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A24’s Elizabeth Holmes documentary “You Can See Everything” and DC’s comic book adaptation “Clayface” are vying for first place at the domestic box office, with each film on track to collect around $10.5 million over
the weekend.
Although it’ll be a close call, “You Can See Everything” has the slight edge with $10.6 million while expanding to 3,242 venues in its third frame while “Clayface” looks just behind with $10.4 million from 3,478 theaters in its sophomore outing, according to respective studio estimates. (The final results will be tallied on Monday.) Although “You Can See Everything” is already a box office winner, it would be quite a feat for the non-fiction film to ascend to No. 1 in its third weekend in theaters.
“That’s a rare achievement for any film, let alone a documentary running more than three hours,” says Rentrak’s head of marketplace trends Paul Dergarabedian.
Overall, it was another glacial Halloween for cinema owners without any new releases, as well as the misfortune of the holiday landing on Saturday. When Halloween coincides with the weekend, families prefer to go trick-or-treating rather than visit their local multiplex. Revenues between Friday and Sunday amounted to roughly $64 million, marking one of the slowest weekends in some time, according to Rentrak. It’s improvement from last year’s holiday, which resulted in $49 million across all films, led by Colleen Hoover adaptation “Regretting You” and “Black Phone 2.”
“You Can See Everything” has been the fall season’s breakout hit with $63.88 million domestically to date. It has yet to be released at the international box office. With euphoric word-of-mouth and repeat viewings from audiences who are trying to process the stranger-than-fiction film, “You Can See Everything” is expected to leave theaters as one of the biggest documentaries in decades. And it will be very profitable for A24, which produced the nearly three-hour movie for $7 million.
“Clayface,” an R-rated origin story about the Batman villain, has generated $44.1 million in North America and $83 million globally. It’s shaping up to be a modest win for DC, having cost just $44 million to produce. That’s a much leaner price tag than DC’s other recent tentpoles, such as last year’s $225 million-budgeted “Superman” and July’s $175 million-budgeted “Supergirl.” The studio spent less on “Clayface” because the story is much darker than those family-friendly adventures, and because the character isn’t as well known compared to some of its A-list superheroes. DC’s next big-screen endeavors will feature marquee names with next summer’s “Superman: Man of Tomorrow” and 2028’s “The Batman: Part II,” led by Robert Pattinson.
Laika’s stop-motion animated fantasy “Wildwood” remained at No. 3 with $7.5 million in its sophomore outing, a 39% drop. So far, the well-reviewed film has earned $25 million domestically and $35 million globally. Since “Wildwood” has a huge $100 million production budget (stop-motion animation is labor-intensive and takes years to produce), the movie likely won’t turn a profit in its theatrical run.
Fourth place went to Black Bear’s offbeat romantic comedy “Wicker” with $4.1 million from 2,374 venues in its second weekend, a decline of just 28% from its debut. The film has earned $13.2 million domestically to date, a solid tally considering the low-budget project was acquired by Black Bear after Sundance for $2.5 million.
Paramount’s video game reboot “Street Fighter” rounded out the top five with $3.2 million in its third frame, another harsh 63% drop. The movie has grossed $53 million in North America and $91.9 million worldwide. Although “Street Fighter” is nearing the $100 million mark, it’s not close to breaking even or getting into the black. Legendary and video game developer Capcom co-financed “Street Fighter” for $82 million, and theater owners keep around half of ticket sales.
Elsewhere, Sony didn’t report grosses for its Jenna Ortega-led literary adaptation “Klara and the Sun,” which collapsed last weekend with $720,000 from 880 locations. The studio scaled back the theatrical footprint after critics derided the movie as “calamitous” and “confoundingly awful.” Director Taika Waititi claimed he doesn’t read reviews but, in a recent social media post, he referred to critics of his work as “sad lost souls who couldn’t achieve their dreams of becoming artists.” The movie cost $20 million and will wind up in the red for Sony. It’s the studio’s second consecutive misfire after Aaron Sorkin’s “The Social Reckoning,” which left theaters with a paltry $9 million in North America and $17 million globally against a $30 million budget. Luckily, the studio’s losses on those films were cushioned by two major winners, “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” and Zach Cregger’s “Resident Evil” reboot.
More to come…
