A nearly three-hour documentary about the founder of Theranos just outdrew almost every Hollywood release in theaters. A24’s You Can See Everything opened to $15 million, according to Variety, which put it in second place behind “Street Fighter.” Variety reported that the video game adaptation led the weekend with $31 million. On CNBC on October 19, 2026, Andrew Ross Sorkin called it “the biggest opening for a non-music documentary in two decades, driven by younger crowds and viral online buzz.”
For investors, the irony stands out. Elizabeth Holmes was convicted of defrauding investors who bought a story her company couldn’t support, and now a film about her is turning public attention into ticket sales at a level few documentaries ever reach.
How Big Is This Documentary Opening?
Demand showed up early. IndieWire reported the film earned $1.75 million in Thursday previews, a strong start for a nonfiction release. The San Francisco Chronicle said the opening made box office history, and ABC7 called it one of the biggest documentary releases in decades. Bloomberg reported it posted the second-best debut ever for a documentary at the U.S. and Canadian box office.
Documentaries rarely open this big because of the way they are made and sold. Most start in a small number of theaters, depend on festival reviews and word of mouth, and find their biggest audiences later on streaming. Their marketing budgets are usually modest, and theater chains save their largest screens for franchise releases, but concert films are the usual exception, which is why Sorkin’s “non-music” distinction matters. A nonfiction film drawing this kind of crowd on opening weekend played like an event.
Nathan Fielder’s Month With Holmes
According to the CNBC segment, the film runs just under three hours. It follows comedian Nathan Fielder as he passes a month with Holmes and her partner before she reported to federal prison in 2023. A24 reported thousands of sold-out screenings, and The New York Times also highlighted the sold-out shows from opening weekend.
The long length works against ticket sales. Longer films get fewer showtimes per screen each day, which limits how many tickets a theater can sell. The sellouts suggest audiences went looking for this movie.
More Than a Villain Story?
The CNBC hosts suggested the film’s success points to something more complicated than a simple morality tale. “If it was just a confirmation of her being the villain, we all think of her being, I just don’t think it would be selling out and getting 100 on rotten tomatoes and everything else,” a CNBC co-host said. The host mentioned a Rotten Tomatoes score of 100.
The same co-host described a screening at the Telluride Film Festival: “By the time everyone left, everyone was like, that was the most unbelievable thing I’ve ever seen.”
Why Investors Still Care About Holmes
Theranos became one of Silicon Valley’s best-known investor frauds. In 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Theranos, Holmes and former president Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani with massive fraud, and Holmes was stripped of control of the company.
The case left lasting lessons for private and public market investors alike:
- Hype is cheap. A charismatic founder and a big promise can push a valuation far beyond what the product has proven.
- Secrecy is a warning sign. Treating basic product data as a trade secret can make claims impossible to verify.
- Due diligence has to be independent. Famous backers and prestigious board members don’t replace technical validation.
What It Says About the Business of Attention
Sorkin credited younger crowds and online buzz, and that combination is changing how niche content finds an audience. Social media clips, memes and reactions build demand fast. They can outpace a traditional ad campaign, and younger moviegoers can turn a buzzy release into a shared experience they want to join right away. For studios and distributors, a small-scale project with a strong hook can now act like a blockbuster on opening weekend. For investors watching media companies, audience engagement online may offer an early read on theatrical demand.
A Story That Sells
Theranos sold investors a story it couldn’t back up. Now a film about that company is filling theaters. It draws crowds on the strength of its own story, and the next few weekends will show whether word of mouth can keep it going.