The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth: 12 Things to Know Before the IMAX and Netflix Release

By the Filmoria News Desk

The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth is David Fincher’s Netflix film, written by Quentin Tarantino, with Brad Pitt back as the stuntman from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It plays only in IMAX cinemas for two weeks from Wednesday 25 November 2026, with UK screens at ODEON and the BFI IMAX among them, and then streams on Netflix UK from Wednesday 23 December 2026. IMAX tickets went on sale on 2 November, the same day Netflix put out a new painted poster and an IMAX promo.

This is a list of the 12 things to know about The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth before it reaches IMAX on 25 November and Netflix on 23 December 2026. We’ve ordered it practically: release plans and the cinema row first, then the cast and story, then the people behind it, the money, the production and how it ties back to Tarantino’s 2019 film.

1. Release Date and Platform (2026, Netflix and IMAX)

What makes it stand out: It’s a Netflix original that opens in cinemas first, but only on IMAX screens and only for a fortnight. Key data: IMAX exclusive from Wednesday 25 November 2026 for two weeks, then streaming worldwide on Netflix from Wednesday 23 December 2026. Why it matters: It’s Netflix’s biggest Christmas film, and the cinema window is the most generous the streamer has given one of its own titles in a while.

Netflix first set the plan in May 2026, when the film was still called The Adventures of Cliff Booth. The Playlist reported at the time that it was getting a Thanksgiving IMAX run before a December streaming debut, and the dates haven’t moved since.

For UK viewers, the dates are the same as in the US. You can see it on a big IMAX screen from 25 November, or wait four weeks and watch it at home over Christmas. The gap between the IMAX run ending (around 9 December) and the Netflix launch is about a fortnight, so there’s a short spell where it won’t be showing anywhere.

Netflix hasn’t announced a drop time. Its global releases usually go live at 8am UK time, but that’s the norm, not a promise for this film. It will be included in every Netflix UK plan, with or without adverts, and there’s no extra rental fee.

2. The IMAX Run and Where to See It in the UK

What makes it stand out: TheWrap called it Netflix’s first IMAX movie, and the rollout is global rather than a token release. Key data: More than 500 IMAX locations in 55 countries and territories; tickets went on sale on 2 November 2026 through cliffboothfilm.com and cinema sites. Why it matters: It’s the first proper test of whether a Netflix film can draw a crowd to premium screens when everyone knows it’ll be streaming a month later.

Netflix has flirted with cinemas before, usually with short, small runs aimed at awards voters. This one is different. It’s IMAX-only, it’s worldwide, and it’s being sold like a studio event, with the poster and ad campaign to match.

In the UK, the map is mostly ODEON, which runs most of the country’s IMAX screens. What’s on Netflix counted 19 of the UK’s 24 IMAX venues on board, along with independents like the BFI IMAX at Waterloo and Glasgow Science Centre. Cineworld and Vue venues weren’t on the list when we checked the reports, so if your nearest IMAX is in one of their multiplexes you may be out of luck.

One practical point: in early November, most venues were still showing “coming soon” rather than selling seats. If you want a good row at the BFI IMAX, one of the biggest screens in the country, it’s worth signing up for alerts now rather than waiting until the week of release.

3. Regal and Cinemark Said No (2026, US cinema chains)

What makes it stand out: Two of America’s biggest chains turned down a Brad Pitt film from David Fincher over Thanksgiving, one of the busiest weekends of the year. Key data: Regal has roughly 100 IMAX screens and Cinemark about 20, according to Variety; AMC is now the main US IMAX partner. Why it matters: It shows how far cinemas and Netflix still are from trusting each other, even on a $200 million film.

Regal’s reasoning was simple enough. A four-week gap before streaming affects which films get its premium screens, and it chose to keep its IMAX auditoriums for The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, which is in its second weekend over US Thanksgiving. Some smaller chains followed suit.

There’s an awkward bit of history here. The IMAX slot that Cliff Booth now occupies had been held for Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew, another Netflix production. When Narnia moved to February 2027, Netflix slid Fincher’s film into the gap. We’ve covered that move in our guide to Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew.

None of this changes much for UK audiences, where ODEON is on board. But it does matter for the box office numbers that will get reported after the first weekend. With fewer US screens, the totals will look smaller than they might have, and Netflix may not publish figures at all.

