Los Javis' 'La bola negra' becomes the third highest-grossing Spanish film ever
Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi's film had taken €36.7 million by 1 November and sold about 5.5 million tickets, according to Rentrak figures reported by the Spanish film press. It has overtaken 'Ocho apellidos catalanes' and now trails only 'Ocho apellidos vascos' and 'The Impossible'. Box office totals vary slightly between sources.
About 5.5 million people in Spain have bought a ticket to see ‘La bola negra’. That makes the film by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, known as Los Javis, the most-watched film of the year in Spanish cinemas, ahead of ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ (5.4 million), according to analyst Pau Brunet’s Box Office bulletin, cited by Infobae.
It had taken €36.7 million by 1 November, according to Rentrak data reported by Mundiario. Infobae, using Ministry of Culture figures, puts it at about €37 million.
Only two films ahead
That total takes it past the more than €35 million earned by ‘Ocho apellidos catalanes’ (2015), making it the third highest-grossing Spanish film in history. Ahead of it are ‘The Impossible’ (€42.4 million) and ‘Ocho apellidos vascos’ (€55.4 million). It is also 2026’s top-grossing Spanish production, ahead of ‘Torrente, presidente’.
The figures differ a little from source to source because each closes its count on a different day, but they agree on the ranking.
From Cannes to Spanish cinemas
‘La bola negra’ premiered in May in the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival and opened in Spanish cinemas this autumn, distributed by Elástica Films. It is a Movistar Plus+ original produced with Suma Content, with El Deseo and Le Pacte as co-producers.
The film starts from a text Federico García Lorca left unfinished and follows the lives of three gay men in 1932, 1937 and 2017. The cast includes Guitarricadelafuente, Miguel Bernardeau, Carlos González, Lola Dueñas, Penélope Cruz and Glenn Close.
It is still showing, so the count is not over: it needs roughly another €5 million to catch ‘The Impossible’.
