The Next 365 Days Budget

What Is the Budget of The Next 365 Days (2022)?

The Next 365 Days (2022), the third and final installment in Netflix's Polish erotic thriller franchise, was produced on an estimated budget in the $8,000,000 to $12,000,000 range, in line with the financial profile of the first two films in the series. Netflix and Polish production company Ekipa financed the project directly as a streaming exclusive, with co-directors Barbara Bialowas and Tomasz Mandes returning alongside lead screenwriter Mandes adapting the third novel in Blanka Lipinska's bestselling trilogy. Because the film bypassed theatrical release entirely, no marketing spend was committed to a domestic exhibition campaign; instead, Netflix's in-platform promotion and trailer rollout absorbed the audience-acquisition function.

Like its predecessors, the production leaned on its Polish and Italian shooting locations to keep above-the-line and crew costs well below comparable Hollywood erotic thrillers. The trilogy as a whole has functioned as a high-margin volume play for Netflix in the Polish-language and pan-European subscriber markets, where the franchise has consistently ranked in the platform's top non-English titles during launch windows.

Key Budget Allocation Categories

The reported production cost was allocated across these production areas:

• Above-the-Line Talent: Returning leads Anna-Maria Sieklucka (Laura) and Michele Morrone (Massimo) commanded raises from the first film's rates after the trilogy became a global Netflix hit, with Simone Susinna joining the principal cast as the new romantic foil Nacho. Co-directors Bialowas and Mandes, who also produced and co-wrote the script, were compensated as creator-controllers of the trilogy rather than work-for-hire helmers.
• Italian and Polish Locations: Principal photography utilized the Sicilian coastline (Taormina, Catania), a Sardinian villa, and Warsaw interiors, replicating the visual template of the first two films. Polish production company Ekipa managed the unit, taking advantage of the country's lower below-the-line rates and Polish Film Institute production support.
• Cinematography and Lighting: Bartek Cierlica returned as director of photography, executing the trilogy's signature glossy, magazine-aesthetic look across yacht, villa, and beach setpieces, which required marine lighting rigs and aerial drone coverage.
• Wardrobe and Production Design: High-end designer wardrobe placements (Dolce & Gabbana, Roberto Cavalli) and luxury automotive product placements were negotiated as marketing-exchange deals rather than line-item costs, which kept the on-screen luxury profile high while limiting cash outlay.
• Music Licensing: The trilogy is defined by a pop-heavy needle-drop soundtrack including new tracks performed by Morrone himself, original songs by Patty Pravo and Italian vocalists, and licensed European pop. Music rights and original recording sessions were a meaningful line item.
• Intimacy and Stunt Coordination: Following criticism of the first two films, the third installment expanded intimacy coordination on set, adding budget for choreographed sequences and additional rehearsal time for both leads and the new Nacho character.

How Does The Next 365 Days's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

The Next 365 Days sits within the low-to-mid budget tier of Netflix original erotic and romance titles, alongside other European-produced streaming releases:

• 365 Days (2020): Budget approximately $5,000,000 | Netflix exclusive (no theatrical gross). The original was an MGM-acquired theatrical release in select European territories that became a global Netflix sensation, racking up 88 days in the Netflix Top 10 in the United States alone.
• 365 Days: This Day (2022): Budget approximately $8,000,000 to $10,000,000 | Netflix exclusive. The second installment debuted at #1 on Netflix in 90 countries on its April 2022 release.
• After Ever Happy (2022): Budget approximately $14,000,000 | Worldwide $13,786,373. The fourth After film, also a low-budget romance franchise, illustrates the theatrical alternative to the Netflix model.
• Fifty Shades Freed (2018): Budget $55,000,000 | Worldwide $371,949,886. Universal's closing entry shows the studio theatrical comparison point: roughly five to seven times the production budget for a similar genre property and a worldwide gross unattainable for any Polish-language equivalent.
• Through My Window (2022): Budget undisclosed (estimated under $10,000,000) | Netflix exclusive. The Spanish-language Netflix romance offers the closest peer in production model and audience overlap.

