How Quentin Tarantino’s Next Movie Landed At Netflix Despite Sony Relationship

Sony Pictures chairman Tom Rothman explains how Quentin Tarantino’s next movie, The Adventures of Cliff Booth, landed at Netflix despite the director’s relationship with the studio.

After his last film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), was released by Sony, Tarantino’s next project is taking a different direction. The Adventures of Cliff Booth, a standalone sequel he wrote featuring Brad Pitt’s titular stuntman, with David Fincher directing, will be released on Netflix later this year, marking an unexpected shift for the filmmaker.

Now, during an interview with Variety, Sony Pictures chairman Tom Rothman explained that The Adventures of Cliff Booth landed at Netflix because Fincher has an exclusive deal with the streaming service.

Sony had planned to make the movie when Tarantino was planning on directing, though he changed his mind, and the only director he trusted to take over was Fincher, and Sony wasn’t going to stand in his way, though Rothman is disappointed in the outcome. Read his full comments below:

Because David Fincher is exclusive to Netflix. We were going to make the movie when Quentin [Tarantino] was directing it, but he decided that he didn’t want to do it and changed course. The only other person that he was comfortable directing his script was David Fincher, and David Fincher was exclusive to Netflix, so we were not going to stand in anybody’s way.

The film won’t go straight to Netflix, as The Adventures of Cliff Booth will release in IMAX on November 25 and play in theaters for two weeks before streaming on Netflix on December 23. However, the hybrid release still carries a clear irony, as Tarantino has repeatedly criticized the rise of streaming and has long been one of Hollywood’s most outspoken champions of the theatrical experience.

Directed by Fincher and written by Tarantino, The Adventures of Cliff Booth follows Brad Pitt’s titular character eight years after Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, as the former stuntman becomes a Hollywood studio fixer in 1977 Los Angeles. Timothy Olyphant also reprises his role as James Stacy, an actor who starred in the 1960s TV western Lancer.

The ensemble cast also includes Elizabeth Debicki, Scott Caan, Carla Gugino, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Peter Weller, Matt Groove, JB Tadena, Corey Fogelmanis, Karren Karagulian, Holt McCallany, Barry Livingston, and Lauren Glazier – all playing new characters.

The Adventures of Cliff Booth is Pitt’s fourth collaboration with Fincher following Seven (1995), Fight Club (1999), and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008). With a $200 million budget, it is the most expensive movie of both Tarantino’s and Fincher’s careers.

In the end, The Adventures of Cliff Booth landed at Netflix simply because Fincher is the filmmaker that Tarantino trusted most.