The film, which explores six tumultuous years of the superstar’s life, is poised for a wider release
The box office numbers have arrived for the documentary In Whose Name? from filmmaker Nico Ballesteros, who was granted unvarnished access to Kanye West — now known as just Ye — in the six tumultuous years following his public embrace of conservative politics. The film opened to a limited release, screening at around 1,000 theaters nationwide. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $776,000, a strong domestic box office performance for a documentary without significant marketing behind it.
For comparison, the Oscar-winning doc No Other Land logged a cumulative $420,000 a month after opening in January, on its way to earning $2.4 million to date. It’s Never Over, the doc about Jeff Buckley, also saw opening numbers in the $420,000 range. Becoming Led Zeppelin, released in February, is 2025’s top-earning doc opening to over $2 million, though it screened internationally.
Clips from In Whose Name?, including one in which Ye explosively lashes out at Kris Jenner, have been circulating around social media for several days, as the film’s unfettered level of access presents a view of Ye that many fans have never seen. The film offers a behind-the-scenes view of some of his most controversial moments in recent years, most notably the aftermath of his White Lives Matter T-shirt and subsequent antisemitic Twitter tirade.
While In Whose Name? comes short of offering any explanations as to how Ye went from a beloved musical icon to effectively a social pariah, it does provide a clear view into the world of celebrity in our highly digitized and politicized age. The team behind the film hopes to screen it in more theaters in the coming months, as well as make the movie available on streaming platforms. Its strong first-week performance suggests there is, in fact, an audience hoping to decipher the mind of Ye all these years later.
The doc was executive-produced by Patrick Hughes, Nick Jarjour, Amy Ann Singh and Justin Staple. Attorney Simran Singh, who EP’d Selena: The Series, is also credited as a producer.
