Netflix is handing its Spanish-language Oscar hopeful “La Bola Negra” the longest theatrical runway in the streamer’s history.
The queer epic from Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, the Spanish duo known as Los Javis, was originally slated to open in theaters Nov. 6 ahead of a Dec. 4 streaming bow. The film will now arrive in theaters Oct. 16 and land on Netflix Dec. 2, a 47-day exclusive window and the widest theatrical commitment the company has given one of its titles to date. The previous record-holder belonged to Noah Baumbach’s relationship drama “Marriage Story” which had a full 30-day window in 2019. Other notable wide releases included Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman,” which Netflix gave a 27-day window the same year, and Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma,” which played roughly three weeks in 2018 before streaming.
The move underscores how selectively, and how aggressively, Netflix has begun courting exhibitors on prestige plays. David Fincher’s still-untitled continuation of “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” written by Quentin Tarantino and starring Brad Pitt, opens Nov. 25 for an exclusive two-week global Imax engagement before streaming Dec. 23. Greta Gerwig’s “Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew” follows Feb. 12, 2027, the first Netflix release to receive a conventional theatrical rollout, with a 49-day window preceding its April 2 streaming debut.
