Six films, one new habit. Netflix will publish box office grosses for the first time, starting with six upcoming releases, a change Variety reported first on Sept. 8.
The bottom line: a company that built its name by bypassing cinemas now wants its theater numbers on the record. Investors will note that the shift comes with a longer theatrical run for its Cannes prize winner “La Bola Negra” than any earlier Netflix film has had. It opens Oct. 16 and reaches Netflix on Dec. 2. TheWrap counted 47 days in between, while Deadline’s schedule lists 46.
The six titles, by the numbers
Deadline laid out the full slate and the gap between cinema and streaming for each one.
“Mosquito Bowl” from Peter Berg opens Oct. 30 and streams Nov. 25, a 26-day window. David Fincher’s “The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth” opens Nov. 25 and streams Dec. 23, a 27-day window, with two weeks on Imax screens. Danny Boyle’s “Ink” arrives Dec. 11 and streams Jan. 8 in the U.S. and Latin America, also 27 days. Greta Gerwig’s “Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew” opens Feb. 12, 2027 and streams April 2, a 50-day window. The animated “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” opens Nov. 5, 2027 and streams Dec. 22, a 47-day window.
For scale, Deadline noted that major studios often leave 90 to 120 days between a film’s cinema debut and its streaming date.
Why the silence is ending
Netflix has long kept its ticket sales to itself. TheWrap said the company never issued official figures for “Roma,” “The Irishman” or “Glass Onion.” It stayed quiet on “K-Pop Demon Hunters” too, even after the film became Netflix’s first No. 1 at the box office in August 2025. Theatrical sources told TheWrap it took in $18 million over two days. Deadline’s industry sources put the figure at $19M.
The cost of that secrecy showed up elsewhere. “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” grossed $4M last November, Deadline reported, because AMC, Regal and Cinemark refused to book it on a 17-day window. They wanted 30 days.
Deadline says the trigger for reporting is practical: Netflix has two wide releases next year, “Narnia” and “Charlie,” so it may as well start now. Netflix had also promised a 45-day theatrical window if it won Warner Bros., a deal that went to a higher bid from Paramount Skydance. Since then, TheWrap said, Ted Sarandos has kept up the talks he opened with theater owners. Cinema United chief Michael O’Leary called an April meeting with him at CinemaCon in Las Vegas positive.
Inside Netflix, the debate is not settled. At a March press event, content chief Bela Bajaria drew a line between Warner Bros. theatrical distribution and Netflix’s own business. Film chairman Dan Lin answered with a plea: “just give us some time.” He called Netflix “a streaming-first company” and said the strategy “works really well for us.”
Don’t expect a flood. TheWrap said Netflix is likely to put only a few films a year in theaters, against 15 or more from other studios. The figure that matters is whether those grosses keep appearing once Gerwig’s “Narnia” lands in February 2027.
Sources
- Netflix to Report Box Office for the First Time With Several Films
- Netflix Will Begin Reporting Box Office On Six Upcoming Titles Including ‘La Bola Negra’, ‘Cliff Booth’, ‘Narnia’: Here’s What It Means (Deadline)
