A documentary about First Lady Melania Trump needed its entire theatrical run to earn what a rival nonfiction film passed in just four days.

Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim directed A24’s Elizabeth Holmes documentary “You Can See Everything,” which took in $15.6 million between Oct. 16 and Oct. 18. That haul more than doubled what “Melania” managed on its opening weekend — and “Melania” played on twice as many screens. It then won Monday’s box office outright with $2.57 million, pushing its North American total to $18.1 million, past the $16.3 million “Melania” earned domestically over its entire run, Deadline reported.

The nearly three-hour film pulled its opening from just 855 theaters across the U.S. and Canada, averaging more than $18,000 a location. A24 counted more than 2,000 sold-out screenings. Only one title in the entire marketplace finished ahead of it.

Brett Ratner directed “Melania,” the Amazon MGM documentary about the first lady, and the film took in $7.1 million from 1,778 locations when it opened in late January 2026. No non-music documentary had launched bigger in over ten years, and by the standards of the genre that counted as a win. Its completed domestic run finished at $16.3 million.

The money behind each film tilts the comparison further. Fielder and Oppenheim shot “You Can See Everything” quietly across three years for under $7 million. Marketing reportedly came in at less than $10 million, putting production and marketing together under $20 million. Amazon MGM reportedly paid $40 million for the rights before spending about $35 million on marketing.

Critics split just as sharply. The Holmes documentary holds 99 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and a 99 on Metacritic. “Melania” sits at 9 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

Only “Street Fighter” Finished Ahead

Paramount’s video game adaptation “Street Fighter” took the No. 1 spot with $30 million to $31 million in Sunday estimates from 3,575 venues, averaging $8,671 a location. It added $20.1 million overseas for a global opening of $51.1 million. Audiences gave it a “B-” CinemaScore and critics left it at 42 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Legendary and Capcom co-financed the film for $82 million, with Paramount handling distribution only.

A Giant Weekend for the Genre

Nonfiction almost never performs like this. Documentaries rarely receive a wide release and typically take in $3 million over their first three days, said David A. Gross, who publishes the box office newsletter FranchiseRe. “This is a giant weekend for the genre,” he told Variety.

A24’s own “The Drama,” starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, opened earlier in 2026 to $14.3 million from 3,087 theaters — less than the Holmes film made from 855. The weekend ranks as the biggest opening for a non-music documentary since Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11.” Moore’s film took $23.9 million from 868 screens on its 2004 debut and closed out its domestic run at a genre-record $119.2 million. The Holmes documentary also stands as the largest debut for any film playing on fewer than 1,000 screens since “Borat” opened to about $26 million from 837 theaters in 2006. Neither comparison accounts for inflation.

Pleading Innocence Up to the Prison Gates

The film made a surprise world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado on Sept. 6. Its subject is the Theranos founder, tracked across the 34 days that preceded the start of her federal prison sentence of more than 11 years for defrauding investors. Holmes, her partner Billy Evans and her two young children hosted Fielder for over a month before she reported to prison in 2023, and the director turns up on camera interviewing the couple.

Holmes tried to convince the filmmakers of her innocence. Her relationship with Evans, her MAGA evolution and her reaction to being portrayed by Amanda Seyfried in Hulu’s “The Dropout” all surface in the documentary as well.

A Letterboxd Record and Oscar Talk

More than 70 percent of the opening weekend crowd was under 35. PostTrak exit polling found an unprecedented 91 percent “definite recommend.” It is the highest-rated film on Letterboxd, and awards watchers are now arguing over its odds of becoming the first documentary ever to land a Best Picture nomination at the Academy Awards.

Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends for Rentrak, said the director’s enormous social media following drew in ticket buyers who would normally have hesitated at a three-hour documentary. “Elizabeth Holmes is just a character that you couldn’t even make up,” he said.

Oppenheim’s A24 feature “Primetime” has earned nearly $50 million against a $15 million budget. The overall domestic box office for the weekend came to about $101.6 million, up 45 percent from the same weekend a year earlier, and the year-to-date domestic total stands at $8.2 billion, up almost 20 percent from 2025. “You Can See Everything” expands nationwide in the coming weeks.