List of Netflix Movies Released Theatrically or Debuted at a Film Festival

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Did you know Netflix has sent more than 200 of its films to the big screen? While these weren’t always traditional wide releases, the streamer has built a surprising track record of theatrical runs and prestigious festival debuts. Below, we’ve compiled a complete history of every Netflix Original movie that has played in theaters or premiered on the festival circuit.

Note: A few qualifiers and points of interest. This list excludes movies that got premieres that weren’t film festivals, such as those that premiered a week ahead at Netflix’s Paris Theatre in New York, for instance. We’ve tried to be thorough, but there will be many small instances where a movie got a small, limited theatrical release and then was released on Netflix in select regions. We’ve, for the most part, stuck to global Netflix Originals. Documentaries are also excluded from the earlier years for the sake of brevity. 

2025 Theatrical Releases

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2025 is still unfolding, but it’s already shaping up big. Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein is Venice-bound, Wake Up Dead Man is primed for a TIFF splash, and Ballad of a Small Player plus A House of Dynamite are Netflix’s prestige fall plays. Animated titles also took up a significant portion this year, with the surprise hit KPop Demon Hunters getting a special re-release in theaters following its explosion on Netflix. 

2024 Theatrical Releases

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2024 was supposed to be the year: a Best Picture win… but it wasn’t to be. Emilia Pérez made a Cannes splash and looked like it could go all the way until the campaign self-imploded, while Pedro Páramo showcased Netflix’s push into Mexican prestige cinema

Richard Linklater’s Hit Man stormed Venice and TIFF before a theatrical run. Spaceman bowed at Berlinale, Ultraman: Rising gave Netflix its first Annecy-to-theater anime play, and docs like Power and Skywalkers had festival visibility.

2023 Theatrical Releases

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This year balanced both high art and star power. The Killer and May December went through Venice/Cannes, while Leave the World Behind and Rebel Moon aimed for broader buzz. Nimona gave Netflix an Annecy hit, They Cloned Tyrone tapped into genre audiences, and Nyad plus Rustin kept the awards train going to mixed success. 

2022 Theatrical Releases

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2022 might be Netflix’s most prolific theatrical/festival year ever: All Quiet on the Western Front, Bardo, Glass Onion, Blonde, Athena, The Good Nurse, My Father’s Dragon, and Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio. There was plenty of output, and they had a significant presence at all the festivals, such as Venice, TIFF, Telluride, LFF, and SXSW. The strategy was scattershot but deliberate: prestige dramas, buzzy animations, glossy thrillers, and franchise plays.

2021 Theatrical Releases

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The Power of the Dog, Passing, and The Hand of God all played Venice and then went into Oscar-qualifying runs. Animated fare (The Mitchells vs. the Machines, The Summit of the Gods) tested theatrical previews. Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead had the broadest Netflix theatrical push yet. 

2020 Netflix Movies at Film Festivals & Theatrical Releases

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The year of the pandemic saw Netflix pick up more films from festivals than usual, although limited theatrical releases had returned by the second half of the year, albeit with many of them previously at other distributors. The Trial of the Chicago 7, for instance, was at Paramount before jumping to Netflix and reportedly opened in 100 theaters with reports that the movie only averaged 10 people a showing.

It’s worth noting, too, that Da 5 Bloods was originally slated for a theatrical release.

2019 Netflix Movies at Film Festivals & Theatrical Releases

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For many, 2019 is still Netflix’s favorite movie slate, and it’s hard to argue against them. By this point, Netflix had become unavoidable at festivals. The Irishman was the jewel, with its epic NYFF premiere and extended theatrical experiment. Marriage Story and The Two Popes locked down Venice, Telluride, and TIFF, proving Netflix could run a multi-front awards campaign. On the other end, more mainstream titles (Triple Frontier, 6 Underground) got token theatrical runs. 

2018 Netflix Movies at Film Festivals & Theatrical Releases

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2018 is when Netflix really put its chips down. ROMA premiered in Venice, winning the Golden Lion, rolling out in select theaters worldwide, and nearly taking Best Picture at the Oscars. Alongside it, Buster Scruggs, 22 July, and Outlaw King spread Netflix’s reach across Venice, TIFF, and beyond. This year marks a trend of Netflix’s dual-track strategy: arthouse prestige films (ROMA, Other Side of the Wind) on one side, populist streaming fare (Bird Box, Mowgli) on the other.

2017 Netflix Movies at Film Festivals & Theatrical Releases

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This is the year Netflix crashed Cannes with Okja and The Meyerowitz Stories. The Cannes audience booed the Netflix logo, sparking a massive industry debate about theatrical windows (something that’s still a fraught issue to this day). Meanwhile, Mudbound cemented Netflix’s ambitions in awards play, a Sundance hit that went on to score four Oscar nominations. 

2016 Netflix Movies at Film Festivals & Theatrical Releases

This was arguably Netflix’s trial balloon year. They were buying Sundance titles (Tallulah, The Fundamentals of Caring) and pushing into established festival lineups (TIFF with Barry and Mascots). The big milestone was The Siege of Jadotville, which not only played Galway but also got a small theatrical run in Ireland. At this point, Netflix wasn’t chasing Oscars aggressively yet, but they were dipping toes in the theatrical waters and building festival credibility.

2015 Netflix Movies at Film Festivals & Theatrical Releases

Beasts of No Nation was the first movie that got Netflix into the movie business. It debuted at the Toronto Film Festival while also getting a limited theatrical release from Bleecker Street day and date with the Netflix launch. The Numbers suggest the movie grossed just shy of $100,000. Netflix only released two movies for the entirety of 2015, with the other being Adam Sandler’s The Ridiculous 6.

What’s been your favorite Netflix movie you’ve ever watched at a festival or in theaters? Let us know in the comments.