Cinemark and Regal won't give Imax screens to Netflix's Cliff Booth, per THR. Here is where it plays Nov. 25, when it hits Netflix and what to do.
As of Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, if you want to see The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth on an Imax screen in the U.S., you will need an AMC theater near you. The Hollywood Reporter says Cinemark and Regal have both decided not to give any of their Imax screens to Netflix's Brad Pitt movie, which opens Nov. 25 and reaches Netflix on Dec. 23. Cinemark's CEO explained why on the company's third-quarter earnings call on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Where can you see Cliff Booth in theaters?
Netflix says the film opens in Imax theaters globally on Nov. 25 for an exclusive two-week run, then debuts on Netflix on Dec. 23. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Cinemark and Regal decisions effectively make the movie exclusive to AMC among the major U.S. chains. Variety and Deadline reported the Regal and Cinemark Imax news on Oct. 30, and the Cinemark CEO's comments followed this week.
What we could not confirm from the pages we read: whether any independent or smaller Imax venues will carry it, or the full list of AMC locations. Netflix has not published a theater list that we found. Before you plan a trip, check the Imax and AMC ticketing pages for your zip code, because showtimes and seat maps are where the real answer will show up.
Why did Cinemark say no?
The Hollywood Reporter says Cinemark CEO Sean Gamble pointed to Netflix's short release window, which ends two weeks before the film moves to streaming, and to the precedent it could set for future deals. In his words: "We book all of our films on a case-by-case situation. 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."
He added that the proposed release model is not "constructive for the broader theatrical ecosystem." Put plainly, the chain does not want to teach Netflix or anyone else that a short exclusive run is enough.
Gamble also said that keeping The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping on its Imax screens over Thanksgiving is an easy call because of strong advance sales. The Hollywood Reporter notes that Cliff Booth took an Imax slot originally meant for Greta Gerwig's Narnia: The Magician's Nephew, which moved to February with a longer seven-week theatrical window.
What is the movie about?
Netflix's own Tudum page describes a story set in 1977, eight years after the events of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Cliff Booth, played by Brad Pitt, now works as a fixer who solves problems for Hollywood's famous and not-so-famous. The cast listed by Netflix includes Elizabeth Debicki, Scott Caan, Carla Gugino and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. David Fincher directs from a script by Quentin Tarantino, and Netflix lists the running time at 2 hours and 21 minutes.
Separately, Variety reports that Tarantino told Empire he felt he was letting Pitt down by not directing the sequel himself, and that he was stunned when Fincher showed interest. That is a story about how the movie came together, not about where to watch it.
Our take
This is a real test of Netflix's theatrical play. It is the streamer's first Imax release, which makes Cinemark and Regal's refusal sting more than a typical skipped booking. AMC gets a clean, exclusive run at the biggest screens for a Thanksgiving-week Netflix release. Cinemark gets to protect its leverage. Viewers in markets with no AMC Imax screen get the least say in any of it.
If you are in one of those markets, the practical answer is the boring one: wait for Dec. 23 and watch it at home for the price of your subscription. If you care about seeing a Fincher film on the largest screen available, buy tickets early, since an exclusive two-week run on fewer screens means fewer seats. Treat all of this as developing. Netflix and the chains can still change the picture before Nov. 25, and we will update if they do.
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Picture credit: Netflix
