UPDATE: Hey, look at that — Deadline has removed the August release date for ‘Cliff Booth.’ Was that too quick on the trigger, or just a mistake?
EARLIER: Back in October, one theater executive told Variety that Netflix won’t be “announcing a theatrical slate,” but will show up when it has “something special” — a deal that benefits both sides without reshaping either company’s business model.
One of those “special” movies will very likely be David Fincher’s “The Continuing Adventures of Cliff Booth.”
Fincher’s “sequel,” which wrapped production in December, and one of our most anticipated films of the year, has now been confirmed for August 2026 release. This means no festival bow, and definitely no Venice Film Festival premiere.
It was previously reported that Netflix was contemplating a “robust rollout” for ‘Cliff Booth,’ a spinoff of Quentin Tarantino’s 2019 original “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” However, this was while the streamer was in the middle of acquiring Warner Bros, which has since failed. One wonders if these plans for ‘Cliff Booth’ are still in motion.
Not much is known about the plot, just that it picks up after ‘Once Upon a Time,’ following Pitt’s enigmatic stuntman into a new story set eight years later. Fincher’s go-to DP Erik Messerschmidt is the cinematographer on this one, replacing ‘Hollywood’ DP Robert Richardson.
The budget on ‘Cliff Booth’ is said to be north of $200M. The cast includes Brad Pitt, Carla Gugino, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Elizabeth Debicki, Scott Caan, Corey Fogelmanis, and Karren Karagulian. This is a big movie, and it’d be a real shame if it doesn’t get a proper theatrical rollout from Netflix.
This is set to be the third film Fincher directs for Netflix as part of the multi-year exclusive deal he signed with the streamer in 2018, which was renewed in 2023. So far, the partnership has produced “Mank” and “The Killer,” not to mention the excellent series “Mindhunter” — which still desperately needs another season to be greenlit.