Seeing ‘Everything’
“You Can See Everything” just had the biggest box-office opening for a non-music documentary in more than 20 years.
But the term documentary doesn’t suffice. Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim have created something that defies categorization.
“Less than two months ago, the public didn’t even know that” this film “following controversial Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes even existed,” Deadline’s Anthony D’Alessandro wrote. “And here we are with A24 having cracked the code on Gen Z again with an awesome $15 million opening, 2,000-plus sellouts and lines around the block.” For a three-hour-long movie!
I saw it on Saturday and spent the rest of the weekend thinking about it. Editor Andrew Kirell has tickets to see it on Thursday. So: No spoilers here!
But it’s really the quintessential Reliable Sources movie. Reliable reader Veronica wrote in and said, “It’s about the nature of truth — and what we mean by lying — [as much] as it is about Holmes.”
“It’s a haunting exploration of the limits of other people’s knowability,” The New Yorker’s Naomi Fry wrote here.
It’s a “metanarrative mille-feuille about all the ways we try to gauge the truth,” Vulture’s Alison Willmore wrote.
Polina Pompliano wrote on her Substack, “I walked in expecting that the filmmakers were going to tell us a story about deception. What I did not expect is that they were deceiving us — the viewers — in real time.”
Okay, you get the gist. The film has an extraordinarily high 99% “fresh score” on Rotten Tomatoes and a record-high 4.8 rating on Letterboxd. It officially opens nationwide in a few days and will surely benefit from all of this buzz. “The Dropout” is benefiting too: The miniseries is trending again on Hulu, surely thanks to renewed interest in Holmes…
Trade reporters reached for words to convey what a box office win this was. IndieWire’s Brent Lang called it “staggering” and said it secures A24’s place as “Hollywood’s hottest brand.”
Overall, “You Can See Everything” had the biggest opening weekend for a non-music documentary since “Fahrenheit 9/11” in 2004.
The other biggest docu launch this year — Amazon MGM’s “Melania” film about the first lady — premiered on twice as many screens and made less than half as much money, $7.1 million, in its opening weekend. And “Melania” was considered a big box-office success for a documentary when it was released.
“You Can See Everything” would have made even more than $15 million if it had been on more screens, since it sold out in so many locations.
“The fact that it’s a three hour documentary and people are leaving the theater saying ‘I could have watched three more hours of this’ just speaks to what he’s created,” Variety’s Rebecca Rubin remarked on my wife’s NY1 morning show just now.
If you’re new to Nathan Fielder fandom, WIRED has a great backgrounder about the “experimental comedian” here. And WIRED editor Katie Drummond just published an in-depth interview with him about the making of the film.
Netflix also had a theatrical milestone over the weekend: It “reported box office grosses for the first time ever,” the aforementioned Rebecca Rubin wrote here. “The streamer’s awards hopeful ‘La Bola Negra’ scored $277,500 from just four theaters, averaging $69,375 per location,” an impressive per-screen haul. “Now the test is whether ‘La Bola Negra’ can sustain momentum as Netflix slowly expands the movie’s footprint in the weeks to come…”
Tuesday: Netflix reports quarterly earnings after the closing bell. Axios holds its Media Trends Live summit in NYC. The NBA’s 2026-27 season tips off.
Wednesday: Meta reports earnings after the bell.
Thursday: Comcast and Spotify report earnings before the bell.
Friday: The 2026 MLB World Series begins.
When it was reported on Friday that Katie Zacharia was “fired” after only five days as White House press secretary, sources close to Zacharia pushed the term “transitioning” instead. She was “transitioning” out of the role. So while we wait to see if she transitions to a different job in President Trump’s administration, here are a few of the latest headlines about the Zacharia saga:
NYPost’s Steven Nelson and Geoff Earle: “Zacharia pushed for disastrous Fox News interviews that led to her ouster as press secretary.”
CNN’s John Liu: “China invites Katie Zacharia to visit again after she claims nation lacks ‘proper toilets.’”
WSJ’s Matthew Hennessey: “Katie Zacharia and the risks of résumé inflation.”
There were more “No Kings” protests on Saturday, although this time it was primarily a voter-turnout push, so there weren’t as many photos of large crowds. Organizers “were frustrated when its Instagram account was temporarily shut down” during the day of action, The Guardian’s Sanya Mansoor wrote.
Meta apologized “and blamed the account’s temporary suspension on an automated action that’s triggered ‘when accounts post, share or comment at very high frequencies.’” The company followed up and shared more detail on Sunday. But “organizers remained skeptical about Meta’s explanation.”
