Critical ‘Musk’ documentary pulled from theatres after just two weeks

Despite its critical praise, Alex Gibney’s Musk documentary about the world’s richest man is ending its theatrical run after just two weeks, according to entertainment news site Showbiz411.

Upon its release on Oct. 9th, Musk was shown in just four theatres in two cities nationwide, but that number rose to over 450 by the second (and ultimately final) week of its theatrical run, though the total take, according to Gizmodo, was a paltry $571,902, making it “an unmitigated flop.”

But could there be something else at play here other than simple box office math? 

Musk director, Gibney, is no stranger to tackling the rich and powerful in film, with previous credits including 2005’s Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room — about one of the largest corporate fraud cases in American history. Gibney then released Citizen K in 2019, exploring the alliance between Vladimir Putin and a Russian expat billionaire. 

And prior to the film’s release, SpaceXAI CEO Elon Musk himself publicly attacked both Gibney and the film, calling the director a “horrible human” after dismissing the documentary as an assembly of people with “an axe to grind.” In the meantime, Musk’s attorney Alex Spiro sent the production team a threatening legal letter, putting them “on formal legal notice” before the film had even been released. 

Meanwhile, on Reddit, users are speculating about abrupt screening cancellations: “I hate to say it’s a conspiracy, but what is it?” Inexplicably, TikTok also opted to disable the documentary’s advertising account, allegedly for “political content” contrary to their use policies, but access was restored 48 hours later.   

If you missed the abbreviated theatrical run and want to watch Musk yourself, it’s now available for streaming on both Prime Video and Fandango.