A three-hour documentary about Elizabeth Holmes has done something no one expected this fall: it just took the No. 1 spot at the North American box office. A24’s “You Can See Everything” earned an estimated $10.6 million over the Halloween weekend, narrowly beating DC Studios’ “Clayface” at $10.4 million, according to studio estimates released Sunday. The gap between the two films was just $200,684. The weekend itself was one of the quietest of the year, with no major new releases and Halloween falling on a Saturday.
A Slow Weekend at Theaters
Overall ticket sales landed at roughly $56 million from Friday through Sunday, according to The Associated Press. That makes it the second-lowest-earning weekend of 2026. The numbers were down about 42 percent from the previous weekend and marked one of the weakest frames of the year.
Halloween landing on a Saturday pulled audiences toward costume parties and trick-or-treating instead of movie theaters. Families with children had little reason to spend the evening inside a multiplex. Studios also stayed away from the frame, holding back major releases rather than competing with the holiday.
“With costume parties, trick-or-treating and countless other Halloween activities, theaters were facing some pretty stiff competition for people’s time and attention,” said Paul Dergarabedian, Rentrak’s head of marketplace trends.
The slowdown was not a total loss. The same weekend in 2025 brought in $49 million across all films, so this year’s total was still an improvement, even if a modest one. The domestic box office for 2026 has reached roughly $8.46 billion, running about 17 to 20 percent ahead of last year’s pace at the same point.
How the Documentary Took First Place
“You Can See Everything” has been building momentum since it opened on October 16 in just 855 theaters. It earned $15 million in its first weekend, the second-best opening ever for a non-musical documentary behind 2004’s “Fahrenheit 9/11”. The film expanded to more than 2,600 cinemas in its second weekend and brought in $19.5 million, staying at No. 2.
In its third weekend, the documentary played in 2,655 locations and finally reached the top spot. Its domestic total now stands at $63.9 million, a remarkable figure for a film that reportedly cost $7 million to produce.
“That’s a rare achievement for any film, let alone a documentary running more than three hours,” Dergarabedian said of the film’s rise to No. 1 in its third weekend.
The film runs 174 minutes, just under three hours. It follows Holmes in the weeks before she began her prison sentence for fraud, with directors Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim turning the camera on themselves as much as on their subject. Critics have responded with near-perfect scores. Rotten Tomatoes shows a 98 to 99 percent critics’ score and a matching audience score, while Metacritic has placed it among the highest-rated films in recent years.
Warner Bros. initially claimed the weekend for “Clayface,” but most box office analysts called the race for A24’s documentary. The final numbers were set to be tallied on Monday.
Clayface Slips to Second But Stays Profitable
“Clayface” opened at No. 1 the previous weekend with $24 million domestically and $19 million internationally, for a global debut of $43 million. The R-rated body horror film, directed by James Watkins, stars Tom Rhys Harries as Matt Hagen and Naomi Ackie as the scientist whose experiment goes wrong.
The film fell 57 percent in its second weekend, a sharp but not unusual drop for a horror-leaning comic book movie. Its domestic total sits at $44.1 million, and its worldwide gross has reached $83 million. Against a production budget of $44 million, the film is on track to turn a modest profit for DC Studios.
“You Can See Everything” is playing in far fewer theaters than “Clayface” — about 2,655 locations compared with 3,478 for the DC film — which makes the documentary’s win more striking. A film playing in fewer theaters and charging lower average ticket prices still managed to edge out a superhero spinoff.
Audiences have been kinder to “Clayface” than critics. Rotten Tomatoes shows a 75 to 76 percent critics’ score and a 94 percent audience score. The film is DC Studios’ third theatrical release under James Gunn and Peter Safran, following 2025’s “Superman” and this summer’s “Supergirl”.
The Rest of the Top Five
Laika’s stop-motion animated film “Wildwood” held at No. 3 with $7.5 million in its second weekend, a drop of just 39 percent. The film added 150 screens and now plays in about 3,100 theaters. Its domestic total is $25.9 million.
“Wicker,” the comedic fantasy from Black Bear starring Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård, stayed at No. 4 with $4.1 million. The film, about a woman who commissions a basket maker to build her a wicker husband, has earned $13.2 million domestically after two weekends.
“Street Fighter” rounded out the top five with $3.2 million in its third weekend. The video game adaptation has been one of the fall’s bigger success stories and has now crossed $53 million domestically.
Below the top five, “Resident Evil” and “Other Mommy” each took in $2.5 million. The Sundance indie “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York” expanded to more than 1,000 locations and made $1.9 million, landing in the top 10.
You Can See Everything Has Not Opened Worldwide Yet
The documentary’s domestic success is only part of the story. “You Can See Everything” has not been released in international markets, which means its global total will grow significantly in the coming weeks. A24 is handling the rollout on a staggered schedule rather than opening the film everywhere at once.
Australia will get the film on November 12, followed by the United Kingdom and Ireland on November 20. Several European countries, including the Netherlands and Sweden, will release it throughout November. Germany is set for December 3, while France will wait until December 30. Spain will not see the film until 2027.
Sony Pictures has acquired distribution rights for several international territories, including Germany, Latin America, and South Korea, though release plans for some of those markets have not been announced. The film has also been playing at festivals, including a slot at Italy’s Torino Film Festival with Fielder and Oppenheim in attendance.
A Small Win for Original Stories
The Halloween weekend result is a rare bright spot for a fall movie season that has relied heavily on sequels, reboots, and comic book adaptations. A documentary made for $7 million and running nearly three hours just beat a superhero film playing in more theaters. That outcome has drawn attention from industry watchers who have spent the year tracking the health of original, non-franchise filmmaking.
The weekend’s overall weakness is a reminder that the theatrical business still depends on a steady flow of new releases. With studios staying away from Halloween, theaters had little fresh product to offer beyond the films already in the marketplace. The top two films were both holdovers, and no new wide release cracked the top five.
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Final domestic figures were scheduled for release on Monday, when the gap between the two films could shift slightly. Studio estimates on Sunday had “You Can See Everything” ahead by less than the cost of a single theater ticket in some major cities.
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