Entertainment News

Regal and Cinemark won't show Netflix's 'Cliff Booth' in Imax: the window fight explained

Regal and Cinemark, the second- and third-largest US cinema chains, will not book Netflix's The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth on their Imax screens, Deadline and Variety report. The Brad Pitt film, a follow-up to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by David Fincher, opens on November 25 for two weeks in Imax.

The dispute is about time. The film reaches Netflix on December 23, which Deadline calculates as a 27-day exclusive window in cinemas. Lionsgate's The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, opening November 20, is expected to take most premium screens, and giving some to a film that streams a month later was a “no-go” for some chains, Variety says.

“Shortened theatrical windows have a direct impact on those decisions.” — Brooks LeBoeuf, Regal, via Variety

AMC and independent cinemas will play it. Variety counts AMC's 200 US Imax screens plus others abroad, for more than 500 screens worldwide; Regal has about 100 Imax screens and Cinemark about 20.

How each outlet framed it

• Deadline — the history between chains and Netflix: AMC refused the KPop Demon Hunters sing-along in 2025 while Regal and Cinemark booked it, giving Netflix its first weekend No. 1.
• Variety — the exhibitors' side, with Regal's statement, and Netflix's longer windows for coming films such as Narnia: The Magician's Nephew.

What we don't know yet: neither outlet carried a response from Netflix. Variety reports that some smaller chains will also skip the film.