You Can See Everything: Why the Elizabeth Holmes Doc Is a Hit

A nearly three-hour documentary about a convicted Silicon Valley founder is beating superhero-sized expectations at the box office. You Can See Everything, A24's Elizabeth Holmes documentary from Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, opened as one of the strongest limited releases in decades. Then it did something almost no movie does: it grew in its second weekend. So what is this film, why are so many young moviegoers lining up for it, and how far could it go?

Here's everything you need to know, from the box office numbers and the critics' reactions to the film's unusual structure and its awards-season plans.

Key Takeaways

• You Can See Everything is an A24 documentary about Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, co-directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim.
• It opened October 16 with $15.6 million from just 855 theaters, then expanded to 2,655 theaters in its second weekend.
• Second-weekend estimates of $19M–$20M put it up 22% to 28% from its debut, a rare increase, with a running total near $45 million.
• Audiences gave it 5 stars on PostTrak, and 66% of ticket buyers are under 35.
• A24 plans to submit it for Best Picture, Best Director and several other categories at the 99th Academy Awards.

What Is You Can See Everything About?

Photo: Elijah Flores (baesik) / Wikimedia Commons, CC0

You Can See Everything follows Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the blood-testing startup Theranos, in the period just before she reported to prison. According to Variety, Fielder and Oppenheim quietly worked on the project for more than three years. The film captures Holmes a month before she began an 11-year prison sentence for defrauding investors.

The directing pairing is part of the appeal. Nathan Fielder is known for his deadpan, boundary-pushing comedy and TV work, including Nathan for You and The Rehearsal. Lance Oppenheim is a documentary filmmaker whose work includes Primetime. Together, they've made something that critics say doesn't behave like a typical true-crime documentary.

The film runs about 2 hours and 54 minutes. It premiered as a surprise screening at the Telluride Film Festival, where early reviews were glowing. It held a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes from its first batch of 10 reviews. A24 then set an October 16 theatrical release, as Deadline reported in September.

If you know the Theranos story, you might think there's nothing left to say. Critics argue otherwise, and the reason has to do with how the movie is built.

Two Movies in One: Inside the Film's Unusual Structure

Photo: Flyfishbowl / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

NPR's review describes the film as feeling like "two movies stitched together." The first part, roughly 90 minutes, is an intimate look at Holmes's final month at home with her partner, Billy Evans, and their family before prison. It includes quiet, ordinary moments, including a scene involving scrambled eggs that reviewers keep bringing up.

The second half takes a sharp turn. Set about two years later, it becomes far more experimental, in a way fans of Fielder's previous work may recognize. NPR notes that Fielder even interrogates the word "can" in the film's title, a small detail that hints at the movie's bigger questions about what we're really able to see when we watch someone on camera.

NPR's advice is that the film is best enjoyed if you try "not to look too closely" at how all the pieces fit. Deadline's awards columnist Pete Hammond was more emphatic, writing that the documentary "blows the lid off the story."

How it compares to earlier Theranos stories

The Holmes saga has already been told many times. HBO's 2019 documentary The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley covered the company's rise and collapse, and journalist John Carreyrou's book Bad Blood broke the story open. You Can See Everything stands apart because it spends so much time with Holmes herself, at a moment when the outcome of her story was already decided.

That kind of access naturally raises questions about how much any documentary can reveal about its subject, which seems to be the very question the title is playing with. It's also exactly why audiences are curious. And that curiosity is showing up in the box office numbers.

You Can See Everything Box Office: The Numbers So Far

The film opened on October 16 with $15.6 million from just 855 theaters. According to Deadline, that was the biggest opening for a movie in fewer than 1,000 theaters in more than 20 years. It's an extraordinary result for any documentary.

The weekday numbers were just as impressive. The film was the No. 1 movie in America on Monday ($2.5 million), Wednesday ($2.6 million) and Thursday ($2.2 million), beating the much larger Street Fighter on those days. It finished its first week with $25.6 million.

A rare second-weekend jump

For its second weekend, A24 expanded the film from 855 theaters to 2,655. According to Deadline's weekend box office report, it made $6.1 million on its second Friday, up 11% from the week before, and was tracking toward a three-day weekend of $19 million to $20 million. That's 22% to 28% higher than its opening.

Most movies drop 40% to 60% in their second weekend. A gain is rare, and it usually signals strong word of mouth. Deadline compared it with A24's earlier breakout Obsession, which rose 39% in its second weekend, though that was over Memorial Day.

