Alex Gibney’s Elon Musk documentary struggles at the box office

The four-hour documentary ‘Musk’, directed by Alex Gibney, has seen poor commercial performance despite a strong critical reception. The film holds a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, yet it earned approximately $306,000 to $307,000 over the weekend.

After debuting on a limited number of screens, the film expanded to between 468 and 472 theaters. Despite this expansion, it fell behind other recent documentaries, such as Nathan Fielder’s ‘You Can See Everything’, which grossed $15 million over the same period.

The film traces Elon Musk’s trajectory from a Silicon Valley entrepreneur to the world’s wealthiest individual, examining his leadership at Tesla, SpaceX, and X, as well as his political influence. It features interviews with figures including Justine Musk, Kara Swisher, and Tesla co-founder Martin Eberhard. Musk, who does not appear in the film, has previously characterized the documentary as a ‘hit piece’.