Brad Pitt & David Fincher’s Cliff Booth movie pushed back
Brad Pitt and David Fincher’s Cliff Booth follow-up has been pushed back after a studio schedule reshuffle, leaving fans braced for a longer wait.
If you were hoping to catch The Adventures of Cliff Booth this summer, you might want to put the popcorn away for now. The new film sees Brad Pitt slip back into his cowboy boots as stuntman Cliff Booth—yes, the same one from Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood. But a fresh wrinkle in the production means that Netflix and David Fincher’s sequel has officially been punted down the calendar.
Festival No-Show and New ETA
The big sign something was up came when the Venice International Film Festival announced its 2026 line-up. Loads of people expected Fincher’s latest to pop up among the heavyweights. Instead, it was nowhere to be seen. Artistic director Alberto Barbera cleared things up in an interview, explaining that a run of bad luck had knocked a few studio titles out of contention, including Fincher’s own.
David Fincher’s film, which is highly anticipated, for us too, isn’t ready because Fincher had to pause for personal reasons. It has been slightly postponed and will be probably ready in October, but not in time for Venice.
The talk from earlier this year was that The Adventures of Cliff Booth would be on Netflix around summertime, with a limited cinema run pencilled for 25 November, 2026. Clearly, that’s not happening, owing to the pause in production. According to Barbera, the best guess now is an October completion—so the new big date is 23 December, 2026 on Netflix. That’s likely your only shot at seeing it for the time being, unless the theatrical window moves too.
The Adventures of Cliff Booth will premiere on Netflix on December 23, 2026.
Backstory and Bumpy Road
The idea for the film’s been floating about for a while. It started back in 2021 when Quentin Tarantino openly fancied doing a feature just about Booth. Fast-forward to 2025 and it was Fincher (not Tarantino) in the director’s chair, working from a batch of Tarantino’s scripts. Notably, there’s no Leonardo DiCaprio this time—he’s apparently turned down the chance to reprise his role as Rick Dalton. That bit might sting for the diehards.
As for the production pause, there’s been no word on exactly what’s going on—just ‘personal reasons’ cited for Fincher. That’s left everything a tad vague for now. But this isn’t Fincher and Pitt’s first rodeo together: they’ve already caused a stir with Se7en, Fight Club, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. On paper, it’s a massive reunion for those who love their films pitch-dark or mind-bending.
- First rumblings: 2021 (Tarantino talks up a Booth spinoff)
- Director swap: 2025 (Fincher takes over using Tarantino’s scripts)
- Original Netflix plan: Summer 2026
- Deferred cinema run: 25 November, 2026 (now likely shifting)
- Confirmed Netflix premiere: 23 December, 2026
- DiCaprio out: No Rick Dalton comeback
The Setup
Just for context, The Adventures of Cliff Booth is a direct sequel—at least in spirit—to Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood, that revisionist Hollywood daydream set around the Charles Manson murders and the flipside of Tinseltown’s golden age. On this run, though, Pitt’s Booth is front and centre, with the sun-bleached world of faded actors and wannabe starlets taking a backseat.
So, when Netflix finally gets it up, you’ll be able to see what happens next to Cliff Booth—just later than expected, with a bit more rescheduling drama than most would fancy.