Elizabeth Holmes documentary makes a strong cinema debut: $15 million in the US and Canada

The documentary about Elizabeth Holmes, founder of the collapsed company Theranos, was one of the biggest surprises of the weekend at the North American box office. The film "You Can See Everything" (announced in Poland as "Zobaczysz wszystko") came second in the box office chart. Only the film adaptation of the game "Street Fighter" beat it.

The result compared with other documentaries

According to Polish film websites, the documentary took $15 million in its opening weekend. It was shown in only 855 cinemas in the US and Canada. The website Wirtualna Polska reports that this is the second-best opening for a documentary in history. Only Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" from 2004 did better. The same website also writes that it is the biggest opening among films that played on fewer than a thousand screens.

The result is all the more noteworthy because the film runs for almost three hours. Documentaries rarely draw crowds to cinemas, unless they are recordings of concerts by major stars.

What the film is about

The directors are Nathan Fielder, known for the programmes "Nathan for You" and "The Curse", and Lance Oppenheim. They worked on the film for about three years. Its subject is Elizabeth Holmes, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison for defrauding investors in connection with Theranos's activities. We meet her in 2023, 34 days before she began serving her sentence. She invited a film crew into her home at the time. The BBC describes this as an invitation to the sceptical Fielder to come inside.

The film attracted interest after its premiere at the Telluride festival, where it received very good reviews.

What this means for Poles in the UK

The information we have been able to confirm concerns the result in North America. We have not found a release date for British cinemas in the sources we checked. The Polish cinema announcement gives a release date of 6 November. It is worth checking the listings of local cinemas and streaming platforms.