Stranger Things Season 5 Finale box office collection: Stranger Things Season 5 Finale released across more than 600 theatres in the US. With over 3,500 shows scheduled for December 31 (local time), over 1 million tickets were sold for the Stranger Things Season 5 Finale in theatres. It gave stiff competition to James Cameron’s billion-dollar Avatar: Fire and Ash, which was released on Christmas 2025.
With the fantasy-drama genre leading the box office race, the theatrical release of Stranger Things Season 5 Episode 8 came as a wild card entry. As per a Deadline report, the finale collected nearly $30 million, making it the biggest New Year’s Eve release. In contrast, Avatar: Fire and Ash made a combined revenue of $23 million over New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
Stranger Things Season 5 Finale in theatres
The Stranger Things finale turned into an unexpected theatrical event, playing across more than 620 locations. Just two days before the screenings, creators the Duffer Brothers revealed that 1.1 million seats had already been sold—comfortably ahead of the 700,000 RSVPs clocked by K-Pop Demon Hunters ahead of its late-August two-day run. It also came after domestic ticket sales hit a low at $8.9 million, showing only a 1.5 per cent increase since 2024. Stranger Things Season 5 Finale’s revenue was a major contributor towards recovering the dip, given the lukewarm responses to Sydney Sweeney‘s ‘The Housemaid’ and Timothee Chalamet’s ‘Marty Supreme’.
For context, K-pop Demon Hunters still went on to generate around $19 million for exhibitors, even without AMC, the largest theatre chain, participating. It also helped Netflix score its first-ever No. 1 title at the weekend box office.
While Stranger Things may not officially count as a box-office release, it’s effectively become Netflix’s newest No. 1 theatrical draw after its finale screening. Experts suggest that it is likely that the OTT giant might venture into the mainstream cinema space, given their potential $82 billion deal with Warner Bros. The Deadline report even revealed that Netflix’s entry would be a huge blow to leading cinemas like AMC.
In India, Avatar: Fire and Ash, opened to a Rs 19 crore opening day, as Ranveer Singh’s Dhurandhar battled for the international audience. After two weeks in India, Sacnilk reported a Rs 50 crore gross.