That Musk documentary might be at risk

A new report suggests that Universal might chicken out of actually releasing Alex Gibney's doc in the United States.

By Drew Gillis  |  September 17, 2026 | 9:26am
Image: Bleecker Street
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That Musk documentary might be at risk

Not again! A major Hollywood studio is considering not releasing a film critical of a wealthy, powerful, and well-connected tech dude. This is per The Hollywood Reporter, which writes that Universal might back out of internationally releasing Alex Gibney’s new documentary Musk, focused on X owner and Donald Trump frenemy Elon Musk. To be clear, it doesn’t seem to currently be at risk of not getting released theatrically in the United States—those distribution rights are owned by Bleecker Street, which has already dated the film for October 9. But according to two people interviewed by THR, there are a few options on the table, with the proposition of the rights being returned to the filmmakers, who will need to find a new distributor, looking increasingly more likely. 

But the film will definitely get released in the United States, right? Well, sorta. The film is currently slated for an October 9 release, though you can’t yet buy tickets for it on Fandango or AMC. Depending where you live, there may be a specific theater already selling tickets. (In New York, it appears to be just the Metro Private Cinema in Chelsea, which only has screenings on the 16th available.) HBO acquired North American streaming and TV rights back in 2023 (the same year Universal signed on) and could bring the doc to TV as soon as February, given that there’s a four month VOD window retained by the filmmakers. HBO has really championed the doc, financing more shooting when Musk went to Washington in early 2025. 

However, there’s a decent chance that HBO will be owned by Paramount, and thus the Ellison family, by then. THR reports that Larry Ellison is briefly mentioned negatively in the documentary. There’s also the fact that Musk himself is pretty tight with FCC head Brendan Carr, and that he’s already lawyered up to make releasing the documentary more difficult. And maybe he’ll achieve that, but he’ll also probably make a whole lot more people a whole lot more keen to sit through a four-hour documentary. 

 
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