Box Office Report for the Week of October 18

Street Fighter might have won the weekend with an impressive $31 million domestic and a $51 million global debut (and on an $82 million budget, that’s not bad at all, even if the reviews weren’t very kind), but You Can See Everything might come out victorious as the biggest winner, considering that no one knew of the film’s existence a month ago.

The Lance Oppenheim and Nathan Fielder-directed documentary following ex-Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes a month before her prison sentence made quite a splash at the Telluride and New York Film Festivals, and the buzz from those screenings was off the charts. The result? 99% on Rotten Tomatoes, nearly sold-out showings across 855 theatres, a $15 million opening, which means at least $17,500 per screen, and now people are discussing its chances of becoming the first-ever documentary to be nominated for Best Picture.

A24 might have been the masters of subversion this year. They made us think that Oppenheim’s Primetime would be a major contender, only to divert our attention to this masterpiece that shatters any preconceived notion of documentary filmmaking and is unlike anything you’ve ever seen. The movie expands to more venues next week, which could help it sustain its momentum. It is already the best documentary debut since Michael Moore‘s Fahrenheit 9/11, and it could beat that total if they play their cards right.

Other new releases didn’t fare as well as a documentary whose buzz is stratospheric to the very top of people’s year-end lists, such as Brian Duffield‘s Whalefall, which opened with a disappointing $8.3 million on a $60 million budget, and Georgia Oakley‘s readaptation of Jane Austen‘s Sense and Sensibility, at $7.2 million. Perhaps the two can perform better in the weekends to come, as competition isn’t necessarily fierce until Godzilla Minus Zero, and audiences are scattered pretty much everywhere right now.

There’s a wealth of great movies at the audience’s disposal, including La Bola Negra, which has broken a record for an international film as its limited release begins and Netflix finally enters the theatrical market. They seem serious about it, too. That’s good, because Hollywood has just lost another major studio to corporate consolidation, and if Netflix can fill that gap for several of its movies, it would be as important as Amazon entering the theatrical business.

Here is the full list of the top ten films of the weekend:

1. Street Fighter (Paramount): $31.0M – 3,575 theatres
2. You Can See Everything (A24): $15.0M – 855 theatres
3. Other Mommy (Universal): $8.3M (-70%) – 3,370 theatres
4. Whalefall (Disney): $8.0M – 3,065 theatres
5. Sense and Sensibility (Universal): $7.2M – 2,545 theatres
6. Verity (Amazon MGM Studios): $6.2M (-48%) – 3,072 theatres
7. Resident Evil (Sony): $5.5M (-36%) – 2,705 theatres
8. Heart of the Beast (Paramount): $4.8M (-35%) – 3,049 theatres
9. Jailer 2 (Sun Pictures): $3.2M – 420 theatres
10. Forgotten Island (Universal): $2.2M (-52%) – 2,149 theatres

Source: Box Office Mojo