Level 1 - Absolute Beginner

La Bola Negra is a new film. It is in Spanish. Two directors made it. Their names are Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi.

The film opened on October 16. It opened in only four cinemas. Two are in New York. Two are in Los Angeles.

It made 277,500 dollars in three days. That is 69,375 dollars for each cinema. This is a very big number for so few cinemas.

Netflix made the film. Netflix usually keeps these numbers secret. This time it told everybody. People can watch the film at home on December 2.

film

A story told in moving pictures; a movie.

director

The person who tells the actors what to do in a film.

cinema

A building where people watch films.

open

To be shown to the public for the first time.

dollar

The money used in the United States.

secret

Something you do not tell other people.

watch

To look at something for a period of time.

home

The place where you live.

Level 2 - Elementary

A Spanish-language drama called La Bola Negra opened in American cinemas on October 16 and quietly made history. It played in just four places: the Angelika Film Center and the Paris Theater in New York, and AMC Century City and AMC Burbank 16 in Los Angeles. Over the weekend it took about 277,500 dollars.

What impressed the industry was the average. Dividing the money by four screens gives 69,375 dollars a screen, the second highest figure ever for a film not in English. Only Parasite has done better, with 131,072 dollars a screen in October 2019.

The film comes from Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, the Spanish directing pair known as Los Javis, and runs for 155 minutes. It is based on an unfinished play by Federico Garcia Lorca. Penelope Cruz and Glenn Close lead the cast, and the singer Guitarricadelafuente makes his first screen appearance.

The bigger surprise is that anyone knows the number at all. Netflix has released films in cinemas for years without saying what they earned, and this is the first time it has published the takings for one of its own titles. The film reaches Boston and Dallas on October 30, widens again on November 6 and starts streaming on December 2.

drama

A serious film or play about people's lives.

industry

All the companies that work in the same business.

average

A number found by dividing a total by how many items there are.

screen

The surface a film is shown on; also one cinema room.

play

A story written to be performed by actors on stage.

cast

The group of actors in a film.

publish

To make information available to everyone.

stream

To watch a film over the internet.

Level 3 - Intermediate

Four screens are not usually where the weekend's most interesting box office story lives, but La Bola Negra managed it. The Spanish-language drama opened on October 16 at the Angelika Film Center and the Paris Theater in New York and at AMC Century City and AMC Burbank 16 in Los Angeles, and collected roughly 277,500 dollars. That works out at 69,375 dollars a screen, the second strongest per-screen average ever recorded for a film not in English, behind only Parasite's 131,072 dollars in October 2019.

The film is the latest from Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, the pair Spanish audiences call Los Javis, and it is adapted from an unfinished Federico Garcia Lorca play. At 155 minutes it is not an obvious commercial proposition, and the casting is pointedly international: Penelope Cruz and Glenn Close share the screen, and the Spanish singer Guitarricadelafuente makes his acting debut. A platform release follows, with Boston and Dallas added on October 30, a further widening on November 6, and streaming from December 2.

The structural news is not the average but the disclosure. For a decade Netflix has placed films in cinemas to qualify them for awards and to please directors, while treating box office receipts as nobody's business, a stance that infuriated exhibitors and left analysts guessing. Publishing a gross for one of its own releases is a shift in posture rather than a change of policy, and it follows Ted Sarandos saying he wants to win box office.

Context sharpens the comparison. Street Fighter, the weekend's number one, took about 31 million dollars across thousands of screens, and A24's You Can See Everything opened to roughly 15 million dollars. La Bola Negra earned less than one percent of either figure and generated more conversation than both, which is exactly what a tightly limited release is designed to do.

adapted

Changed from one form, such as a play, into another, such as a film.

proposition

Something offered for consideration, here as a business idea.

debut

A first public appearance.

platform release

Opening a film in a few cinemas first, then adding more.

disclosure

The act of making information known.

receipts

Money received by a business.

exhibitor

A company that owns or runs cinemas.

posture

The attitude or position a company publicly takes.

Level 4 - Advanced

Per-screen average is the most easily manipulated statistic in film distribution and, for exactly that reason, the one the industry reads most attentively. La Bola Negra opened on October 16 at four venues, the Angelika and the Paris in New York and AMC's Century City and Burbank houses in Los Angeles, and took roughly 277,500 dollars, which divides into 69,375 dollars a screen. That is the second highest figure ever posted by a non-English-language release, trailing only the 131,072 dollars Parasite achieved in October 2019, and it was engineered by the oldest trick in the arthouse playbook: constrain supply, concentrate demand, let the average do the publicity.

The film itself is an unlikely vehicle for a distribution milestone. Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, the Spanish directors known collectively as Los Javis, have adapted an unfinished Federico Garcia Lorca play into a 155-minute drama, with Penelope Cruz and Glenn Close leading and the musician Guitarricadelafuente making his screen debut. The rollout is textbook platform strategy: Boston and Dallas on October 30, a wider break on November 6, and streaming availability on December 2, which gives the theatrical window six weeks to accumulate the reviews and awards chatter the streaming launch will then monetise.

What makes the weekend genuinely novel is that the number exists in public at all. Netflix has placed films in cinemas since the middle of the last decade while declining to report what they earned, a position that left exhibitors aggrieved, analysts triangulating from estimates and the company free from the weekly scoreboard its rivals live by. Choosing to publish a gross, for a title whose average happens to be flattering, is less a conversion to transparency than a selective use of it, consistent with Ted Sarandos saying he wants to win box office. The precedent it sets is nonetheless hard to unset, because a studio that reports a triumph will be asked why it stays quiet about a disappointment.

Scale keeps the achievement in proportion. Street Fighter led the weekend with about 31 million dollars from thousands of screens and A24's You Can See Everything opened to around 15 million, figures that dwarf La Bola Negra's gross by two orders of magnitude while attracting a fraction of the trade press attention. That asymmetry is the point of a limited release and also its limitation: an average of 69,375 dollars across four screens tells you that a specific, motivated audience exists in two cities, and nothing reliable about what happens when the same film reaches four hundred.

distribution

The business of getting films into cinemas and onto screens.

arthouse

Cinema aimed at a smaller audience interested in artistic films.

milestone

An important point or achievement in a process.

rollout

The staged process of making something available more widely.

monetise