Elizabeth Holmes documentary tops US box office, a first since 2004

You Can See Everything, a documentary about the Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes made by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, finished first at the North American box office over the Halloween weekend of 30 October to 1 November 2026. Studio estimates gave it $11.4 million for the three days, narrowly ahead of the DC horror film Clayface. Later figures from Box Office Mojo put the two at about $10.6 million and $10.4 million. It is the first documentary to lead the weekend box office since Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 in 2004. The win came on one of the quietest weekends of the year: with no major new release, all films together took about $57.5 million, a 2026 low.

Documentaries almost never lead the box office. Most are released in a few cinemas and find their audience on streaming services. You Can See Everything has broken that pattern. After opening behind Clayface, it grew in its second weekend instead of falling, a sign of strong word of mouth, and then took the top spot in its third. Its total of more than $60 million is a large sum for any documentary, and it has done this in the US and Canada alone.

The film's makers are part of the draw. Nathan Fielder, a comedian and filmmaker, co-directed it with Lance Oppenheim, a documentary director, and the pairing appears to have pulled in viewers who would not usually choose a non-fiction film. Its subject, Elizabeth Holmes and her blood-testing company Theranos, was already one of the best-known business stories of the past decade.

The weekend also shows how thin the cinema calendar can be. With no major new release on Halloween weekend, the result was the lowest total of the year. That made it easier for a film in its third week to finish first. The figures also differed between sources: studio estimates released on Sunday are later replaced by actual ticket sales, and in this case the order at the top held but the amounts shrank.

For Indian audiences and the Indian film trade, the weekend sets the scene for a busy week. Ramayana, the big-budget Hindi epic starring Ranbir Kapoor, is due to open on 5 November, including in North America, where trade tracker Sacnilk reported advance sales of about $2.15 million before release. A weak market leaves room for an Indian film to stand out on overseas charts.

Peepals calculation: Clayface fell about 57% to about $10.4 million, which means its opening weekend was roughly $24 million ($10.4 million ÷ 0.43 ≈ $24.2 million), in line with the figure reported at its launch. The gap at the top was about $0.2 million by Box Office Mojo's figures ($10.6 million − $10.4 million), or about 2%. The winner's weekend made up about 18% of the whole market ($10.6 million ÷ $57.5 million ≈ 0.18). Our calculation from the reported figures.

Short-term: The documentary's run will encourage cinemas to keep it on screens, and its makers can point to one of the most successful non-fiction releases in years.

Long-term: Studios and distributors may be more willing to give documentaries with a strong creative voice a wide cinema release rather than sending them straight to streaming.

Who is affected: Cinema owners in the US and Canada, documentary makers and distributors, the studio behind Clayface, and Indian distributors preparing overseas releases such as Ramayana.

What to watch next: The release of Ramayana on 5 November 2026.

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