Elizabeth Holmes Doc Rewrites the Record Books
A24's Elizabeth Holmes documentary You Can See Everything delivered one of the most stunning box office surprises in recent memory, grossing $15 million from just 855 North American theaters and averaging an extraordinary $17,544 per screen [2]. That per-location figure ranks as the biggest opening from fewer than 1,000 theaters since Borat in 2006, and the overall debut marks the largest documentary opening since Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 in 2004 — surpassing this year's previous record-holder, Melania, which launched to $7.1 million from 1,778 locations [2].
The film had been projected to open somewhere between $7 and $8 million [1]. It nearly doubled the high end of those estimates, with more than 2,000 sellout screenings nationwide and social media videos showing lines snaking through cinema lobbies [2]. The audience skewed decisively young and male — 70 percent under 35, 55 percent male — an unusual demographic profile for a documentary [2].
What Is 'You Can See Everything'?
Directed by comedian Nathan Fielder and Primetime filmmaker Lance Oppenheim, the three-hour film was made in secret over more than three years and offers what sources describe as an "unhinged" portrait of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes in the month before she began serving an 11-year prison sentence for defrauding investors [1]. The project maintained an air of mystery through its marketing campaign after a surprise premiere at Telluride [2].
Critical reception has been exceptional. The film holds a 99 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes alongside a 98 audience score, and has become the highest-rated title ever on Letterboxd at 4.8 [2]. THR critic Angie Han called it "smart, funny and full of surprises" [2]. Oscar buzz is expected to intensify as the film expands to additional theaters next weekend [2].
'Street Fighter' Claims the Weekend Crown
Despite You Can See Everything's cultural moment, it was Paramount's Street Fighter that technically won the weekend, opening to $31 million from 3,575 North American theaters [2]. The result landed on the lighter side of the studio's mid-$30 million projection for director Kitao Sakurai's adaptation of the Capcom video game franchise [2]. The film added $20.1 million from 65 international markets on an $82 million production budget [2].
Noah Centineo, Andrew Koji and Callina Liang star in the story of two estranged fighters recruited into a combat tournament, set in the 1990s [1]. The new film earned a B- CinemaScore — the same grade as the 1994 Jean-Claude Van Damme original — and holds a 41 percent critics approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, though audiences have responded more warmly with a 79 percent score [2]. THR critic Frank Scheck described the film as a "jumbled tonal mess" and "only sporadically entertaining" [2].
The franchise has had a turbulent history at the multiplex. The original 1994 film grossed $100 million worldwide (unadjusted), while 2009's Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li earned just $12.8 million against a $50 million budget [1]. This weekend's opening, the first release under Paramount's new distribution deal with Legendary, represents a meaningful step up from that low point, though profitability will depend heavily on international performance and legs [2].
The Rest of a Crowded Weekend
The weekend's total domestic gross reached an estimated $101.6 million — 45 percent above the equivalent 2025 weekend, which saw Black Phone 2 open at No. 1 with $27.3 million [2]. The domestic box office for 2026 now stands at roughly $8.2 billion, comfortably ahead of last year's $6.8 billion pace but still trailing the pre-pandemic 2019 benchmark of $8.9 billion at this point in the calendar [2].
Disney's survival thriller Whalefall, directed by Brian Duffield, opened to an estimated $8 million from 3,065 North American theaters — below the low double-digits the studio had been targeting [2]. The film, adapted from Daniel Kraus' 2023 novel, follows a scuba diver (Austin Abrams) swallowed by a sperm whale with only an hour of oxygen remaining [1]. Carrying a $60 million budget and earning a B CinemaScore, the film faces a difficult path to profitability; it added $9.5 million internationally [2]. THR chief film critic David Rooney wrote that the movie is "just not batshit crazy enough to be much fun" [2].
Focus Features' Sense and Sensibility, Georgia Oakley's remake of the Jane Austen classic starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles, grossed an estimated $7.2 million from 2,545 theaters and earned a strong A- CinemaScore [2]. Its audience was 84 percent female, with 58 percent between 18 and 34 [2]. The film carries a mid-$20 million budget and holds a 76 percent critics score on Rotten Tomatoes [2]. Rooney noted that the film "seldom steps out from the long shadow of Ang Lee's enchanting 1995 retelling" [2].
Universal's supernatural horror Other Mommy, starring Jessica Chastain, continued its second-weekend run with around $8.3 million, though that figure represents a steep 70 percent drop after the film earned a D+ CinemaScore in its opening frame [2]. Its cumulative domestic total is heading toward approximately $44.8 million [2].
In limited release, Netflix made an unusual move by publicly disclosing box office figures for Spanish film La Bola Negra, which opened in four theaters to a $69,375 per-screen average — the second-highest ever for a non-English language release, behind only Parasite in 2019 [2].
What to Watch Next
The theatrical landscape next weekend will shift again with the arrivals of Clayface, Wildwood, Klara and the Sun, Ali G: Who Iz I? and Wicker [2]. The more pressing question is whether You Can See Everything can sustain its momentum as it expands — and whether its extraordinary opening translates into a serious awards-season run that could make it the defining documentary of the year.