4. Brad Pitt Returns as Cliff Booth

What makes it stand out: Pitt won his first acting Oscar for this character, and he’s now playing him again for a different director. Key data: Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019); reportedly paid $40 million to produce and star. Why it matters: Cliff was the coolest, most dangerous thing in Tarantino’s film, and audiences already know and like him.

In 2019, Cliff Booth was the laid-back stunt double and driver for Leonardo DiCaprio’s fading TV star Rick Dalton. He fixed TV aerials, fed his dog and, in the film’s famous finale, took apart the Manson family intruders who’d come to the wrong house. Pitt’s performance won him the Oscar, the Golden Globe and the BAFTA.

It’s rare for a supporting character to get his own film, rarer still for the original actor to come back for it seven years later. Pitt is in his early sixties now, which fits the story: it’s 1977, Cliff is older, and stunt work isn’t quite what it was.

Puck reported that Pitt’s fee for starring and producing was $40 million, which would make him one of the best-paid actors on any streaming film. That’s part of why the budget is so high (see item 9).

There’s also a nice bit of symmetry. Pitt and Fincher made Se7en, Fight Club and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button together. This is their fourth film, and their first in nearly 20 years.

5. The Story: Cliff Booth as a Studio Fixer in 1977

What makes it stand out: It’s not a remake or a prequel, but a jump forward to a grubbier, post-hippie Hollywood. Key data: Set in Los Angeles in 1977, eight years after the events of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood; Cliff now works as a studio fixer. Why it matters: The late seventies were the era of the New Hollywood, the blockbuster boom and a lot of scandals that studios wanted cleaned up.

Netflix’s logline is short. Cliff, a former stuntman, is now working as a Hollywood studio fixer. That’s a job that covers a lot of sins: getting a star out of trouble, keeping a story out of the papers, persuading someone to stay quiet.

It’s a good fit for the character. Cliff was always the man who could handle trouble, and the first film hinted strongly that he’d got away with something terrible in his past. Putting him in a job where solving problems quietly is the point gives Tarantino’s script lots of room.

The year matters, too. 1977 was the year Star Wars changed the business. The old studio system Rick Dalton came up in was gone, and directors like Scorsese, Coppola and Spielberg were running the show. A man who started out doing stunts on fifties westerns would be something of a relic by then, which is presumably the joke and the sadness of the film.

Netflix’s Media Center files the film under comedies, by the way. Given the trailers, expect it to be funny in the way the first film was: loose, chatty and then suddenly violent.

6. The New Cast and Who They Play

What makes it stand out: It’s a mix of big names, cult favourites and one returning face from the 2019 film. Key data: Elizabeth Debicki as talent agent Karen Crosby, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Roderick “Hot Rod” Harrison, Scott Caan as TV star Charlie Peters, Carla Gugino as his wife Toni, Peter Weller as Cliff’s father Gus Booth, and Timothy Olyphant back as James Stacy. Why it matters: Most of the new characters are invented, which frees the film from the real-life history that drove the first one.

Elizabeth Debicki, who won a Golden Globe and an Emmy for playing Princess Diana in The Crown, is Karen Crosby, a talent agent. She’s all over the trailers, and the Super Bowl teaser had Cliff, ice on his knee and shoulder, telling her about the night he helped Rick Dalton deal with the hippie intruders. That suggests she’s the main person Cliff talks to, and possibly the person who hires him.

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Watchmen, Aquaman, Candyman) plays Roderick “Hot Rod” Harrison. Neither Netflix nor the trailers have explained who Hot Rod is yet, though the nickname sounds like someone from the stunt or racing world.

Scott Caan plays Charlie Peters, a TV star known for doing his own stunts, which is a sly dig at Cliff’s old profession. Carla Gugino plays his wife, Toni Becka. Peter Weller, RoboCop himself, plays Gus Booth, Cliff’s father, which suggests we’ll learn something about where Cliff came from.

Timothy Olyphant is the link to the first film. He played the real actor James Stacy, star of the western series Lancer, in 2019, and he’s reprising the role. Holt McCallany, Fincher’s regular from Mindhunter, is also in the cast, but his character hasn’t been named. Corey Fogelmanis and Karren Karagulian round out the reported cast.

