Cinemark CEO Sean Gamble is calling the release model for The Further Mis-Adventures Of Cliff Booth not great for the theatrical ecosystem, nor in the best interest of its theaters.
The no. 3 U.S. exhibitor — as well as no. 2 chain Regal — won’t be playing the Netflix film, Quentin Tarantino’s followup to Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, after the streamer set a two-week Imax theatrical window for the Nov. 25 release ahead of its Dec. 25 streaming debut. It will play at the biggest exhibitor AMC Theatres, and some indies in standard format as well.
“The Cliff Booth situation is an interesting one,” said Cinemark CEO Sean Gamble, asked about the release on a call after quarterly earnings.
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“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. In this particular case, we don’t believe the proposed release model is constructive for the broader theatrical ecosystem, and it’s not aligned with the greatest interest of our theaters.”
He also noted The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping, “a huge movie that’s going to be opening immediately prior … from one of our major studio partners.
“The buzz on that film is pre-sales are through the roof. so our intention is to continue to play that in its second week as we will in its first week on our screens,” he said.
Regal also commented on the Cliff Booth window in a statement obtained by Deadline.
“Regal’s premium screens are among our most valuable assets, and one of the factors we consider in how we allocate them is the level of commitment distributors make to the theatrical marketplace,” said Brooks LeBoeuf, SVP of US Content, Regal Global Entertainment.
“Shortened theatrical windows have a direct impact on those decisions, as they limit the opportunity for audiences to experience films on the big screen. We will continue to prioritize releases that recognize the value of theatrical exclusivity, including The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, which will have our full support in IMAX.”
Netflix has became more theatrical friendly, recently designating a handful of films for cinemas and formal box office reporting, although the windows vary. The first was a platform launch of festival favorite and awards contender La Bola Negra three weeks ago, followed by The Mosquito Bowl this past weekend. Greta Gerwig’s February release, Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew will have a 50-day window to streaming, and next holiday season’s Charlie Vs The Chocolate Factory a 47-day window.
“I think it’s probably early to kind of draw any conclusions,” Gamble said, “but they’ve certainly been taking more constructive steps towards engaging in a bigger way with theatrical. I mean, they’ve got six films announced now through November of 2027 that are going to be having full theatrical releases with marketing campaigns and communicated box office results. We’ll see how those get fully executed. So we’ve got to wait and see how that goes. But again, we see it as a positive step. And we continue to believe that, like all their peers, there’s substantial value for them … in a more meaningful theatrical presence.
“There’s obviously a lot of change happening at that company right now, so we’ll see where things go.”
He said streamers are at different stages of theatrical evolution.
“Amazon, clearly, is leaning most heavily into theatrical exhibition. Following their acquisition of MGM, they’ve stated multiple times their intention to ramp up to approximately 15 theatrical releases per year, and they’re close to that this year. So they definitely are in it in a big way. They put resources both domestically and internationally in place to make that happen from a distribution and marketing standpoint. So they’re clearly in it for the long haul, and we continue to see them moving in a positive direction.”
Apple, he noted, had great success with F1. “In the conversations that we’ve been having with Apple, we believe that they’re likely to start to ramp up a bit more before too long. What the scale of that is, I think, still remains to be seen. They haven’t made any firm commitments as of yet but at least we’re encouraged by what we’re hearing, of them stepping a bit more up into theatrical.”