La Bola Negra opens in theaters as Netflix's Oscar contender, with a 47-day run

Left · 2"La Bola Negra", directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi (known as Los Javis), opens in theaters on 16 October, starting in New York and Los Angeles. Netflix is giving it a 47-day theatrical run. 1 2 Left · 1IndieWire's Anne Thompson says Netflix will report box office numbers for the first time and support a traditional platform release, as A24 or Sony Pictures Classics would. The film rolls out to four theaters, then six to ten, then 30 in its third week, and by 6 November should play in more than 75 markets, before reaching Netflix on 2 December. 1 Left · 1The film follows gay men in Spain across three timelines: 1932, when a young man is blackballed from a social club over his sexuality; 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, when a soldier (Guitarricadelafuente) and the prisoner he guards (Miguel Bernardeau) fall in love; and 2017, when a historian tries to connect the stories. Penélope Cruz plays a lounge singer, and Glenn Close has a brief cameo. Pedro Almodóvar is one of the producers. 2

Left · 2It won a shared best director prize at Cannes after a 20-minute standing ovation, and Netflix announced its acquisition on the festival's last day. IndieWire puts the budget at $17 million. It later won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, which Variety says makes it the first non-English-language winner since 2011. IndieWire adds that it is breaking box office records in Spain. 2 1 Left · 2Both outlets present it as a leading Oscar contender. IndieWire calls it the frontrunner for Best International Feature, with chances at Best Picture, Director and other categories, and says it could land nine or ten nominations. Variety says it is seen as the only contender that might topple Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" in March. 1 2 Left · 2Netflix has never won Best Picture. IndieWire recalls that "Roma" lost to "Green Book" amid antipathy toward the streamer, and says nine Netflix films have lost the prize since 2019. Variety links the cautious public tone of the "La Bola Negra" team to the scandal over old tweets by "Emilia Pérez" lead Karla Sofía Gascón. 1 2

Left · 1IndieWire argues that Hollywood's mood toward Netflix has softened, and that co-CEO Ted Sarandos has made a "decisive U-turn" toward theatrical releases for likely Oscar contenders after Netflix lost out on a Warner Bros. merger. It gives three reasons: money, wooing filmmakers and winning Oscars. It says the tide "may have turned" but calls that tentative. 1 Left · 1Variety frames the film as a possible milestone for global cinema, Netflix and queer artists, and asks whether audiences are ready for something this explicit more than 20 years after "Brokeback Mountain" lost on Oscar night. Calvo says he hopes the film can push acceptance further than "Brokeback Mountain" and "Moonlight" did. He sees change as incremental and says "hate is a shadow that still haunts us." 2 Left · 1IndieWire also notes that Netflix has Korea's entry "Possible Love" in the international race, and a David Fincher-directed "Cliff Booth" sequel starring Brad Pitt, with a two-week IMAX run from 25 November before streaming on 23 December. 1