The theatrical footprint of the Stranger Things series finale continues to grow.
Originally announced in late October as a fan event involving screenings in over 350 theaters across the U.S. and Canada on Dec. 31, 2025 and Jan. 1, 2026, the stunt expanded to 500+ locations by the time reservations opened in early December. Since then, additional theaters have been added, with the total now at 620+, series creators the Duffer Brothers revealed on Instagram.
“Over 1.1 million of you have already RSVPed to the finale screenings on NYE and New Year’s Day, and more than 3,500 showtimes across 620+ theaters are already completely full,” Ross Duffer wrote on Instagram.
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A quick search revealed that spots in LA are still available at a slew of locations, with many showings listed as “almost full.” The Stranger Things finale is playing beyond the top three circuits (AMC, Regal and Cinemark) in such chains as Harkins, Megaplex, Cineplex, Alamo, Landmark and Marcus.
As Deadline explained earlier this month, due to talent residual complications related to the distribution of TV series, the theatrical screenings of the Stranger Things closer are not a ticketed event, with the seat reservation fee ($20 at AMC, for instance) converted into a concession voucher.
That means that there will be no box-office for the theatrical release so admissions are the only currency available to evaluate its success.
How does that 1.1M stack up next to other fan heavy event films of late per EntTelligence? The admissions for Stranger Things finale is ahead of where KPop Demon Hunters was two days before its theatrical opening (700K pre-sales) and behind that of Sony/Crunchyroll’s Demon Slayer…Infinity Castle (1.7M admissions).
It should be noted that the Stranger Things theatrical window is shorter than any of the others, just over a day. It starts at 5 PM PT on Dec. 31, 2025, the same time the series finale drops on Netflix globally, and goes through Jan. 1, 2026. KPop Demon Hunters‘ singalong version was originally a 2-day affair that did not play in AMC Theaters; Demon Slayer’s opening weekend was 3-day-long.
The large turnout in theaters will be excluded from Stranger Things 5‘s viewership on Netflix. While not a major factor as the season is expected to land on the streamer’s Top 10 list of most watched English series with more than 100M views in the first 90 days, it would ding a bit the season’s total given the finale’s runtime of 2 hours and five minutes.
The Duffers hinted that they too would be headed to a theater to see the final chapter of their series on the big screen.
“What a way to close out a ten-year journey — together,” Russ Duffer wrote. “Maybe we’ll see some of you in LA.”
Anthony D’Alessandro contributed to this report.