A24’s Elizabeth Holmes documentary You Can See Everything pulled off one of the biggest box office surprises of the year following its October 16 theatrical debut. Co-directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, the nearly three-hour nonfiction feature opened to approximately $15 million across just 855 screens in the United States and Canada. While Paramount and Legendary’s big-budget video game adaptation Street Fighter won the overall October 16–18 weekend chart, You Can See Everything surged past the blockbuster on Monday to claim the No. 1 spot on the daily domestic box office chart, according to TheWrap.

The weekday overtake highlights the extraordinary demand for a project filmed in secret over three years. On Monday, You Can See Everything grossed $2.57 million from its limited 855-location footprint, edging out Street Fighter, which brought in $2 million across 3,575 theaters. For an independent documentary to out-earn a major studio tentpole on a daily chart while playing onless than a quarter of the screens represents a rare theatrical milestone.

A Historic Weekend and Weekday Turnaround

Over the October 16–18 opening weekend, studio estimates placed Street Fighter firmly in first place and You Can See Everything in second, though exact figures varied slightly by outlet. According to the Associated Press, Street Fighter opened to $31 million domestically across 3,575 locations, while Variety reported a $30 million domestic start for the action reboot. Worldwide, Street Fighter grossed $51.1 million, including $20.1 million from international markets, according to Entertainment Weekly.

For You Can See Everything, most industry estimates rounded its three-day North American debut to $15 million, while Bloomberg reported a higher U.S. and Canadian opening total of $15.6 million. Even at the $15 million mark, the film doubled pre-release industry projections; Fortune noted that early tracking stood between $7 million and $8 million, while Variety had projected a $7 million to $12 million range prior to opening.

The concentration of ticket sales gave the documentary a massive per-theater average of roughly $17,544, compared to about $8,671 for Street Fighter. Distributor A24 reported that more than 2,000 individual screenings sold out over the weekend. The debut marks the largest opening for any movie playing on fewer than 1,000 screens since Borat earned $26.5 million in 2006. Furthermore, CNN characterized the launch as the biggest documentary opening in over 20 years, and the San Francisco Chronicle noted it is the strongest bow for a non-concert documentary since Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 made nearly $24 million from 868 theaters in 2004.

The Nathan Fielder Factor and Gen-Z Turnout

The financial gap between the two top films is as striking as their screen counts. While Street Fighter—starring Callina Liang, Noah Centineo, and Andrew Koji—carried a reported production budget of $82 million before marketing, You Can See Everything cost under $7 million to produce and less than $10 million to market, according to the Idaho Press.

The documentary captures Holmes at home in 2023 alongside her partner, Billy Evans, and their two young children during the final month before she reported to federal prison to serve her sentence for the Theranos blood-testing fraud. Rather than taking a standard biographical approach, the project centers on awkward, unstructured interactions between Holmes and Fielder, the Canadian comedian behind Nathan for You and The Rehearsal.

Internal exit polling from A24 indicates that Fielder’s involvement was the primary catalyst for ticket buyers. According to survey data cited by TheWrap, 70% of opening weekend attendees identified Fielder as a major reason they purchased a ticket. The demographic breakdown skewed heavily young, with over 70% of the audience under the age of 35, mirroring the youth-driven turnout seen in earlier 2026 genre hits like Backrooms and Obsession.

“Everybody underestimated the movie, because on paper this is like, wait, a three-hour documentary?” Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends for Rentrak, told the Associated Press. “But he (Fielder) is a huge draw, and he has a huge following on social media, and then Elizabeth Holmes is just a character that you couldn’t even make up. It’s stranger than fiction, and that’s really compelling.”

Critical Reception and Box Office Trajectory

Since its surprise premiere at the Telluride Film Festival, You Can See Everything has generated near-universal critical praise. The film holds a 99% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 99 on Metacritic. Word-of-mouth among general ticket buyers has been equally strong, with PostTrak exit polls recording a 91% “definite recommend” score from audiences.

The film is also outpacing co-director Lance Oppenheim’s other fall 2026 A24 release, Primetime. While Primetime opened to $18.8 million across 2,874 locations and has grossed over $45 million domestically after four weekends, its first Monday brought in $1.7 million—well behind the $2.57 million Monday haul of You Can See Everything. By next weekend, the Holmes documentary is projected to surpass the Fred Rogers profile Won’t You Be My Neighbor? as the highest-grossing documentary of the past decade, as well as A24’s summer scripted indie hit The Invite ($26.1 million).

What Comes Next for Moviegoers

With thousands of sold-out showtimes during its opening frame, A24 is preparing to widen the film’s theatrical footprint, though outlets differ slightly on the exact rollout schedule. CNN reported that a nationwide expansion is planned for the following weekend, while Yahoo Entertainment noted the expansion will roll out over the coming weeks.

As additional screens are added, industry analysts will watch whether the documentary can maintain its momentum outside major metropolitan markets and appeal to moviegoers less familiar with Fielder’s deadpan comedic style or the minutiae of the Theranos collapse. Meanwhile, both You Can See Everything and Street Fighter will face fresh theatrical competition as the fall calendar progresses, with NBC News and Deadline pointing toward an upcoming box office clash with Clayface.