Openverse
Netflix dropped the first trailer for The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, the sequel to Quentin Tarantino’s Oscar-winning Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Tarantino wrote the script, but he’s handing directing duties to David Fincher, the filmmaker behind Se7en and The Social Network.
Brad Pitt is back as Cliff Booth – the role that won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor the first time around.
This won’t be a cheap production, either. With a reported budget of $200 million, the film is set to become the most expensive movie either Tarantino or Fincher has ever made.
The trailer gives fans plenty to chew on. It references several moments from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood while hinting at where the story goes next. Still, Netflix has kept the official plot synopsis pretty thin.
Here’s what we do know: the film jumps forward to 1977, roughly eight years after the events of the first movie. As one line from the trailer puts it –
“Brad Pitt returns as Cliff Booth, only this time it’s 1977 and it’s a very different Hollywood.”
Timothy Olyphant is also returning, reprising his role from the original film. He’s joined by a cast that includes Scott Caan, Elizabeth Debicki, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Carla Gugino, Holt McCallany, Corey Fogelmanis, and JB Tadena.
The release strategy is where things get interesting.
The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth will hit IMAX screens on November 25 before landing on Netflix on December 23 – a theatrical window that’s still fairly rare for the streamer. It’s not a one-off, though. Netflix is planning something similar for Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew, which is set for a theatrical release next year as well.
Whether this signals a bigger shift in how Netflix handles its biggest titles remains to be seen. But with two awards-caliber directors and a budget this size, it’s clear the streamer isn’t treating this one like a typical straight-to-streaming release.
