Netflix is expanding its theatrical footprint in a big way this month with its first-ever Imax release, David Fincher and Quentin Tarantino’s “The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth.” But word broke this week that this special engagement will be much smaller than many expected, as Cinemark and Regal declined to devote screens to the film.
That’s because, at least in Cinemark’s case, the two-week theatrical window was not something the chain could get behind.
“The ‘Cliff Booth’ situation is an interesting one,” Cinemark CEO Sean Gamble said Tuesday morning on the company’s earnings call. “We book all of our films on a case-by-case basis. In that particular situation, we always look at things through a long-term lens and how certain precedents and things we might do could affect longer-term industry dynamics. In this particular case, we don’t believe the proposed release model is constructive for the broader theatrical ecosystem, and it’s not aligned with what’s of the greatest interest in our theaters.”
“Cliff Booth,” a follow-up to “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” will play on Imax screens for two weeks only starting Nov. 25, then the film will exit theaters before it’s available for streaming on Netflix on Dec. 25.
The streamer had originally staked out this date and release strategy for Greta Gerwig’s “Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew,” but when that film was pushed to February (with a fully fledged 45-day theatrical window and wide release), Netflix swapped in “Cliff Booth.”
Netflix contends that it always anticipated not every theater chain would carry “Cliff Booth” in Imax, but Gamble’s comments suggest the shortened window was the deciding factor in opting out of the film instead of merely devoting more Imax screens to “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping” — although that certainly colored the decision.
Gamble added that buzz and presales on “Sunrise on the Reaping” are “through the roof” and Lionsgate is one of their “major studio partners,” so it will be devoting its Imax screens to the second weekend of that film instead of “Cliff Booth.”
But that’s not to say Cinemark is all out on Netflix in theaters. Gamble added that while it’s too early to draw conclusions about the streamer’s theatrical intentions, he’s encouraged about their decision to put more films in theaters in 2027 with full theatrical windows.
“They’ve 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” he said, adding that this is a “positive step” amidst a time of change for the company, which just exited its chief operating officer Bela Bajaria and film head Dan Lin.
Gamble also commented on the theatrical ambitions of Apple, which has been out of the game since 2025’s “F1,” but the Cinemark CEO hinted they may be getting back into the theatrical space sooner rather than later.
“In the conversations that we’ve been having with Apple, we believe that they’re likely to start to ramp up a bit more before too long. What the scale of that is, I think, still remains to be seen. They haven’t made any firm commitments as of yet, but at least we’re encouraged by what we’re hearing of them stepping a bit more up into theatrical,” he said.
One of those theatrical releases is likely to be Martin Scorsese’s “What Happens at Night,” a psychological thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence earmarked for a 2027 release. Apple previously released Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” wide.
The post Cinemark CEO Explains Why Chain Won’t Play Netflix’s ‘Cliff Booth’: Not ‘Constructive’ for Theatrical Ecosystem appeared first on TheWrap.