I was struck by Sen. Chris Murphy’s framing of the matter: He said even if Meta’s explanation totally checks out, “it’s still a total indictment of Meta’s outsized influence on our culture and politics. How were they not ready for the biggest day of anti-Trump protest of the campaign? If it wasn’t malevolence, it was likely a natural consequence of a company that is desperate to get as close to Trump as possible (and thus has a disincentive to do the basic, proactive work to be ready to support users on No Kings Day).”
He said Saturday’s malfunction should be “on the January investigation list…”
In our weekend edition on Saturday, we noted THR’s scoop about TikTok suspending Bleecker Street’s ad campaign for Alex Gibney’s “Musk” documentary.
Well, as Variety’s Payton Turkeltaub reported here, “the ad account’s ability to advertise on the platform was then restored on Sunday ‘after an error,’ per a spokesperson.”
Andrew Kirell writes: Trump is unhappy with Fox News again, and is urging his followers to instead watch Right Side Broadcasting Network, a far-right streamer devoted to giving Trump the uninterrupted airtime he craves.
“Fox spends more time defending Dumocrats, and putting on their views versus their Republican opponent, than at any time in the History of FoxNews,” he complained this morning on Truth Social. “It’s ridiculous! FoxNews is trying too hard to be Politically Correct!”
Instead of Fox, Trump wrote, “Watch my big Kansas Rally today on RSBN. Great early coverage!” He has promoted the MAGA channel a bunch lately — seven times over the past week — calling it “magnificent” and “spectacular,” and praising “what a great job they do….”
There must be a record number of stories about Trump’s record-low approval ratings right now. He has hit fresh lows in several reputable polls recently, including this Washington Post–ABC News–Ipsos poll that came out yesterday. A new NBC News poll also had him at a second-term low yesterday. NBC’s headline: “Americans are anxious, pessimistic and deeply unhappy with Trump ahead of the midterms.”
As I read the stories, I recalled that some media observers worried Trump’s lawsuit against pollster Ann Selzer would chill the polling industry. But whatever message he hoped to send, pollsters are still delivering numbers he doesn’t want to hear, and news outlets are putting them in their headlines.
>> The WaPo/ABC/Ipsos pollsters also asked if Trump is committed to protecting freedom of the press. 31% said yes, he is. 67% said no, he’s not. (This time last year, 36% said yes and 61% said no.)
A judge has threatened to sanction Trump “for failing to sit for a mandatory deposition in the $10 billion defamation suit he filed against the BBC,” Bloomberg’s Erik Larson reports.
The key quote from US Magistrate Judge Enjolique A. Lett: “The court has admonished plaintiff for his lack of participation to no avail. Going forward, the court expects strict compliance with its order, the failure of which will lead to sanctions.”
“Vice President JD Vance was repeatedly put on the spot during a tough CBS News town hall Saturday night, with voters — and CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil — calling him out on everything from gas prices and the Iran war to immigration and corruption in the White House,” Mediaite’s Kathianne Boniello wrote.
CBS had something to celebrate with the town hall. But at least on social media, it was overshadowed by a Sunday morning post by correspondent Jan Crawford criticizing Michigan Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed. You’ve likely already read about it by now. If not, Variety’s Brian Steinberg has a recap here.
Crawford apologized and said she deleted the tweet “because it was a violation of CBS News standards.” The post gave fresh ammunition to the news organization’s critics, as did Max Tani’s revealing report for Semafor last night, “How CBS News’ Middle East war spread to the Upper Midwest.”
>> MS NOW is “conducting a review of the reporting and approval process and meeting with the people involved to understand how” last week’s Kash Patel/Russia error happened, Natalie Korach reports. Curiously, “at least one other news outlet was approached with the same claim about Patel, but declined to run it after further investigation.” (Status)
>> Apple “tightened its developer guidelines over the weekend to ban apps that use AI to create offensive content, as well as those that masquerade as regular apps to pass the App Store review process and then turn into nudify apps, or surface those features prominently.” TechCrunch)
>> While “SNL” US had the weekend off, James Austin Johnson popped up on “SNL UK” for the first time, “bringing his Donald Trump across the Atlantic for a special appearance.” (LateNighter)
>> Taylor Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl” has notched “a 15th nonconsecutive week atop the Billboard 200 chart.” (Billboard)
This edition of Reliable Sources was edited by Andrew Kirell and produced with Liam Reilly. Email us your feedback and tips here.