According to Deadline, the No. 2 and No. 3 exhibitors, Regal and Cinemark, will not play Netflix's Quentin Tarantino-penned Once Upon a Time in Hollywood follow-up, The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, when it opens Wednesday, Nov. 25.

The film gets a two-week exclusive Imax run and hits Netflix on Dec. 23, a 27-day window to streaming that the top chains find too short.

Yahoo News UK carried the same reporting, noting AMC and independent theaters are committing to the run. The chains also face a crowded holiday slate, with Lionsgate's The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping and Universal's Focker-in-Law competing for screens.

Deadline points out the irony that the chains switch sides depending on the Netflix title: AMC refused to play KPop Demon Hunters Singalong in the final August weekend of 2025 because it had been on the streamer for barely a month, while Regal and Cinemark booked it — delivering Netflix its first No. 1 weekend movie with $19M.

This time the positions flip, with AMC backing Cliff Booth and the other two circuits sitting out. Both outlets frame the standoff as the same window-length dispute, playing out in the opposite direction.

The critics of the decision, as reported by Deadline, point to the franchise's pedigree: the original Once Upon a Time in Hollywood delivered Brad Pitt a Supporting Actor Oscar, opened to Tarantino's highest stateside debut at $41M, and grossed $142.5M domestic and $409.3M worldwide.

Deadline also cites last season's Knives Out: Wake Up Dead Man, given a 17-day window, balked at by the top three circuits and fizzling at $4M domestic, versus Glass Onion's 30-day window that produced $13.3M over the 5-day Thanksgiving 2022 frame.

Both outlets note Netflix has been embracing theatrical more, with longer windows for family titles: Greta Gerwig's Narnia: The Magician's Nephew at 50 days to streaming, next holiday season's Charlie Vs The Chocolate Factory at 47 days, and the successful platform run of the Cannes winner La Bola Negra, this year's awards contender.

According to Deadline, the streamer believes only family films deserve longer windows, which is why the Tarantino follow-up got 27 days despite an open Thanksgiving corridor.

Tarantino, per Deadline's related coverage, showed the first 17 minutes of the film at an AFI Fest Q&A, where David Fincher's involvement — reportedly scrapping 60 pages of the script that were 'essentially two movies' — remains part of the fan conversation.