According to Deadline, the two-day theatrical event over New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day generated well over $25 million — and possibly as much as $30 million — in concession sales across U.S. cinemas. The largest share came from AMC Entertainment, which pulled in about $15 million alone.
At AMC locations, more than 753,000 fans attended the finale across 231 theaters. While entry to the event was technically free, viewers were required to buy a $20 food-and-drink voucher per seat. This workaround allowed theaters to earn revenue while honoring Netflix’s contractual terms, which prevented traditional ticket sales.
By comparison, the holiday season’s top-grossing movie, Avatar: Fire and Ash, earned $23.7 million in box office revenue over the same two days — less than what theaters made in snacks from the Stranger Things event.
In total, the finale played in more than 620 locations nationwide. Series creators the Duffer Brothers said 1.1 million seats were sold in advance, beating the earlier RSVP numbers for Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters, which previously delivered $19 million in concession revenue during its limited run.
For theater owners, the event was especially appealing because concession revenue is kept entirely by exhibitors, unlike traditional box office sales that are shared with studios.
The success is being seen as a goodwill gesture from Netflix toward theater chains at a time when the streamer is expanding its ambitions. With Netflix moving closer to acquiring Warner Bros., the company will soon face stronger expectations to release films theatrically.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos has recently shifted his stance on theaters, saying the company is “100% committed” to releasing Warner Bros. films with industry-standard theatrical windows. Still, debate continues over what “traditional” means, with theaters pushing for 45-day windows and Netflix reportedly favoring much shorter runs.
AMC CEO Adam Aron called the Stranger Things finale an “absolute triumph,” praising the strong demand and smooth collaboration with Netflix. He also revealed that AMC expanded seating capacity to more than nine times its original plan due to overwhelming interest.
Aron added that discussions are already underway for more Netflix content to play on AMC’s big screens in 2026 and beyond — signaling that this New Year’s experiment may be the start of a deeper partnership between streaming and theaters.
Tags:
News
