Universal Still Plans Overseas Release for Alex Gibney’s ‘Musk’ Documentary Despite Mogul’s Legal Threats

Contrary to a recent report, Universal is moving forward as planned with the international release of Alex Gibney‘s Elon Musk documentary “Musk,” sources familiar with the project told Variety.

Though a release date has not yet been set for the overseas rollout, that’s not unusual for a film like “Musk,” a nearly 4-hour long documentary that’s being released theatrically in North American on Oct. 9 by the indie distrib Bleecker Street.

Despite recent legal threats from Musk over the documentary’s content, Universal has always been enthusiastic about releasing the film internationally, the sources added. “Musk” is set to stream on HBO in the first quarter of 2027.

After the documentary premiered at the Venice Film Festival, the tech mogul began posting comments on X, calling the doc “a hit piece,” though it was not clear whether he had seen the film.

Musk asserted that Gibney had “just assembled a hit list of people who either have an axe to grind or don’t even know me (but still have an axe to grind).” Among the interviews featured in Gibney’s film is one with Ashley St. Clair, a MAGA influencer who had a child with Musk. The documentary portrays a text exchange between the two about the 2024 presidential election.

Musk’s attorney Alex Spiro threatened to file a defamation lawsuit before the film’s release in October, pointing to Musk’s texts with St. Clair.

Variety critic Owen Gleiberman wrote in his review of “Musk” in Venice, “Once you start piecing together Musk’s scandals and cut corners and slipshod management, you see that he’s a creator of mirages who promises more than he delivers … Musk, as the documentary makes clear, is a genuine if flawed technocratic visionary, a messianic opportunist, and something of a crackpot,”