‘Stranger Things’ Finale Scores $25+ Million for Movie Theaters

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Netflix took a risk by showing the final episodes of Stranger Things in movie theaters for one night only on December 31, 2025, but it seems that risk paid off. The event is estimated to have earned theaters between $25 and $30 million. While Netflix has recently started releasing some of its films in theaters before they’re available for streaming, this Stranger Things event was a particularly unusual case for several reasons.

According to Deadline, figuring out how much money theaters made from the Stranger Things finale is complicated. Because it wasn’t a typical movie, theaters couldn’t sell regular tickets due to contracts with the cast and crew. Instead, they sold vouchers for snacks and drinks which included admission to the screening.

To make things even more confusing, movie theaters didn’t have consistent pricing or concession options. For example, both Cinemark and AMC charged $20 for a voucher for snacks, while Regal Cinemas charged only $11 – a playful reference to the character Eleven from the show, played by Millie Bobby Brown.

Final ‘Stranger Things’ Numbers Haven’t Been Revealed


Netflix

Now that Stranger Things has just finished airing, it will take some time to determine how popular it was. We’re waiting to see both how many people went to see it in theaters and how many watched it online, especially since the holidays may have kept some viewers from finishing the season yet.

The rise of streaming has sparked ongoing discussions about the value of going to movie theaters, and the recent release strategy for Stranger Things is just the latest example. While it made sense for Netflix to consider limited theatrical releases for some of its films before the pandemic – giving viewers a more immersive experience than watching at home – the company’s primary goal of gaining subscribers likely made them hesitant to fully embrace movie theaters.

The pandemic in 2020 dramatically changed how movies were released. With theaters closed, big-budget films ended up going straight to streaming services. While releasing movies on streaming platforms like Warner Bros. did with its 2021 lineup on HBO Max allowed more people to watch them, it also affected the pay of actors and crew members whose contracts were based on box office revenue.

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While recent Netflix films like Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery and Frankenstein didn’t become blockbuster hits in theaters, they did okay. It’s not surprising many people chose to watch them at home instead. However, the fact that a single episode of a TV show shown in cinemas earned almost $30 million proves there’s a real demand for watching stories made for TV with an audience in a theater.

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2026-01-03 02:47