Three-hour documentaries about disgraced tech executives are not usually box-office events. Yet Lance Oppenheim and Nathan Fielder’s unconventional film about Elizabeth Holmes, You Can See Everything, made an impressive impact despite opening in a limited release. So what fueled its success? Watch the video above, then read on.
In early September 2026, A24 made two unexpected moves with You Can See Everything: The studio unveiled the film without warning at the Telluride Film Festival and released an equally strange teaser. In it, Holmes — who is serving a prison sentence for defrauding investors through her failed blood-testing company, Theranos — asks Fielder why he deceived her. The trailer quickly became a sensation. During a Q&A session, Fielder admitted, via Vanity Fair, “I really am struggling to this day to understand exactly what I experienced.” It was an irresistible invitation to find out more.
Audiences clearly responded. According to Variety’s box-office analysis, the film earned $15 million in limited release. It also set a notable opening-weekend record: “You Can See Everything” scored the biggest debut for a film playing on fewer than 1,000 screens since 2006’s Borat, the outlet reported.
Several elements appear to have driven that performance. For one, this is far from a conventional documentary. Its first half offers a relatively direct portrait of Holmes, her partner Billy Evans, and their children before she begins her prison sentence. The final 90 minutes, however, become something entirely different. Add in the film’s mysterious surprise appearance, and viewers had plenty of reasons to see what You Can See Everything had in store.
You Can See Everything is one of the most ambitious movies in recent memory, and audiences loved it
A24
The filmmakers’ names also attracted cinephiles. Fielder built a following through Nathan For You and The Rehearsal, series that blur the line between documentary and performance as he conducts experiments, tries to improve businesses, or recreates real-life situations to understand them. Oppenheim’s other acclaimed 2026 release, Primetime, explores Chris Hansen at the height of the To Catch a Predator phenomenon. With that film generating strong audience interest and earning praise as one of the year’s best, viewers who caught Primetime may have been especially eager to see Oppenheim’s collaboration with Fielder.
The secrecy surrounding the project certainly helped. More importantly, You Can See Everything is the kind of film that inspires discussion — and many moviegoers wanted to be part of that conversation. In a post-release interview with Wired, Fielder explained that the film changed direction midway through production, ultimately placing him in front of the camera and introducing an unexpected new dimension. He said:
“But with this, we’re really trying to give the viewer everything. We’re trying to focus on these moments that we couldn’t really make sense of fully. Like I was saying, still to this day, I’m debating. Why are me and my editor talking, two days ago, about trying to understand certain things? I’ve talked to people who have seen it, and they’re all bringing out new ideas that I would never even consider.”
You can decide for yourself: You Can See Everything is now playing in theaters.