Dropout,” starring Amanda Seyfried, as well as Gibney’s “The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley.” But the immediate sense around “You Can See Everything” was that co-directors Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim had captured something very, very different. (And many felt that Holmes had met her match in Fielder, a cringe comedy master best known for HBO’s “The Rehearsal.”) “Bear in mind, the project started with no blueprint or screenplay for how to tell this story,” says analyst David A. Gross, who publishes the box office newsletter FranchiseRe. “A24 invested in an interesting but complicated idea without a beginning, middle or end. That’s turned into a zeitgeist film about money, dreams, truth and reality.” Word-of-mouth elevated ticket sales in the movie’s second weekend “You Can See Everything” surged in its second weekend because there was quality to match the hype. Some 90% of initial ticket buyers say they would “definitely recommend” the film and 80% said the movie was “even better than expected,” according to exit polls. On social media, people who saw the movie were encouraging others to seek out packed theaters so they could share in the wild reactions and insane twists and turns of the story with others. From “Michael” to “Obsession” to “The Odyssey,” there’s been at least one commonality between many of this year’s box office hits: They’re fun to watch with crowds. Younger audiences are all in on A24 Roughly 70% of opening weekend ticket buyers were under 35, an unexpectedly youthful turnout for a non-fiction film. However, it’s not surprising for A24, which has cultivated a loyal, young demographic over the years through edgy, aesthetic arthouse favorites like “Marty Supreme” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” This year’s lineup of “The Drama,” “Backrooms” and “Primetime” also scored for the indie studio after reaching event-status for Gen Zers. That’s not to say they’ll show up for anything from A24. Chris Rock’s Hollywood-set dramedy “Misty Green” and Hugh Jackman’s revisionist adventure “The Death of Robin Hood” were two recent releases from A24 that misfired in theaters.