Brad Pitt’s Tarantino-penned sequel will play Imax only at AMC among the major chains after Cinemark’s CEO called Netflix’s release model bad for theaters.
If you want to see Brad Pitt‘s return as Cliff Booth on a big screen this Thanksgiving, you will probably be going to an AMC. Cinemark and Regal have both declined to give their Imax screens to The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, the Netflix sequel to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, leaving AMC as the only major chain on board.
Cinemark CEO Sean Gamble laid out the reasoning on the company’s third-quarter earnings call Tuesday morning, and it had nothing to do with the movie itself. The issue is Netflix’s release plan. The David Fincher-directed film, written by Quentin Tarantino, opens in theaters Nov. 25 with a two-week Imax run and hits Netflix on Dec. 23, four weeks after its theatrical debut.
“We don’t believe the proposed release model is constructive for the broader theatrical ecosystem,” Gamble said, adding that Cinemark looks at every booking “through a long-term lens” and considers how a single decision might shape future negotiations.
Read between the lines and the message is clear. Exhibitors fought hard to rebuild the theatrical window after the pandemic, when studios sent major releases to streaming on the same day they hit theaters. Cinemark sees agreeing to Netflix’s terms, even for one of the most anticipated films of the holiday season, as handing the streamer a precedent it could use to shorten windows across the board. A Tarantino and Fincher collaboration starring Pitt is exactly the kind of film Netflix could point to later and say theaters already accepted.
There is also a simpler business reason. Gamble noted that The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is a sold play on Cinemark’s Imax screens over Thanksgiving thanks to strong advance sales. With a limited number of premium large-format screens and a Lionsgate blockbuster already filling them, Cinemark had little incentive to bump a sure thing for a film that leaves for streaming in a month.
For Netflix, Cliff Booth is a milestone either way. It marks the first time the streamer has released a movie in Imax, a format it has historically avoided as it resisted calls from its own filmmakers for wider theatrical runs. The slot was originally meant for Greta Gerwig‘s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew, which was pushed to February and will now get a far more generous seven-week theatrical window, a sign Netflix is still experimenting with how much time in theaters its biggest films deserve.
That experimentation is now running directly into the exhibitors’ push in the opposite direction. Gamble predicted the theatrical window will keep growing, pointing to commitments of at least 45 days from several studios and many larger films holding 60 days or more. “As we turn the corner into 2027, we’re going to see that window continue to expand a bit,” he said.
Cinemark can afford to take a stand. The chain reported third-quarter revenue of $1.05 billion, up from $857.5 million a year ago, an increase of roughly 22 percent, as domestic moviegoing runs about 20 percent ahead of last year.
The real test comes over Thanksgiving weekend. Interest in Cliff Booth is already high, from Netflix’s first-look images of Pitt behind the wheel to the first 17 minutes that Tarantino surprise-screened at AFI Fest. If AMC sells out its Imax screens, Netflix will have a strong argument that its model works. If audiences simply wait four weeks to stream it at home, Cinemark’s bet will look like the smart one.
