Regal and Cinemark have turned down David Fincher’s The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth for their IMAX screens, IndieWire reported on 30 October, so the Netflix film’s IMAX-only theatrical run from 25 November will play mainly at AMC Theatres. Puck first reported the decision. Regal, Cinemark, Netflix and IMAX have not commented publicly.
Key facts
- The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, directed by Fincher from a Quentin Tarantino script, stars Brad Pitt
- Netflix’s plan: an exclusive two-week IMAX run worldwide from 25 November 2026, then streaming from 23 December
- Regal has about 100 US IMAX screens and Cinemark about 20; AMC has about 200, according to IndieWire
- IndieWire puts the film’s worldwide IMAX count at about 550 screens; Puck, as cited by World of Reel, put the US count at about 200 theatres
If the reports hold, the film loses the IMAX screens of two of the three largest US circuits in Thanksgiving week, one of the busiest of the North American year. IndieWire tied the decision to the film’s short window: it streams four weeks after it opens.
What the chains are doing instead
According to IndieWire, Regal and Cinemark are likely to give their IMAX screens to a second weekend of Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, which opens on 20 November and is part of the Filmed For IMAX programme, according to IMAX. IMAX usually decides which film plays on its screens, the outlet said, but because it joined the Cliff Booth release late, it let cinema chains opt out of the Netflix title.
Besides AMC, a few smaller circuits with IMAX screens are still taking the film, IndieWire reported. World of Reel, citing Puck, said Regal, Cinemark and a handful of smaller chains had “politely” declined, bringing the US count down to about 200 theatres. In August, World of Reel had cited an EmpireCity Box Office estimate of about 350 US locations for an IMAX-only release with no standard or other premium-format screenings. IndieWire and Puck count different things, screens worldwide in one case and US theatres in the other, so the two totals are not directly comparable.
How the release took shape
Netflix announced the IMAX window in May, Variety reported at the time, after moving Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew out of the Thanksgiving 2026 slot. Narnia now opens in cinemas, IMAX included, on 12 February 2027 and streams from 2 April, according to Netflix; Variety called its traditional theatrical run a first for the company.
The new film is set in 1977, eight years after Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019), and follows Pitt’s stuntman as a fixer for Hollywood clients, according to Netflix’s synopsis. The cast includes Elizabeth Debicki, Scott Caan, Carla Gugino, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Peter Weller.
The closest comparison is Netflix’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, which played one week in 696 North American theatres over Thanksgiving 2022, the first time AMC and Regal had booked a Netflix film, before streaming on 23 December. Netflix did not report grosses; competitor estimates put the run at about $15m, IndieWire reported then. Our earlier reports cover Netflix’s release of Lee Chang-dong’s Heartbeat and North American cinemas’ $2.7bn refurbishment spend.
It is not known whether Netflix will add screens or formats before 25 November, how the IMAX revenue split works, or whether Cinemark and Regal will book the film for its second week.
Our reading
On the reported facts, the chains’ decision looks commercial rather than a boycott. Netflix offered a film that would leave cinemas after two weeks and stream four weeks after opening, against a Filmed For IMAX franchise instalment. For a circuit with a fixed number of IMAX auditoriums, the second weekend of such a title is the lower-risk booking.
Narnia gets a traditional theatrical run in February; Cliff Booth shows what a short window buys over a holiday weekend. The next evidence is the ticketing sites in the days before 25 November, which will show how many IMAX screens the film actually has, and any second-week bookings by Regal or Cinemark.
Sources
- IndieWire, 30 October 2026 (Regal and Cinemark decline, screen counts, IMAX opt-out, Hunger Games hold, Puck credit)
- World of Reel, 30 October 2026, citing Puck (paywalled): about 200 US theatres; August estimate of about 350
- World of Reel, 30 August 2026 (EmpireCity Box Office estimate of about 350 US locations)
- Netflix Tudum, 21 September 2026 (two-week global IMAX run from 25 November, Netflix on 23 December)
- Netflix Tudum, 21 October 2026 (synopsis, cast, lead still)
- Netflix Media Center, film page
- IMAX, film page (release 25 November 2026, running time)
- Variety, 20 May 2026 (Netflix announcement, Narnia slot, AMC)
- IMAX, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping film page (Filmed for IMAX, 20 November 2026)
- Netflix Tudum, Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew release dates
- IndieWire, 30 November 2022 (Glass Onion one-week run in 696 theatres)