Week one also stacked up well against the competition. Street Fighter, a far bigger studio release in many more theaters, finished its first week with $38.3 million, according to Deadline. For a documentary playing in just 855 theaters during that stretch, $25.6 million was a striking number.

Deadline projected a running total of about $44.6 million to $45.6 million through Sunday. Variety reported $31.7 million through Friday. Final weekend numbers are typically confirmed on Monday, so these figures may shift slightly.

Second place behind Clayface

The documentary came in second for the weekend behind DC's R-rated horror film Clayface, which was tracking toward a $24 million to $25 million opening. Overall, the weekend box office was looking like $97.6 million, up 29% from the same weekend a year ago. For more on the DC villain's debut, see our guide to the Clayface release date and what to know.

So who is actually buying tickets to a three-hour documentary? The answer surprised a lot of industry watchers.

Why Young Audiences Are Showing Up

Photo: DiscoA340 / Wikimedia Commons, CC0

Audience exit polls have been unusually strong. According to Deadline, the film earned a 5-star rating and a 79% "definite recommend" score on PostTrak. The audience split evenly between men and women, and 66% of ticket buyers were under 35.

Several factors help explain the appeal:

• Nathan Fielder's fan base. His shows have a large, devoted following among younger viewers, many of whom treat a new Fielder project as an event.
• Online buzz. Deadline, citing RelishMix, reported that the film's social media reach grew 31% in a week to about 130 million, with YouTube and social video views around 45 million. Memes from the marketing campaign spread widely.
• Theranos is still fascinating. The story of a young founder who promised to revolutionize health care and ended up in prison remains one of the most talked-about business scandals of the century.
• The A24 brand. The studio has built a reputation for distinctive films that people want to see in theaters and discuss afterward.
• Event-style moviegoing. A long, strange, much-discussed film becomes something audiences want to experience together and talk about online.

Some industry watchers believe the film could reach $80 million in North America, according to Deadline. That would put it among the highest-grossing documentaries ever released in U.S. theaters.

Oscar Buzz: A24's Big Awards Push

A24 isn't treating this as just a documentary. According to Variety, beyond being eligible for Best Documentary Feature at the 99th Academy Awards, the film will be submitted across the board. That includes Best Picture, Best Director, production design, cinematography, costume design, film editing, makeup and hairstyling, sound and original score.

It's an ambitious strategy. Documentaries rarely compete in the top categories, but strong reviews and a box office run like this can change the conversation. Whether voters embrace an experimental film about such a polarizing figure is one of the more interesting questions of the coming awards season.

How to Watch You Can See Everything

Right now, You Can See Everything is playing exclusively in theaters across the U.S. A24 has not announced a streaming or digital release date as of this writing. Many theatrical films arrive on digital rental platforms several weeks after release, but timing varies, and a film performing this well in theaters may stay there longer. We'll update this post when an official date is announced.

A few tips if you're planning to go:

• Plan for the runtime. At nearly three hours, plus trailers, you'll want to budget about three and a half hours.
• Check showtimes early. Weekend evening shows have been popular in many cities.
• Go in fresh. Many reviewers suggest knowing as little as possible about the second half.

Looking for more to watch this fall? Our guide to November 2026 movie release dates covers the next wave of big releases, and our roundup of upcoming movies for November and December 2026 looks ahead to the holidays. If you'd rather stay in for spooky season, check out new Halloween movies streaming this October.

What Comes Next

The next test is the third weekend, which falls on Halloween. Deadline expects that weekend to be tough for the overall box office, since the holiday lands on a Saturday. A modest drop would still keep the film on track for a remarkable run.

Whatever happens, You Can See Everything has already shown that a documentary can become a genuine moviegoing event when the subject, the filmmakers and the timing all line up. For A24, Fielder and Oppenheim, this may be just the beginning of a long awards-season conversation.

FAQ

What is You Can See Everything about?

It's an A24 documentary about Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos. It follows her in the month before she began an 11-year prison sentence for defrauding investors, then shifts into a more experimental second half set about two years later.

Who directed You Can See Everything?

Nathan Fielder, known for Nathan for You and The Rehearsal, co-directed it with documentary filmmaker Lance Oppenheim.

How long is You Can See Everything?

The film runs about 2 hours and 54 minutes.

How much has You Can See Everything made at the box office?

It opened with $15.6 million and was tracking toward a running domestic total of about $44.6 million to $45.6 million after its second weekend, according to Deadline's estimates.

Is You Can See Everything streaming?

Not yet. As of October 25, 2026, it is playing only in theaters, and A24 has not announced a streaming date.

Featured image: Eden, Janine and Jim / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (cropped, with text overlay added by Trend Ranker).