Brad Pitt’s return as Cliff Booth is about to reach far fewer IMAX screens than planned. Regal and Cinemark have both declined to show Netflix’s The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth on their IMAX screens, leaving the film with roughly 200 in the US, nearly all of them at AMC.
Why the Chains Said No
The film is set for a two-week, IMAX-only run starting November 25, Netflix’s first-ever IMAX release, before it moves to streaming in December. That short window is the sticking point. Speaking on Cinemark’s earnings call, CEO Sean Gamble said the company doesn’t believe “the proposed release model is constructive for the broader theatrical ecosystem.”
Both chains will give their IMAX screens over Thanksgiving to the second weekend of Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping. Regal runs about 100 IMAX screens in the US and Cinemark about 20, and several smaller circuits have also passed. AMC, with around 200 US IMAX screens, is now effectively the only major chain playing it.
A Slot Meant for Narnia
Netflix originally planned the Thanksgiving IMAX slot for Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew. When that film moved to February with a longer 45-day theatrical window, Cliff Booth took its place.
Directed by David Fincher from a script by Quentin Tarantino, the film brings back the stuntman Pitt played in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, the role that won him an Oscar. It is reportedly Fincher’s last film under his Netflix deal and carries a budget of around $200 million.
For fans who want the big-screen version, the message is simple: find an AMC, and do it fast, because the run lasts only two weeks.