Nathan Fielder's 3-hour A24 documentary about Elizabeth Holmes, You Can See Everything, pulled in $19.5 million last weekend, up 25% as it expanded to 2,655 theaters, per Deadline.
For context, the movie that took No. 1 was a DC superhero film with a $24.5 million opening. A 3-hour therapy session about a convicted fraudster is still out-earning most tentpoles on their opening weekends. And this is its second weekend.
The distribution play is the part that's actually worth stealing. A24 opened it in under 1,000 theaters, let the sellouts do the talking, and then went wide. A non-A24 distribution head told Deadline that more of this "tease" platforming "should be executed more by the industry." Translation: a distributor saw a math trick that doesn't require a $100 million marketing budget and immediately tried to claim the concept.
The rest of this week's coverage is the awards machine warming up its hands. Variety has a column on why the film could become the first documentary nominated for Best Picture. The review desk gave it a Critics Pick. All of it before the movie finishes its theatrical run.
The best marketing is the kind you don't spend a dime on, per Deadline, and the film's meme machine is running itself. The studio didn't have to do anything. The document did.
YOUR TURN: If a 3-hour documentary about a blood-testing scam is the hottest ticket in town, what is a blockbuster actually supposed to be?
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