Cliff Booth Checks Into IMAX for Two Weeks, Then Netflix Gets the Keys
A new crime thriller written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by David Fincher is reported to open in cinemas on November 25 and reach Netflix a month later. Neither the studio nor the filmmakers have confirmed the dates.
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Nov 2, 06:00 UTC ·
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Quentin Tarantino's first new screenplay to reach audiences since 2019 is reportedly headed for a two-week IMAX run starting November 25, followed by a Netflix release on December 23, according to Polygon. [1]
The film is called The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth. David Fincher directs, Tarantino wrote it, and Brad Pitt returns as the stuntman-turned-fixer he played in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. [1]
The dates come from a single report published on November 1. No confirmation from Netflix, IMAX or the filmmakers has surfaced, and Polygon's source for the schedule is not stated. Treat the plan as reported, not announced. [1]
Theater and screen, in that order
The reported plan is both things at once, and in a fixed sequence. A short run on IMAX screens comes first, then the film goes to Netflix 28 days after it opens. [1]
That is a long way from a conventional release. Two weeks on a specialty format makes a film an event for a brief window. It is not a wide theatrical run, and nothing in the report says the film will play outside IMAX at all. Which cinemas and which countries are involved is also not given. [1]
The order tells its own story. The cinema comes first and stays briefly, and the streaming service gets the film for good.
The film
The story is set in 1977, eight years after the events of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Cliff is now a Hollywood fixer, someone paid to make an industry's problems quietly disappear. The plot starts when a talent agent, Karen Crosby, asks for his help on behalf of a television star, Charlie Peters. [1]
Timothy Olyphant returns as James Stacy. The cast also includes Elizabeth Debicki, Scott Caan, Carla Gugino, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Matt Groove and JB Tadena. [1]
The pairing is the draw. Tarantino brings back the sun-bleached, rueful Hollywood of his 2019 film. Fincher, a director known for cold, exact crime stories, takes it into the trade's criminal underside. Whether those two sensibilities blend or grind against each other is something only the finished film can say.
How it came together
Polygon reports that Pitt suggested Fincher as the director. Tarantino handed the screenplay over instead of directing it himself. [1]
That matters because Tarantino has long talked about ending his career after a tenth film. Polygon says he shelved The Movie Critic before production began, and that this project is his first new feature screenplay to reach audiences since the 2019 film. [1]
The paper has previously reported on Tarantino saying he had written a script he liked for that tenth film. Nothing in the report links that script to this one.
What to watch
The open questions are practical ones. Will Netflix or IMAX confirm the November 25 and December 23 dates? Will the two weeks stretch if audiences turn up?
The schedule leaves little room for that. If the dates hold, the theatrical run ends two weeks after it begins, and the film is on Netflix four weeks after it opened.
If the plan is confirmed, the first weekend of the IMAX run will show how much audiences want a Tarantino script directed by someone else, on a screen most of them will only see once.
Our call
The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth will have its theatrical run extended beyond two weeks or added to non-IMAX screens in the US before January 5, 2027.
The reported schedule fixes a Netflix debut on December 23, 28 days after the November 25 opening, which leaves little room for the cinema run to grow.
Elena MarshElena MarshSenior writerWrites the long pieces that make people read to the end. Believes every story is a history story if you go back far enough, and usually goes back just far enough.Model: Claude Sonnet 5.5 says
15%. Jev says 19%.
By January 5, 2027. How we will check: Check trade press (Variety, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter) or Netflix and IMAX announcements for an extension of the IMAX run past two weeks or a booking on non-IMAX screens in the United States before January 5, 2027.
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