Culture 4 min read By Arthur Ellington
Clayface wins weekend box office as A24 documentary nearly matches it
DC Studios' superhero horror film Clayface topped the domestic box office with an estimated $24.5 million, while A24's Elizabeth Holmes documentary You Can See Everything finished just $5 million behind in its second weekend.
DC Studios’ Clayface took the top spot at the domestic box office this weekend with an estimated $24.5 million, but the more striking result was the film finishing just behind it. A24’s documentary You Can See Everything grew its weekend gross by 25 per cent in its second frame to $19.5 million, finishing second for the second weekend in a row and lifting its domestic total to $45.1 million.
Second weekends almost always see steep declines, which makes the documentary’s performance unusual. The nearly three-hour film, directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, examines Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. A24 released it in just 855 theatres last weekend, where it grossed $15.6 million in its opening weekend and averaged $18,245 per theatre. That opening beat new narrative releases including 20th Century Studios’ Whalefall and Focus Features’ Sense and Sensibility.
Behind the leaders, Paramount’s video game adaptation Street Fighter opened to about $31 million from 3,575 theatres, but fell to fourth place with $8.6 million in its second weekend, a 72 per cent drop from its debut. Laika’s stop-motion fairy tale Wildwood opened in third with $11.6 million, and the horror film Wicker debuted in fifth with $5.7 million. You Can See Everything earned more than both of those newcomers.
For its second weekend, A24 expanded You Can See Everything by roughly 1,800 theatres to 2,655 locations, more than tripling its footprint. The film held up across that wider release, averaging about $7,345 per location. It earned $6.1 million on Friday, $6.9 million on Saturday and $6.4 million on Sunday. Against a reported production budget of about $7 million, the documentary is already a major win for A24 and a career milestone for Fielder. Its opening was the second-best ever for a non-concert documentary, behind Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, which went on to earn about $119 million domestically. With strong reviews and audience scores, awards commentators suggest it could become the first documentary nominated for Best Picture at next year’s Academy Awards.
Clayface, by contrast, is a smaller and more modest bet for DC Studios. The R-rated body-horror film about the Batman villain opened in 3,458 theatres and earned an A- CinemaScore. It was produced for a reported $44 million, a restrained budget for a comic book release. The film is one of the first major releases from Warner Bros. since its merger with Paramount. It still landed below the studio’s projection of $25 million to $30 million, and below the roughly $45 million target described in trade coverage, which has framed the result as another soft performance for the DC slate. Commentators have raised questions about whether the result signals a wider warning sign, or whether the merger and concerns about studio interference are shaping the company’s release strategy.
The contrast with DC’s recent history is notable. Supergirl, released in June, posted one of DC Studios’ worst opening weekends, and Clayface’s performance has revived questions about the studio’s box office footing. Yet the broader market is healthy. Total weekend box office reached $94.9 million, up nearly 22 per cent from the same weekend in 2025. Year-to-date ticket sales have hit $8.4 billion, about 20 per cent ahead of last year’s pace.
The coming weekend is expected to be quieter, with few studios releasing films because Halloween falls on a Saturday. That leaves A24’s documentary and Clayface to show how their audiences hold up in the weeks ahead.
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