WEDNESDAY PM UPDATE: Nathan Fielder and Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes are banking an estimated $2.3 million Wednesday (that’s real box office money by the way, not a false-positive blood test result) with A24’s three-hour documentary You Can See Everything winning the day.
However, the googly-eyed interviewer and subject didn’t win Tuesday as discount tickets for Street Fighter were the testosterone for that Paramount/Legendary movie, the latter besting the documentary Tuesday $2.8M-$2.6M. Street Fighter is looking at an estimated $1.7M today with a $37.2M running domestic take. You Can See Everything‘s five-day cume is looking like $23.1M.
Tom Rhys Harries as Matt Hagen in ‘Clayface‘
Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett Collection
So will DC genre movie Clayface be kicked out of No. 1 by a three-hour documentary? Too close to call as the latter expands to 2,600 theaters. Clayface is heading into the weekend with presales that indicate $20M+, but also a Rotten Tomatoes critical score of 75% certified fresh (that’s better than The Flash‘s 63% and Supergirl‘s 52% Rotten), while You Can See Everything could emulate a mid- to high-teens-plus second weekend. It’s impossible to find a good seat for the documentary co-directed by Lance Oppenheim and Fielder at the Alamo Drafthouse LA this weekend.
Watch on Deadline
The R-rated Clayface begins previews tomorrow at 2 p.m. and is booked at 3,400 sites Friday in Dolby Cinema, PLFs and Motion Seats. Foreign footprint is 76 territories including France, Korea, Germany, Italy, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Spain and the UK, with an outlook of $20M-$25M for a $45M+ global bow. Supergirl posted a $30M foreign opening in 77 territories, but she had Japan and China in her opening suite.
Fathom Entertainment’s theatrical release of Laika’s Wildwood could over-index, we hear, with a $12M-$15M U.S. take in 2,718 theaters. Heading into the weekend it’s 100% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a 98% audience score. The stop-motion animated feature from Travis Knight follows a girl’s desperate quest to save her baby brother in a forbidden forest full of enchanted creatures, endearing allies, formidable adversaries and a hidden realm.
Olivia Colman in ‘Wicker‘
Black Bear
Black Bear could have an adult-pleasing upscale success in its Sundance acquisition of period sex comedy Wicker, from Topic Studios, which stars Olivia Colman as a fisherwoman who upon asking the gifted basketweaver (Peter Dinklage) for a Wicker-husband gets one — a loyal and sexy one in Alexander Skarsgård. Booked at 1,471 theaters, the pic has as shot at hitting $5M off reviews that are 95% certified fresh and a trailer that went crazy viral for an indie film.
Jenna Ortega stars in ‘Klara and the Sun‘
Sony 3000 Pictures
The Sony/Spyglass/TSG co-financed feature take of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Booker Prize long-listed Klara and the Sun from Oscar winner Taika Waititi is platforming in 850-890 locations in hopes that Jenna Ortega fans find it and spread good word of mouth for this moving sci-fi dystopian tale about an AI robot who befriends a dying a young girl. Low single digits expected right now. Sony says the movie cost a net $20M, but we’ve heard it’s close to double that after it was mired in post-production. Thirty-three critics weren’t sympathetic at 27% Rotten on Rotten Tomatoes.
Bleecker Street/LD Entertainment
Bleecker Street has A Talent for Murder at 876 locations with an eye at low-single digits. The Anton Corbijn-directed thriller starring Helen Mirren, Olivia Cooke and Alden Ehrenreich follows a mysterious young man from a New York publisher who is sent to Switzerland to persuade renowned novelist Patricia Highsmith to write one final installment of the Ripley anthology. The Bleecker Street movie world premiered at TIFF and it counts 84% fresh from 32 reviews.
TUESDAY AM: Look out Clayface, because Nathan Fielder and Elizabeth Holmes are out for blood. And not the Theranos kind. Like box office blood.
After overperforming this past weekend with $15.6 million and a No. 2 opening, A24’s Gen Z-skewing feature documentary You Can See Everything won Monday at the domestic box office with $2.57M, clocking Paramount/Legendary/Capcom’s Street Fighter into second with $1.9M.
The documentary, made for less than $10M, now counts a running North American tally of $18.1M. Street Fighter stands at $32.6M through four days.
Next to other recent Gen Z fare, You Can See Everything‘s Monday ain’t that far from Obsession‘s first Monday of $2.9M. It’s also higher than the first Monday of Markiplier’s Iron Lung which was $2.05M, though it is behind A24 sensation Backrooms‘ first Monday ($7.6M; no big deal there).
You Can See Everything, directed by Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, is going wide this weekend with at least 2,600 theaters and counting, and early speculation is it has a shot at taking down Warner Bros/DC’s lower-budget genre movie debut Clayface (a character from the Batman Gotham universe in which the Dark Knight isn’t ever referenced).
‘Clayface’ says “Please don’t hurt me, Elizabeth Holmes”
Warner Bros. Pictures
Calm down, newly merged Paramount-Warner Bros distribution and marketing execs: right now the domestic forecast has Clayface at north of $20M this weekend. We’ve heard presales have picked up for the film in the past two days, with the battle between Clayface and Holmes and Fielder boiling down to a market-by-market fight almost like a Red vs. Blue election. Note that advance ticket sales can jump significantly in the next three days as A24 adds showtimes for You Can See Everything. Major circuits’ presales for Clayface are wavering; some indicate an $18M opening, while others see it in the mid-$20Ms. What’s working here in the James Watkins-directed movie? That trailer scene where Clayface is cutting his face with scissors.
EntTelligence has the average general ticket price for Clayface at $14.65 versus $12.88 for You Can See Everything. Also Clayface‘s in-theater campaign is bigger with 34.1M impressions to 2.3M.
As a three-hour documentary, You Can See Everything is in rare air at the box office. But that runtime didn’t stop it from over-indexing from a high-single-digits forecast last weekend to the $15M+ it notched. Couples are going to You Can See Everything at 44%. Obsession was also a Gen Z couples pic, and that jumped 39% in its second weekend to $23.9M from a $17.1M opening. Unheard of.
Many have comped You Can See Everything, given its fewer-than-1,000-screen engagement launch, to 2006’s Borat. That Sacha Baron Cohen movie opened to $26.4M at 837 locations and surged 7% in its second weekend in a 2,566 wide break that earned $28.2M.
When the final box office analysis is run, it wouldn’t be a shocker if You Can See Everything‘s weekend results are near to even with Clayface‘s. And that’s not with the use of a Theranos machine.