What about Leonardo DiCaprio? He hasn’t been announced, and Rick Dalton is only mentioned in the footage so far.

7. David Fincher Directs a Quentin Tarantino Script

What makes it stand out: It’s the first time in three decades that Tarantino has written a feature for someone else to direct. Key data: Fincher said Tarantino’s first draft ran to 230 pages, “essentially two movies”, and he cut about 60; Tarantino produces. Why it matters: Two directors with very different styles are working on one film, and that alone makes it one of the year’s most curious releases.

Tarantino last handed a feature script to someone else in the nineties, with True Romance (Tony Scott), Natural Born Killers (Oliver Stone) and From Dusk Till Dawn (Robert Rodriguez). Since then he’s directed everything he’s written. So why let go now?

The answer, according to Sony’s Tom Rothman speaking to Variety, is that Fincher was the only other director Tarantino felt comfortable with. Fincher’s exclusive deal with Netflix, where he made Mank, The Killer and Mindhunter, is why the film ended up at the streamer rather than Sony, which released the first one. Tarantino has since said he got “the best of both worlds”: Brad Pitt and his favourite director.

Tarantino himself has called the script a “gigantic novel” written in screenplay form. Fincher told TheWrap that the first draft was so long it was essentially two films, and the pair agreed which parts to focus on.

Expect a different feel from 2019. Fincher is famous for precision, dozens of takes and a cool, controlled camera. Tarantino’s films are looser and longer. At 2 hours 21 minutes, this one is already shorter than Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which ran 2 hours 41 minutes.

8. What the Trailers Reveal (February to November 2026, Netflix)

What makes it stand out: Netflix has drip-fed footage, from a surprise Super Bowl teaser to a full trailer and an IMAX promo. Key data: Super Bowl LX teaser on 8 February 2026; official trailer in September 2026; new IMAX promo and painted poster on 2 November 2026. Why it matters: Each one has shown a little more of the plot, and the tone looks closer to Tarantino’s chatty violence than Fincher’s chill.

The first look came in the middle of the Super Bowl, which caught most people off guard. It showed Cliff at a bar, walking through the back corridors of a film set and driving on a dirt track. There was a shot of him putting an Oscar on a desk, and that scene with Debicki where, nursing his injuries, he owns up to helping Rick Dalton fight off the intruders. It ended on “Coming Soon” with no date.

The full trailer in September was more generous. It opens with Cliff causing chaos at the New Beverly Cinema, the Los Angeles repertory cinema Tarantino has owned since 2007. From there it’s mud-wrestling, murder and car chases, which is about as Tarantino a list as you could write. Pajiba noted that the earlier footage was “super dark, literally”, a nod to Fincher’s love of shadowy, low-light images.

The latest piece, released with the ticket sales on 2 November, is a short IMAX spot and a painted poster. World of Reel had complained in October that Netflix still hadn’t released a proper poster or a full-length trailer, even after releasing eight new stills. The painted one-sheet seems to be the answer.

The September trailer also played in cinemas ahead of Resident Evil, which shows that Netflix was going after cinema audiences, not just streaming subscribers.

9. The $200 Million Budget

What makes it stand out: It’s the most expensive film either Tarantino or Fincher has ever made. Key data: About $200 million, according to Tarantino; Puck reported Pitt took $40 million and Fincher and Tarantino $20 million each. Why it matters: Almost half the money goes on three people, and that tells you exactly what Netflix is paying for.

Tarantino described it as “the biggest budget movie I’ve ever done by a hundred million”. For context, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood reportedly cost around $90 million, and Fincher’s own priciest films were well short of $200 million.

If Puck’s figures are right, $80 million of that went to the star, the writer and the director. The rest covers a period film set across 1970s Los Angeles, with car stunts, crowd scenes and a six-month shoot.

Netflix doesn’t have to make that back at the box office, which is just as well, given the two-week window and the Regal and Cinemark row. Its calculation is about subscribers and prestige over Christmas. Still, The Week asked why Tarantino’s “most expensive” film went to a streamer, and it’s a fair question. A Sony release would have had a long cinema run. This one gets 14 days.

