Netflix to Report Box Office Numbers for 6 Upcoming Movies as Streamer Escalates Theatrical Plans (EXCLUSIVE)
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Netflix will report box office grosses for six upcoming films for the first time, Variety reports, alongside its longest and widest theatrical rollouts yet – a sign the streamer may be softening its long-held resistance to traditional cinema exhibition. The shift follows Netflix's unsuccessful bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, which insiders suggest has left the company more open to a bigger role in theatrical distribution, even as co-CEO Ted Sarandos maintains Netflix remains "streaming first".
Spanish drama "La Bola Negra", starring Penélope Cruz, will get a 46-day theatrical run from 16 October before streaming from 2 December – the longest release Netflix has given any title to date. In 2027, Greta Gerwig's "Narnia: The Magician's Nephew" will have a near-50-day wide release including Imax screens, and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" will run wide for 47 days at Christmas; David Fincher's "The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth" is also among the six films for which grosses will be disclosed, alongside two further unnamed titles. The article notes that streaming originals now account for 12 of the year's top 20 most-watched films globally, up from seven last year, underscoring the commercial backdrop to Netflix's cautious theatrical pivot.
- Netflix to report box office grosses for six films for the first time
- "La Bola Negra" gets Netflix's longest-ever 46-day cinema run
- "Narnia" and "Charlie" set for extended 2027 wide releases
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La Bola Negra, the Narnia prequel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the David Fincher film are all Netflix productions, though Netflix has traditionally treated cinemas as a brief formality before a title reaches its streaming service, rather than as the main way people watch. That approach has set it apart from rivals and long frustrated cinema chains, which rely on longer theatrical windows to sell tickets.
Netflix's interest in a bigger cinema presence comes shortly after its failed attempt to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, a major Hollywood studio with its own film and TV assets. Ted Sarandos, who runs Netflix alongside co-chief executive Greg Peters, has publicly insisted the company's priority remains streaming rather than cinema.
The wider context is a streaming industry in which services increasingly compete for the biggest audiences with original films, rather than only licensed or older content. Reporting box office figures, something Netflix has generally avoided, would let audiences and the industry compare its films against traditional studio releases more directly.
Full account
Netflix has confirmed it will begin publicly disclosing box office takings for six forthcoming theatrical releases, a notable departure for a company that has traditionally kept such figures close to its chest. The slate covers Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo's Cannes-garlanded drama La Bola Negra, David Fincher's The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, Peter Berg's Mosquito Bowl, Danny Boyle's Ink, Greta Gerwig's Narnia: The Magician's Nephew and an animated take on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Taken together, the move is being read across the industry as the clearest sign yet that the streaming giant is warming to the idea of cinema exhibition as more than a promotional afterthought.
La Bola Negra sits at the centre of the story. The multigenerational queer drama, starring Penélope Cruz, was the standout of this year's Cannes Film Festival, where Netflix paid roughly $5 million for distribution rights and its directing duo collected the jury prize for best director. Buoyed by strong receptions at Telluride and a forthcoming slot at Toronto, the film is being positioned as a serious awards contender — and it will also carry the longest cinema run Netflix has ever committed to a single title, opening in theatres on 16 October for 46 days before arriving on the streaming service on 2 December.
That commitment looks modest, however, next to Netflix's plans for 2027, when Gerwig's Narnia adaptation is set for a wide release of close to 50 days, including IMAX screens, and the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory film will run wide for 47 days over the Christmas period. Executives elsewhere in Hollywood suggest this reflects unfinished business from Netflix's failed attempt to buy Warner Bros. Discovery — a deal that fell through when Paramount, backed by David Ellison, outbid it — with one studio figure suggesting the company cannot simply abandon its ambitions to control theatrical distribution having come so close. Co-chief executive Ted Sarandos has struck a more cautious tone, telling Bloomberg he could envisage Netflix trying things it has not done before while maintaining that streaming remains the company's priority, despite once dismissing lengthy theatrical windows as an outdated concept. Figures cited from a 2026 Nielsen study, showing streaming originals accounting for twelve of the year's twenty most-watched general-audience films worldwide, up from seven previously, are offered as evidence that Netflix's on-demand model still leads.
The shift also has to be understood against a bumpier history with cinema chains. Netflix has long clashed with the largest circuits — AMC, Regal and Cinemark — over its reluctance to grant standard periods of exclusivity, a dispute that dogged the release of Martin Scorsese's The Irishman and, more recently, saw the top chains decline to show Knives Out: Wake Up Dead Man under a 17-day window, contributing to a disappointing $4 million gross. By contrast, independent and smaller cinemas have benefited from four-wall arrangements, and relations with AMC appear to have thawed of late, with the chain screening both the K-Pop Demon Hunters singalong event over Halloween weekend and the Stranger Things finale, the latter generating more than $25 million for theatres through concession-voucher seat reservations despite tickets not being sold outright. Reporting box office grosses going forward is being framed as a gesture of good faith towards exhibitors and the wider filmmaking community, even as accounts suggest Netflix's own executives remain divided internally on how far to take its theatrical ambitions following the collapse of the Warner Bros. Discovery bid.
Where outlets differ
Source 1 (Variety) frames the story primarily through La Bola Negra's awards-season pedigree — its Cannes prizes, Telluride and Toronto appearances, and Penélope Cruz's involvement — and leans on an anonymous studio executive and Ted Sarandos' remarks to explore the strategic question of what Netflix is trying to become, citing Nielsen viewership data as context.
Source 2 focuses more heavily on box-office mechanics and Netflix's fraught trading history with exhibitors, providing specific (often estimated) grosses for past releases such as Knives Out: Glass Onion, Knives Out: Wake Up Dead Man and the K-Pop Demon Hunters singalong, and detailing past friction with AMC, Regal and Cinemark.
Source 2 explicitly lists all six titles in the new reporting slate and attributes the decision partly to a practical rationale — Netflix having two wide 2027 releases (Narnia and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) makes it sensible to start disclosing figures — whereas Source 1 emphasises the reputational and industry-relations angle and does not enumerate the full list of six films.
Source 2 alone mentions Netflix's historical reluctance to share ticket data via Rentrak and references an internal divide at the company, plus a March press briefing involving Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria (name cut off in source), details absent from Source 1.
Only Source 1 mentions the specific 46-day theatrical window and December streaming date for La Bola Negra, and cites the Nielsen report on streaming originals' share of top-watched films.
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