A24’s “You Can See Everything” is doing the rarest thing at the box office: growing. In its second weekend, the Elizabeth Holmes documentary added $19.5 million from 2,655 North American theaters, a 28% jump over its $15.6 million opening from 855 cinemas. Its domestic total now stands at $45.1 million.
The film opened as the best start for a nonmusical documentary in 20 years, and its second-weekend increase cements word-of-mouth momentum. Rentrak’s head of marketplace trends Paul Dergarabedian called the film’s momentum “remarkable,” noting that a documentary delivering this kind of second-weekend increase is rare. Awards watchers are now asking whether it could become the first documentary to score a Best Picture nomination.
Clayface wears a smaller price tag
Warner Bros. and DC’s “Clayface” led the weekend with $24 million from 3,458 venues, plus $19 million overseas for a $43 million global start. The R-rated antihero film arrived at the lower end of the studio’s $25 million to $35 million expectations, but its $44 million production cost makes the arithmetic easier than DC’s recent superhero swings.
David A. Gross of FranchiseRe described the film as “wisely conceived as something different,” adding that it should be profitable after ancillary business. Audiences gave it an A- CinemaScore.
The weekend chart
- Clayface – $24M debut, $43M global.
- You Can See Everything – $19.5M second weekend, $45.1M domestic.
- Wildwood – $11M debut, above projections, but $100M budget.
- Street Fighter – $8.6M second weekend, down 72%.
- Wicker – $5.75M debut from 1,471 locations.
- Klara and the Sun – $720,000 debut from 880 locations.
Why the budget math matters
Laika’s stop-motion “Wildwood” was a bright spot with $11 million, above forecasts, a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score and an A CinemaScore. But the $100 million production cost and only $3 million internationally mean it needs a very long run. In contrast, “Wicker” cost Black Bear just $2.5 million to acquire at Sundance and opened with $5.75 million.
The larger lesson: a theatrical model that pairs limited openings with disciplined budgets is doing what big bets cannot. Disney’s “Whalefall” added $3.2 million in its second frame, and Netflix’s “La Bola Negra” added $245,000 from nine locations while building its awards run toward a Dec. 2 streaming release.
For media planners and entertainment marketers, the numbers point to two moves: treat documentary and niche titles as momentum plays rather than opening-day events, and model break-even on production cost, not on franchise size.
Source: Variety
