A first for the streamer, and a strong one
Netflix has released theatrical earnings for the first time, and the opening numbers belong to 'La Bola Negra,' the awards contender from directors Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, the pair known as Los Javis. The queer epic, which follows three men across generations, collected $277,500 from only four cinemas, working out to $69,375 at each site.[S1][S2][S3][S4][S5]
That per-screen figure ranks second among non-English releases in the modern era, trailing only 'Parasite,' which took $393,216 from three theaters in 2019 for an average of $131,072. Among Spanish-language films, no limited opening has posted a higher screen average. Neon's multilingual legal thriller 'Fjord,' also in the Oscar conversation, opened the previous weekend with $124,000 from four sites, or $31,000 each.[S1]
A 45-day window before streaming
The question now is whether the film can hold its momentum as Netflix widens its release over the coming weeks. The company intends to keep it in cinemas for 45 days, a standard post-pandemic window and the longest theatrical run it has given any title, before the movie arrives on Netflix on Dec. 2.[S1]
The film's path to this point was already eventful. It drew a 16-minute standing ovation at Cannes, where Netflix bought it for roughly $5 million, and it shared the festival's best director prize. It later took the People's Choice Award at Toronto, a prize that has often foreshadowed Academy Awards recognition.[S1]
Why Netflix is changing course
Netflix has often been cast as an adversary of the big screen, in part because co-CEO Ted Sarandos has repeatedly described movie theaters as an outmoded idea. The company has edged toward cinemas beyond bare Oscar-qualifying runs, with limited releases for 2022's 'Glass Onion: A Knives Out Story,' last year's 'Kpop Demon Hunters' re-release and the 'Stranger Things' series finale, but it never revealed what those engagements earned.[S1]
Until now, the company treated multiplex screenings as a marketing tool to generate interest in its service, not as part of its business model. Disclosing grosses offers further benefits to a firm that has yet to claim a best picture Oscar: streaming viewership can be presented in numerous ways, whereas box office receipts follow one standard, making it harder to dispute whether a title succeeded or failed. The change arrives while Netflix's stock has been under pressure; the prior week brought 1,000 layoffs and the replacement of chief content officer Bela Bajaria by Peter Rice, formerly of Disney.[S1]
More disclosures are planned. Netflix will publish results for David Fincher's 'The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth' around Thanksgiving, and for Greta Gerwig's 'Narnia: The Magician's Nephew' and Taika Waititi's animated 'Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory' in 2027. Whatever those films achieve, the new transparency benefits cinema operators, who are already marking their strongest year at the box office since the pandemic.[S1][S6][S7][S8]