One thing to keep in mind is that the $200 million figure is approximate, and Netflix hasn’t confirmed it. Treat it as a ballpark.

10. Filming in Los Angeles (July 2025 to January 2026)

What makes it stand out: Fincher shot it in and around Los Angeles over six months, with his regular cinematographer behind the camera. Key data: Principal photography from July 2025 to 15 January 2026; locations included the Ventura County Fairgrounds and RSH Studios; shot by Erik Messerschmidt. Why it matters: A local shoot and a Fincher crew suggest the film will look very different from Tarantino’s 2019 picture.

Filming began in late July 2025. Over the autumn, photos and reports came from around LA, including a day at the Ventura County Fairgrounds on 15 October 2025, which could well be where the dirt-track scenes in the teaser were shot.

The wrap came on 15 January 2026, announced in a post from producer Jarred Land, who thanked the crew at RSH Studios and cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt. Messerschmidt won an Oscar for Fincher’s Mank and also shot The Killer and Mindhunter.

That’s a notable change. The first film was shot by Robert Richardson, Tarantino’s long-time director of photography, with a warm, sunny look. Messerschmidt and Fincher tend to go for cooler colours and lots of shadow, which may be why early viewers called the footage dark.

A six-month shoot is long, even for Fincher. It fits with a script that started at 230 pages, and with the scale of a period film that recreates late-seventies Hollywood on location.

11. A New Title, Reshoots and a Missed Venice Premiere

What makes it stand out: The film’s road to release has had a few bumps, including a festival it didn’t make and a title that changed late. Key data: Retitled from The Adventures of Cliff Booth to The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth in August 2026; Venice chief Alberto Barbera said Fincher had paused for personal reasons; additional photography reported in August. Why it matters: None of it is unusual for a big film, but it explains why marketing started so late.

In July 2026, Venice’s Alberto Barbera told The Hollywood Reporter that the film wouldn’t be ready for the festival because Fincher had paused work on it for personal reasons, and that it would probably be finished in October. The reason for the pause hasn’t been made public, and it isn’t our business to guess. The Playlist added that some sequences were being reshot in August, which would also explain the timing.

The title change arrived on 26 August 2026, reported by Deadline and Awards Radar. The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth is clunkier than the original, but it has a pulpy, paperback ring that suits a film set in the seventies. The hyphen in “Mis-Adventures” is official, so it’s worth getting right if you’re searching for it.

The runtime is now listed at 2 hours 21 minutes on Netflix. That suggests the edit is locked, and nothing since has pointed to any further delays.

12. How It Connects to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019, Sony)

What makes it stand out: It’s a follow-up to one of Tarantino’s most loved films, made without him behind the camera. Key data: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was released in 2019 by Sony and won two Oscars, for Pitt and for production design; the new film is set eight years later. Why it matters: You don’t need to have seen the first film, but you’ll get more out of this one if you have.

Tarantino has said his tenth and final film as director needs to be “uncharted territory”, not a Cliff Booth sequel. So this is a strange in-between project: his characters and his words, but not, strictly speaking, his film.

The connections we know about are Cliff himself, Olyphant’s James Stacy and the memory of the night in 1969 when Cliff and Rick fought off the Manson followers. The teaser leans on that last one, which suggests the new film treats it as part of Cliff’s legend in town.

Tarantino also expanded Cliff’s backstory in his 2021 novelisation of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which went into his war record and his darker past. Whether any of that shows up here hasn’t been confirmed, but it’s a fair bet that Fincher’s version knows about it.

If you want to catch up first, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is easy to find to rent or buy digitally in the UK. Then you can watch the new one on a big screen from 25 November or at home from 23 December.

The Bottom Line

The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth is a one-off: Tarantino’s words, Fincher’s camera, Pitt’s Oscar-winning character and Netflix’s money, about $200 million of it. The trailers look funny, nasty and very seventies. The big questions are whether Fincher’s cool style and Tarantino’s loose, talky writing actually fit, and whether audiences will pay for IMAX tickets when the film is streaming four weeks later. We’ll know on 25 November.

Sources: Netflix Tudum, Netflix Media Center, Deadline (trailer), TheWrap (Regal and Cinemark), What’s on Netflix (IMAX locations), TheWrap (Fincher on the script)

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