Netflix has done something it long avoided: published official weekend box office numbers. Its Spanish drama La Bola Negra opened to $277.5k across four theatres and a $69.4k per-screen average, the streamer’s first ever theatrical gross report.
Friday added $108.3k and Saturday $84.6k. The film played at the Paris Theater and Angelika in New York and AMC Century City and Burbank in Los Angeles. Netflix is giving it a 45-day theatrical window under global theatrical distribution head Spencer Klein, with an expansion into major markets ahead of a wider break on November 6.
The opening becomes a record
Netflix said the result set several benchmarks:
- Highest opening gross for a non-English language film at the Angelika, The Paris and AMC Century City, excluding dubbed anime
- Second-highest per-screen average for a non-English language film of all time
- Highest per-screen average ever for a Spanish film
Those records matter because they turn a single weekend into a comparable data point. Until now, streamer theatricals mostly sat outside the datasets specialty distributors use. For exhibitors, filmmakers and media planners, this is the first public baseline for a Netflix window — and a reference point for future deals.
The audience card
Exit surveys showed 96% rated the film Excellent or Very Good, with 80% choosing Excellent, and 87% gave a Definite Recommend. The audience skewed male at 66% and young: 51% were under 35, with 25-34 year-olds the largest cohort at 39%. Critics are at 87% on Rotten Tomatoes, Certified Fresh.
The campaign was built like a specialty theatrical release: out-of-home, social, standees, trailers and community screenings. A Lorca-inspired poetry salon hosted by John Cameron Mitchell tied the film to its cultural roots ahead of the NewFest premiere, and a single from the film arrived September 18.
What to track next
For media planners, the opening has two early indicators. The $69.4k per-screen average is the concentration signal; on a four-screen run, it says more about demand than the $277.5k total. The exit-poll composition — 51% under 35, 66% male, 87% definite recommend — gives Netflix a reusable audience card as it books wider dates. Watch both when the film expands ahead of November 6.
Around the specialty slate
Neon’s Once Upon A Time In Harlem opened to $68.3k on two screens and set Film Forum’s highest opening weekend of the year. A24’s You Can See Everything posted an extraordinary $15 million from 855 locations. Indian titles also registered: Jailer 2 added $3.2 million on 401 screens, and Ranabaali opened to $719k from 375 theatres.
Netflix’s next theatrical titles include David Fincher’s The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew, Taika Waititi’s animated Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory, Peter Berg’s The Mosquito Bowl and Danny Boyle’s Ink. With public grosses now on the table, each opening becomes a measurable test of streamer-backed theatrical strategy.
Source: Deadline
