Don’t look now, but the No. 1 movie at the box office on Monday was a documentary. Amidst wild audience acclaim and online discourse, A24’s “You Can See Everything” edged out Paramount/Legendary’s “Street Fighter” to take the top spot on the weekday charts.
“Street Fighter,” which took No. 1 this past weekend with a $31 million domestic opening, made a decent $2 million on Monday according to theatrical sources. But “You Can See Everything,” which has a fraction of the screens of “Street Fighter” with 855 locations, has edged it out for $2.57 million.
With rave reviews since its surprise Telluride Film Festival premiere, “You Can See Everything” is set by next weekend to pass the Fred Rogers doc “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” as the highest grossing documentary of the past 10 years and will soon pass scripted indie hits like fellow A24 release “The Invite,” which grossed $26.1 million this past summer.
In fact, “You Can See Everything” has earned a higher first Monday than director Lance Oppenheim’s other A24 release this fall, “Primetime,” which made $1.7 million after earning an $18.8 million opening from 2,874 locations.
With “You Can See Everything” set to expand after scoring thousands of sellout screenings, there’s no telling how far this film could leg out with the buzz that it has. According to an audience poll provided by sources at A24, a big reason why the festival buzz around this doc has transferred to the wider populace is because of the presence of Nathan Fielder, who has built up a fanbase with his mind-bending comedy series “Nathan for You” and “The Rehearsal.”
According to the poll, 70% of those surveyed said that Fielder was a major reason why they bought a ticket to see “You Can See Everything,” and with an opening weekend audience that was 70% under the age of 35, it’s clear that the comedian’s fans are showing up to see his awkward conversations with convicted Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes.
Now we will see in the days and weeks ahead how far “You Can See Everything” can expand to audiences who did not closely follow Holmes’ downfall or who are not familiar with Fielder’s brand of dry, discomfiting humor that makes the audience question whether what they are seeing is real. No documentary has performed like this in the box office in more than 15 years, so exhibition is truly in uncharted territory.
But it is not out of the realm of possibility for “You Can See Everything” to have a run similar to “Primetime,” which has passed $45 million domestic after four weekends in theaters. Given that “You Can See Everything” was made for even less than “Primetime” at a budget of just $7 million, that would be a huge win for A24.
