'Go Woke, Go Broke': Elon Musk Mocks 'Bitter Old Man' Director as Film Reportedly Exits Theatres

The Elon Musk documentary Musk lost hundreds of US cinema slots before the billionaire mocked its performance on Sunday, 25 October 2026.

The Tesla and SpaceX chief responded to a post claiming the film had been pulled. 'Go woke, go broke (yet again)', he wrote on X.

The remark followed a dramatic contraction in the release of Alex Gibney's critical documentary. It opened in four US cinemas on 9 October and expanded to 472 on 16 October. By the weekend beginning 23 October, that number had fallen to 63, according to box-office tracker The Numbers.

The drop amounts to 409 fewer cinemas in seven days. Yet the figures do not show that every screening was cancelled or explain who decided to remove the film from particular schedules.

Distributor Bleecker Street's theatre-finder was still advertising locations after some showtimes had disappeared, The A.V. Club reported.

The distributor's page was marked as updated on 20 October. Bleecker Street has not publicly confirmed that it ordered a nationwide withdrawal.

Elon Musk's 'Bitter Old Man' Attack on Gibney Resurfaces

Musk's latest post was a reply to the Whole Mars Catalog account, which claimed the film had been pulled after disappointing returns. His response made the documentary's difficulties a political punchline. It did not provide evidence that the film's subject matter caused cinemas to drop it.

Their dispute began well before the theatrical release. Following the documentary's Venice Film Festival premiere in September, Musk repeatedly attacked Gibney's work and credibility.

'It's a hit piece that misses, and makes the fatal sin of being boring for 4 hours', Musk wrote on 9 September. In a separate post that day, he called Gibney a 'bitter old man who lost the plot long ago'.

Gibney has stood by the documentary. 'It's certainly critical, but I think the criticism is earned', he told TIME in an interview published on 5 October. He described the film as an investigation whose findings prompted a critical assessment of Musk.

The Venice Film Festival's programme describes Musk as an examination of the entrepreneur's public image and influence. Interviewees include Musk's former wife Justine Musk and technology journalist Kara Swisher. It runs for 225 minutes, with a further 10-minute interval.

Elon Musk Documentary's Box Office Reflects a Smaller Release

The Numbers reports that Musk had taken $643,432 (approximately €574,424 and £482,000) at the domestic box office through 25 October. Its third-weekend takings were down 77 per cent from the previous weekend. Crucially, those earnings came from far fewer locations.

The fall in revenue therefore cannot be treated as a simple measure of changing audience interest. A film playing in 63 cinemas has fewer opportunities to sell tickets than one showing in 472. Neither the totals nor Musk's reaction identifies why the distribution narrowed.

The documentary has faced other obstacles in reaching potential viewers. In October, its promotional TikTok account was suspended during the wider release. TikTok subsequently said the suspension had been an error and restored the account.

That dispute concerned the film's promotion, not the booking decisions of individual cinema operators. There is no established link between the TikTok incident and the subsequent fall in theatrical availability.

The film's length may make scheduling more demanding, but that remains a possibility rather than a documented cause. No cinema operator has blamed its 225-minute running time for removing showings.

Some prospective viewers were left checking listings that did not match actual availability. The A.V. Club reported that even major cities had few remaining screenings.

Gibney urged audiences to 'See it while you can', while directing interested viewers towards cinemas still showing the film.

For Musk, the smaller release provided another opportunity to criticise a documentary he had opposed long before audiences could buy tickets. For Gibney, the immediate question was more practical. How many people would still have a chance to see it in a cinema?

The box-office records establish that Musk continued screening at 63 US locations over the weekend ending 25 October. They do not establish why hundreds of other cinemas stopped showing it or what Bleecker Street plans next.