As part of Netflix’s baby-stepping toward full-fledged theatrical releases, the streaming giant plans a first-ever Imax exhibition of “The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth,” the David Fincher-directed, Quentin Tarantino-scripted follow-up to “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” that sees Brad Pitt reprising his role as former stuntman Cliff Booth.
The movie is getting a two-week Imax-exclusive run at Thanksgiving before premiering on the service on Dec. 23 — but not at all available Imax locations. Both Cinemark and Regal have decided to not play “The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth” during this corridor, TheWrap has learned.
“The Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth,” which was meant as an Imax exclusive, will become an almost AMC exclusive – playing on around 550 screens worldwide, with 200 of those screens in the United States. It will also appear in a handful of other, smaller theaters (like Tarantino’s own New Beverly and, in December, the Vista – in glorious 35mm, of course).
Whether or not Netflix pivots further – perhaps making this a non-Imax exclusive and just available in mainstream movie houses, like it did with “Glass Onion” back in 2022, remains to be seen. (“Glass Onion” was an undeniable hit in theaters during a similar two-week Thanksgiving rollout but Netflix refused to share numbers.)
An insider said Netflix anticipated Regal and Cinemark may opt not to play “Cliff Booth” on their Imax screens in this corridor, and instead devote their screens to the second week of “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping” which is expected to be the No. 1 movie over Thanksgiving.
The split shows the diverging strategies that the three national theater chains are taking during the lucrative Thanksgiving weekend.
For AMC, the release of “Cliff Booth” provides the chain with an opportunity to deepen its thawing relationship with Netflix as the streamer slowly moves away from its longtime aversion to theatrical releases. AMC screened the series finale of “Stranger Things” at 231 of its locations on New Year’s Eve last winter; and this month, Netflix reported box office numbers for the first time ever with the limited release of the Cannes drama “La Bola Negra,” which AMC took part in. (The film, a three-hour historic gay epic, is expected to be a major contender this awards season.)
Based on Suzanne Collins’ recently released novel of the same name, “Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping” is the second prequel book in the hit YA novel series that still stands as Lionsgate’s most lucrative franchise. The first prequel, “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” opened to $44 million on pre-Thanksgiving weekend in 2023 and added $42 million over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend, finishing with $347.6 million worldwide.
With a story focused on fan favorite Haymitch Abernathy and a cameo appearance from original “Hunger Games” stars Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson (confirmed by Lawrence on a recent podcast appearance), “Sunrise on the Reaping” is already outperforming “Ballad” in presales, with theatrical sources projecting an opening weekend of at least $65 million.
“The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth,” which also stars Elizabeth Debicki, Scott Caan, Carla Gugino, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Peter Weller, takes place in 1977, nearly a decade after the events of “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” Cliff has moved on from being Rick Dalton’s stunt double (and savior of Sharon Tate) to becoming a movie theater owner and part-time Hollywood fixer. But as is often the case, trouble has a way of finding our dear Cliff Booth.
The film marks the fourth collaboration between Pitt and Fincher, following “Seven,” “Fight Club” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” (They nearly made a “World War Z” sequel together but at the time Paramount was scared of the movie getting iced out of Chinese cinemas since depictions of the occult are prohibited.) Many of Fincher’s key collaborators are on the project, including composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, editor Kirk Baxter and cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt.
Jeremy Fuster contributed to this report.
This news was initially first reported by Puck.
