Netflix Officially Sets A Box Office First After 11 Years

Published Sep 8, 2026, 6:47 PM EDT Matthew Rudoy is one of ScreenRant's Movie & TV News Editors. He covers the latest in movie & TV news, with a focus on major franchises like Star Wars, The Boys, and Game of Thrones, and also writes some features and reviews. He wrote lists for ScreenRant from 2017-2022, became a news writer in 2023, a senior staff writer in 2024, and an editor in 2025. After 11 years, Netflix is changing how it approaches the box office. While Netflix generally keeps its movies exclusive to their streaming platform, some of their films have received limited theatrical releases, the first of which was Beasts of No Nation in 2015. Others have included Roma, The Irishman, Marriage Story, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, All Quiet on the Western Front, KPop Demon Hunters, and Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein. One of the primary reasons for doing this is to be eligible for the Academy Awards, which require potential nominees to have a theatrical run. According to Variety, for the first time ever, Netflix will be reporting the box office grosses for their movies released in theaters. This will specifically be the case for the upcoming La Bola Negra, Narnia: The Magician's Nephew, Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory, The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, The Mosquito Bowl, and Ink. The trades and other sources have reported on the box office grosses of Netflix's prior theatrical releases, but the company has never done it for their own films. When it comes to streaming, Netflix is known for releasing their own weekly top 10 charts and viewership data every Tuesday. During Netflix's attempt to buy Warner Bros., one of the major concerns was that they would significantly cut down on the number of movies released in theaters, especially after CEO Ted Sarandos' comments about the theatrical model being "outdated" and how they had approached debuting all their prior films. While Paramount won the bidding war for Warner Bros., Netflix's decision to report on their box office earnings indicates more openness to expanding into the theatrical market moving forward. It also points to their interest in putting movies in theaters going beyond awards consideration. This comes as La Bola Negra prepares for a 46-day theatrical elease beginning on October 16 and before its streaming premiere on December 2. In 2027, The Magician's Nephew will have a wide release in theaters for nearly 50 days, including on IMAX screens, starting in February before streaming on April 2. The animated Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory will also have a wide release next year during the holiday season. Even though The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, The Mosquito Bowl, and Ink are all getting their box office numbers revealed directly by Netflix, all three of these movies are getting limited theatrical releases. As such, The Magician's Nephew, Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory, and La Bola Negra will be more of a test of how Netflix movies perform in theaters long-term, and will likely dictate whether more of their films will get extended wide releases in the future. Per a high-level executive at a legacy film studio, the bidding war for Warner Bros. may be playing a role in Netflix's evolving theatrical approach: "The real question is ‘What does Netflix want to be now?' Having almost bought Warner Bros. Discovery, you get the sense that they can’t put some of that toothpaste back in the tube.” A veteran film distributor added that “the exhibitors would absolutely welcome this. Imagine if Netflix of all places threw its weight behind a real theatrical marketing campaign, and not some awards play.” Since 2019, the theatrical distribution for Netflix has been overseen by Spencer Klein, who previously booked theatrical releases for 20th Century Fox's Deadpool and Planet of the Apes franchises. He and Netflix had a big win last year when the sing-along version of KPop Demon Hunters finished in first place at the domestic box office during the weekend of August 23-24 with $19.2 million. La Bola Negra, The Magician's Nephew, Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory, The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, The Mosquito Bowl, and Ink now look to build on that success.