Netflix Shares First Box-Office Grosses as La Bola Negra Opens to $277,500
Netflix has put an official box-office number on one of its own films for the first time. La Bola Negra earned an estimated $277,500 on four screens in the United States in the three days to Sunday 18 October 2026, figures Netflix shared directly on Sunday in what Deadline described as its first-ever official box-office report.
The breakdown is tight. Friday brought $108,300 in US takings, Netflix said. Saturday added $84,600, Netflix said. That gives a three-day per-screen average, total takings divided by screen count, of $69,400, in studio estimates until Monday's actuals.
The launch played two cinemas in New York, the Paris Theater and the Angelika, and two in Los Angeles, AMC Century City and AMC Burbank, Deadline reported. Per Netflix, the film set the highest opening gross for a non-English-language film, excluding dubbed anime, at the Angelika, the Paris and AMC Century City.
Per Netflix, it also recorded the second-highest per-screen average ever for a non-English-language film. Per Netflix, it recorded the highest per-screen average ever for a Spanish-language film. The figures were reported by Spencer Klein, Netflix's global theatrical distribution head.
Netflix is giving the film a 45-day theatrical window, the period a film plays only in cinemas before streaming, Deadline reported. The plan, Netflix said, is to hold over in New York and Los Angeles and add major markets before a wider break on 6 November.
La Bola Negra is based on an unfinished play of the same name by Federico Garcia Lorca, Deadline reported. It was directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, who shared Best Director for it at its Cannes world premiere. It is Spain's entry for Best International Feature at the Oscars.
The exit polls were high. Netflix said 96% of the cinema audience rated the film Excellent or Very Good, with 80% rating it Excellent alone. Netflix said 87% gave it a Definite Recommend. The audience skewed 66% male and 51% under 35, with 25 to 34-year-olds the largest age group at 39%.
Critics have also logged their response. The film is Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with an 87% critics score, Deadline reported. In Spain, it had already opened to $5.3 million (€4.7 million) in its opening weekend, Screen Daily reported. It will stream in the US and Canada on 2 December, according to Netflix Tudum.
What makes this stand out is the messenger. Netflix has long kept its ticket sales private. This time it named the numbers, the cinemas and the records itself.
