Why Timothy Olyphant & Brad Pitt’s Hollywood Thriller Lost Major Theatrical Release

Timothy Olyphant and Brad Pitt’s The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth lost a major release, and one company has a good reason.

The spinoff sequel to Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood… has been one of the most buzzed-about titles since it was revealed Netflix acquired the rights to Tarantino’s screenplay and tapped David Fincher to helm the film. Moreover, in a rare change for the streamer, The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth was going to be Netflix’s first big dive into the IMAX forum, giving it a theatrically exclusive two-week release on November 25 before streaming December 23.

After reports swirled that both Cinemark and Regal Cinemas had rejected the film from its IMAX screenings, the former’s CEO, Sean Gamble, is officially explaining the reason The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth won’t show in Cinemark theaters. Acknowledging the situation is “an interesting one,” Gamble clarified in the company’s earnings call (per TheWrap) that the theater chain “book all of our films on a case-by-case basis,” and particularly look through a “long-term lens” for things that “could affect longer-term industry dynamics.”

As such, Olyphant and Pitt’s Hollywood-set thriller sequel did not prove “constructive for the broader theatrical ecosystem” as Netflix has only planned for a two-week IMAX release for The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth. Gamble also seemingly confirmed the prior reports that Cinemark was saving said premium format screens for The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, stating that pre-sales are “through the roof” and describing Lionsgate as one of their “major studio partners“:

Sean Gamble: [Netflix has] certainly been taking more constructive steps toward engaging in a bigger way with theatrical. I mean, they’ve got six films announced now through November of 2027 that are going to be having full theatrical releases with marketing campaigns and communicated box office results. We’ll see how those get fully executed.

Sean Gamble: [Netflix has] certainly been taking more constructive steps toward engaging in a bigger way with theatrical. I mean, they’ve got six films announced now through November of 2027 that are going to be having full theatrical releases with marketing campaigns and communicated box office results. We’ll see how those get fully executed.

The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth

The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth follows Cliff Booth, a former stuntman, set eight years after the events of Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. Booth now works as a fixer within the studio system, navigating the complexities and challenges of Hollywood’s entertainment industry.