For decades, Netflix kept its box office numbers to itself. That changes this week.
The streamer has announced it will publicly report theatrical grosses for six upcoming films: La Bola Negra, David Fincher's The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, The Mosquito Bowl, Ink, Greta Gerwig's Narnia: The Magician's Nephew, and Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory. It is the first time Netflix has committed to sharing ticket sales data with the broader industry.
La Bola Negra opens in U.S. theaters on October 16, with a 47-day theatrical window before arriving on Netflix on December 2. The film, directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi (Los Javis), has already earned over €25 million (approximately $27.9 million) in Spain after three weekends. It won Best Director at Cannes and is Spain's official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 99th Academy Awards. Co-director Ambrossi said the theatrical commitment made sense for the project: "We shot it in 35mm."
Netflix insiders have described the reporting shift as a "limited experiment," according to Deadline. The decision is understood to be aimed at winning over exhibitors and the talent community, both of whom have pushed the company toward transparency for years. Writing on October 14, IndieWire connected the shift to Netflix's posture during its brief period as a bidder for Warner Bros. Discovery's film assets, before Paramount closed the acquisition.
Narnia: The Magician's Nephew, Gerwig's follow-up to Barbie, will mark Netflix's first wide theatrical release, opening February 12, 2027, in IMAX. The six-film slate is the test. Whether public grosses become a standard practice depends on what the numbers say.
