Netflix rang in 2025 with an unexpected theatrical win as Stranger Things’ finale episode from Volume 2 of the fifth season. Despite being released on December 31 worldwide, the episode was able to mark a record-setting box office performance for a Netflix title in cinemas.
The final episode of Matt and Ross Duffer’s global phenomenon debuted simultaneously on Netflix and 600 theaters on December 31, 2025. According to box office and exhibition sources, AMC and Cinemark, the finale surpassed Netflix’s previous theatrical high set by Netflix’s “Kpop Demon Hunters,” which grossed $18 million.
Netflix didn’t report box office figures, but EntTelligence estimates that admissions reached 1.3 million by New Year’s Day, up from the 1.1 million vouchers the Duffer brothers cited earlier in the week, marking a $20M-$25 Box Office during the screening.
Since its 2016 debut, Stranger Things has become a global phenomenon by becoming one of Netflix’s most-watched series ever. The show already made its cinematic farewell a fittingly blockbuster with its iconic New Year’s Box Office.