Contrary to recent reports, Universal Pictures is moving forward with the international release of Alex Gibney’s Elon Musk documentary Musk as planned, sources familiar with the project reveal type.
While an overseas release date has yet to be set, that’s not unusual for a film like “Musk,” a nearly four-hour documentary released in North American theaters on October 9 by independent distributor Bleecker Street.
The source added that Universal had always been keen to distribute the film internationally, despite Musk’s recent legal threats over the documentary’s content. “Musk” will air its first season on HBO in 2027.
After the documentary premiered at the Venice Film Festival, the tech mogul began commenting on X, calling the documentary “a hit,” although it’s unclear if he’s seen the film.
Musk claimed that Gibney “just put together a blacklist of people who either have bad intentions toward me or don’t even know me (but still have bad intentions toward me).” One of the interviews included in Gibney’s film is with Ashley St. Clair, a MAGA influencer who has a child with Musk. The documentary depicts a text exchange between the two regarding the 2024 presidential election.
Musk’s attorney, Alex Spiro, threatened to file a defamation lawsuit ahead of the film’s release in October, pointing to Musk’s text messages with St. Clair.
Variety critic Owen Gleiberman wrote in his Venice review of “Musk,” “Once you start piecing together Musk’s legacy of scandal, corner-cutting, and sloppy management, you discover that he is a creator of mirages who promises more than he delivers… As the documentary makes clear, Musk is as much a true bureaucracy as a wild opportunity.”
Universal and Gibney declined to comment.