Entertainment
Halloween Box Office Sinks to Roughly $60 Million as Holmes Documentary Edges Out ‘Clayface’
The Halloween box office was a quiet affair in North America, and the film that came out on top was a near-three-hour documentary in its third weekend. A24’s “You Can See Everything,” about Elizabeth Holmes, took the top spot with an estimated $10.6 million. It beat Warner Bros.’ “Clayface” by about $200,000, according to studio estimates released Sunday.
Final numbers arrive Monday, and a photo finish can flip. Still, the estimates point to a modest victory for a film that cost only $7 million to make.
Why the Halloween box office stalled
Total ticket sales for the weekend came to roughly $60 million, according to Rentrak. That ranks among the slowest weekends of 2026, and one estimate suggested it would not climb past $63 million. There were no major new wide releases, and the holiday fell on a Saturday, usually the biggest moviegoing night.
“With costume parties, trick-or-treating and countless other Halloween activities, theaters were facing some pretty stiff competition for people’s time and attention,” said Rentrak’s Paul Dergarabedian. Families tend to choose trick-or-treating over the multiplex when the holiday lands on a weekend.
The weekend was still an improvement on last year’s. The 2025 Halloween frame totaled about $49 million, led by “Regretting You” and “Black Phone 2.” The year as a whole is also running well ahead, with domestic box office up more than 17% from 2025 at nearly $8.5 billion.
A documentary’s unlikely run
“You Can See Everything” has now earned about $63.9 million in North America, and it hasn’t opened internationally yet. This was its first weekend at No. 1. Dergarabedian called that “a rare achievement for any film, let alone a documentary running more than three hours.”
Variety reports that enthusiastic word of mouth and repeat viewings are driving the run, as audiences return to process what the film shows. It is expected to finish as one of the biggest documentaries in decades.
‘Clayface’ and the economics of a smaller superhero film
“Clayface,” an R-rated origin story for the Batman villain, fell 57% in its second weekend. It has made $44.1 million domestically and $83 million worldwide, against a reported $44 million budget. That is lean for DC. Last year’s “Superman” cost $225 million, and July’s “Supergirl” cost $175 million. Variety attributes the lower spending to the film’s darker tone and a title character less famous than DC’s headliners. Bigger bets follow with “Superman: Man of Tomorrow” next summer and “The Batman: Part II” in 2028.
The rest of the top five
Laika’s stop-motion fantasy “Wildwood” held third with $7.5 million, down 39%, for a $25.9 million domestic total. Its $100 million budget makes a theatrical profit unlikely, Variety notes.
“Wicker,” a comedy with Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård, took fourth with $4.1 million, a 28% drop. Its $13.2 million total looks healthy for a Sundance pickup that cost $2.5 million to acquire. “Street Fighter” was fifth with $3.2 million after a 63% decline. It has made $53 million in North America and $91.9 million worldwide, but its $82 million budget and the share of ticket sales theaters keep leave it far from breaking even.
Further down, the Sundance title “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York” added more than 1,000 locations and earned $1.9 million for eighth place. Netflix’s World War II film “The Mosquito Bowl” made $455,000 from 349 theaters. Variety also noted that Zach Cregger’s “Resident Evil” reboot has reached $400 million globally.
Taken together, the results show a market that is healthy over the year but sensitive to the calendar. The Halloween box office was held back by the date, and the weekend’s winner was a small documentary rather than a studio tentpole.
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