The Next 365 Days Box Office Performance

The Next 365 Days launched on Netflix on August 19, 2022 as a streaming exclusive with no theatrical release. The film reached #1 in 76 countries on the Netflix Top 10 during its launch week and accumulated approximately 64,990,000 hours viewed in its first 28 days, ranking it among the platform's top non-English film launches of 2022.

Because the title bypassed theaters entirely, no box office gross was recorded. The financial model is reconstructed below using Netflix's commissioning economics:

• Production Budget: approximately $10,000,000 (estimated)
• Estimated Prints & Advertising (P&A): absorbed into Netflix in-platform marketing (no theatrical P&A)
• Total Estimated Investment: approximately $10,000,000 to $13,000,000
• Worldwide Gross: not applicable (Netflix exclusive)
• Net Return: recouped through Netflix subscriber retention and acquisition in European and Latin American territories
• ROI: positive based on hours-viewed performance and Top 10 territory count

The trilogy as a whole has functioned as one of Netflix's most cost-efficient non-English originals, with consistent worldwide audience engagement across all three releases despite uniformly hostile critical reception. The Next 365 Days closed out the franchise without a fourth-film greenlight, in line with Lipinska's source-material trilogy.

The Next 365 Days Production History

Development on the third film began before the second film had premiered, with Netflix greenlighting back-to-back productions of the closing two installments to capitalize on the first film's 2020 viral success. Co-directors Barbara Bialowas and Tomasz Mandes returned with Mandes again on screenplay duty, working from the third novel in Blanka Lipinska's trilogy. Lipinska herself remained involved as a creative consultant.

Principal photography on the second and third films was conducted as a single overlapping production block in 2021 and early 2022, primarily in Poland, Sicily (Taormina, Catania), Sardinia, and Croatian Adriatic coast locations. The combined shoot allowed the production to amortize crew transport, location fees, and equipment rental across two finished features. Cinematographer Bartek Cierlica and editing teams maintained continuity with the established trilogy aesthetic.

Simone Susinna was cast as Nacho, the third novel's key romantic alternative to Massimo, following an extensive search for a male lead who could plausibly challenge Michele Morrone on screen. The character's introduction was treated as the franchise's narrative pivot, splitting Laura's loyalties for the final installment.

The release was strategically timed to August 2022, four months after the second film, to capture summer streaming traffic and maximize the franchise momentum.

Awards and Recognition

Like the first two films, The Next 365 Days received no major awards recognition. The franchise has been a perennial Golden Raspberry Awards target: the first 365 Days received six Razzie nominations in 2021 (including Worst Picture, Worst Actor for Morrone, and Worst Screenplay), and the second film, 365 Days: This Day, was nominated for Worst Picture and Worst Screen Couple at the 2023 Razzies.

No legitimate industry body has recognized the trilogy for production craft, performance, or screenplay. Netflix has not submitted any of the three films for Polish national awards consideration.

Critical Reception

The Next 365 Days received overwhelmingly negative reviews. The film holds a 0% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 13 out of 100 score on Metacritic, the lowest of any Netflix original release in 2022 according to both aggregators. The trilogy as a whole is among the lowest-rated franchises on both platforms.

Critics objected to the perfunctory plotting, the underdeveloped Nacho-Laura-Massimo love triangle, the abrupt non-ending that omits a key climactic event from the source novel, and the continued reliance on softcore set pieces in place of dramatic stakes. Decider's John Serba wrote that the film "stretches your patience to the breaking point and then keeps stretching it," while The Guardian's Phil Hoad called the entire trilogy "the worst Netflix has to offer." IndieWire characterized the third installment as "an ending that isn't really an ending, in service of a story that never really was one."

Audience response was divisive but markedly more positive than critical reaction: the film maintains a 19% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, reflecting the franchise's established fanbase among readers of the original Lipinska novels and viewers of the first two installments. The disconnect between critical scorn and consistent Netflix Top 10 placement has been cited in trade press analysis as a defining example of the streaming-exclusive franchise economics that diverge sharply from theatrical commercial benchmarks.