Less than two months ago, the public didn’t even know that a Nathan Fielder co-directed and starring documentary following controversial Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes even existed.
And here we are with A24 having cracked the code on Gen Z again with an awesome $15M opening, 2,000-plus sellouts and lines around the block for the 3-hour You Can See Everything, this after their all-time grossing hit Backrooms ($400.6M WW).
In addition to being the second best opening for a documentary at the domestic box office behind 2004’s Fahrenheit 9/11 ($23.9M), the whole box office resonance of You Can See Everything brings to mind when niche HBO-born Sacha Baron Cohen spread his wings with Borat, which opened to $26.4M. In fact, the debut here for You Can See Everything is the best for a movie in under 1,000 locations since 2006’s Borat.
Yes, theatrical is becoming the alpha, and streaming is the basic cable in today’s world. But still, the needle to thread for theatrical success remains nuanced. There’s plenty of adult sophisticated fare at the fall box office that’s struggling. How to trap lasers in a bottle and make originality king? A documentary that follows a deadpan wisenheimer, who eloquently and hysterically grills an arguably vain tech baron, who swindled hundreds of millions of dollars before her federal prison stint, is the way to go. But more so, the documentary is dressed up as a noir with a thrilling score, grey overcast tones and a third act that’s bananas fun, especially if you’ve been obsessed with Holmes and the fictional portrayals of her in Hulu’s Emmy-winning limited series The Dropout.
And that runtime of three hours proved to be no deterrent. The documentary has plenty of twists and turns in The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day sense of the word. There’s even advice out there as to when to take a bathroom break in the movie:
A24 has long been hailed for their guerrilla marketing and ability to speak to the Gen Z crowd. That wasn’t lost this weekend with 70% under 25 showing up. The pic at 56% guys to 44% women was a date film, with 44% watching You Can See Everything with a partner, spouse, girlfriend or boyfriend.
How do you do it, A24? Keep it cool, keep it simple, and never act like you’re overselling the demo. Audiences can smell if they’re being pressured. Then pray, pray, pray they take ownership of it after the pure placement of materials on social. And that’s what we saw going on here with the You Can See Everything fans posting a plethora of memes reminiscent of Barbie‘s run-up, when moviegoers spurred the Barbenheimer online fandom.
Secrecy was the special sauce with You Can See Everything, directed by Lance Oppenheim and Fielder sub rosa over the last four years. They had the freedom to pursue the project without a deadline or any obligation to deliver a finished film. A24 even made clear that if nothing came of it, the project could simply be scrapped. In the end, what Fielder and Oppenheim delivered was an Empire Strikes Back-like sequel to Alex Gibney’s 2019 HBO doc The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley. Critical reviews are at 99% on Rotten Tomatoes with audiences at 98%. Screen Engine/Rentrak Postmark exits are an awesome 91% definite recommend, which are scores that massive Marvel movies like Black Panther and Star Wars: The Force Awakens land. At 4.8, it’s the biggest Letterboxed score ever.
Who the hell drops a movie at Telluride in secrecy? A24, that’s who. The small-town awards season kick-off fest typically has secret screenings that are playing at other festivals (i.e. last year’s Frankenstein, which bowed at Venice and went on to play TIFF). However, dropping a world premiere sans any intel turned out to be a gong that rang around the world. A24 dropped the teaser just as the movie was hitting the screen in Colorado on Sept. 6. A trailer followed on Sept. 23, with Fielder opening it up by asking Holmes, “You really feel you did nothing wrong?” to which she responds earnestly, “I did not.” A24 says it’s their second most viewed trailer ever dropped after Backrooms.
Holmes’ unhinged partner Billy Evans, who is a big part of the documentary and mans her social media, insisted that her Twitter handle be tagged by A24 in the trailer drop. LOL.
And then came the memes, so myriad, we can’t run them all; Kermit and Miss Piggy as Fielder and Holmes stealing the show:
Outdoor ads intrigued with Holmes’ buzzing eyes.
Even more jaw-dropping, A24 didn’t do any sports buys on You Can See Everything. That maneuver, no matter the movie, is always the power pill for many major studio tentpole campaigns. That said, A24 did break their own marketing rules and took out sports spots on Backrooms, which mushroomed to an $81.4M record opening for the NY based studio (the movie was originally forecasted at $30M+ in its pre-weekend forecast) back in late May.
We understand that You Can See Everything wasn’t a coastal play and exceeded in its big markets from Nashville, TN at the Belcourt, which had lines around the block, to the Scotiabank in Toronto. Top five cities were NYC, LA, San Francisco, Chicago and Boston. The Kabuki Theater in San Francisco was the documentary’s top gross, which stands to reason as tech heads flocked to the film.
A24 was keen to keep this release tight and limited this weekend, to get in the cultural ether and make tickets a prized fetch. For when You Can See Everything goes wider next weekend, DC’s Clayface better look out, because Holmes is coming for blood.
It’s clear with the success of You Can See Everything: Bust out the Holmes and Fielder Halloween costumes, stat.