Netflix Is Finally Opening up About Its Box Office, and Hollywood Is Watching

Netflix may be changing one of its biggest rules, and this could have a major effect on how the streaming giant handles movies in theaters. For years, Netflix has kept its box office numbers private. While other studios regularly share how much their movies make each weekend, Netflix has usually avoided doing the same, even when some of its biggest films received theatrical releases.

That approach now appears to be changing. According to recent reporting, Netflix plans to publicly report box office results for six upcoming movies. The move comes as the company prepares for a bigger push into theaters, including longer theatrical runs for several major releases. After years of keeping ticket sales behind closed doors, Netflix could soon be allowing audiences, theaters and other studios to see exactly how well its movies perform on the big screen.

The change is especially interesting because Netflix has never had the easiest relationship with traditional movie theaters. The company has often preferred to get its movies onto its streaming service as quickly as possible, while theater chains have pushed for longer exclusive windows. That disagreement became especially noticeable with movies such as Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman. Netflix also chose not to reveal official box office figures for films including Roma and Glass Onion, leaving outside companies to estimate their theatrical earnings.

Now, Netflix appears ready to take a different approach. The company has reportedly committed to a 45-day theatrical window as part of its attempt to acquire Warner Bros., and its upcoming movie lineup shows that the streamer is becoming more comfortable with the traditional theatrical model. Six films are expected to have their box office numbers reported, giving the industry a rare look at how Netflix movies perform when they receive a serious theatrical release.

Among those movies is La Bola Negra, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. The film is scheduled to arrive in theaters on October 16 before moving to Netflix on December 2. That gives it a 47-day theatrical window, which would reportedly be the longest Netflix has given one of its movies. Peter Berg’s Mosquito Bowl will have a shorter run, opening on October 30 before arriving on Netflix on November 25.

The biggest tests could come next year. Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew is expected to receive a wide theatrical release lasting around 50 days, including screenings on Imax. An animated Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie is also expected to get a wide release around Christmas, with a reported 47-day window. These movies are much closer to the kind of major theatrical releases normally associated with traditional Hollywood studios.

That makes Netflix’s decision to share box office results even more important. Once a movie is playing in theaters across a large number of locations, it becomes much harder to avoid questions about ticket sales. By releasing the numbers, Netflix will effectively allow its movies to be judged by the same standard used for Disney, Warner Bros., Universal and other major studios.

There is still a limit to how much Netflix is changing, though. Its theatrical windows remain shorter than the traditional 90-to-120-day periods used by many major studios. The 26-to-50-day windows planned for these movies are still much more focused on getting audiences onto the streaming service.

The streamer has also shown that it is not ready to reveal everything. Netflix never officially released box office numbers for K-Pop Demon Hunters, despite outside estimates suggesting the movie earned around $18 million during its 2025 theatrical run. That limited release was reportedly enough for the movie to reach number one at the box office for a weekend.

For now, this looks less like Netflix completely abandoning its old strategy and more like the company testing a new one. The information about the upcoming reporting plans comes from industry reporting, while Netflix’s announced theatrical plans provide the clearest sign that its attitude toward theaters is changing. With Narnia and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory getting major releases, Netflix may soon find itself playing a much more traditional Hollywood game. And for the first time, everyone will be able to see the numbers.

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