First Trailer: Fincher Directs Tarantino's Cliff Booth Spin-Off for Netflix

Netflix has released the first trailer for The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood spin-off directed by David Fincher from a Quentin Tarantino screenplay and starring Brad Pitt as the Oscar-winning stuntman, Polygon and Deadline reported.

The film is set in 1977 — eight years after the events of Tarantino’s 2019 hit — and follows Cliff as he takes on violent odd jobs in a changed Hollywood. Polygon’s trailer breakdown highlights the expected mix of old-school cool and gleeful mayhem, including a nod to the earlier film’s controversial Bruce Lee fight sequence that drew objections from Lee’s estate and later comments from Tarantino about Lee’s on-screen portrayal.

Fincher’s involvement marks his third consecutive Netflix feature after Mank (2020) and The Killer (2023). Tarantino wrote the script but is not directing — Deadline notes it is the first movie he has written but not directed since 1996’s From Dusk Till Dawn. Pitt has said Tarantino “didn’t want to direct it,” opening the door for Fincher under the director’s Netflix deal after Tarantino gave his blessing for someone else to helm the spin-off.

Beyond Pitt, the cast includes Elizabeth Debicki, Scott Caan, Carla Gugino, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Peter Weller, Deadline reported. The original Once Upon a Time in Hollywood ensemble featured Leonardo DiCaprio as Rick Dalton, Margot Robbie and a deep bench of period players; Pitt won the Academy Award for Supporting Actor for Cliff, and the film also took home the Oscar for production design. That awards halo is part of why a Cliff-centered sequel carried built-in interest even before Fincher’s name locked.

Release plans keep a theatrical foothold before the streamer window: an exclusive two-week IMAX engagement beginning Nov. 25, 2026, followed by a Netflix debut on Dec. 23, 2026, according to both Polygon and Deadline. That hybrid path mirrors how some prestige Netflix titles still chase big-screen attention and social proof before landing fully on the platform for the holiday corridor.

For readers following studio tentpoles on Hollywood, the trailer is the first extended look at how Fincher’s cooler, more controlled visual language sits on Tarantino’s dialogue and pulp energy. Early reactions already split over digital period aesthetics versus the film-grain nostalgia of the 2019 original — a debate Deadline’s comment threads and Polygon’s coverage both flag without pretending the first look settles it.

Buzz around the project has built since 2024 announcements that Pitt and Fincher would team on material Tarantino originally eyed directing. Once Tarantino blessed Fincher’s take, Netflix was the natural home given Fincher’s exclusive arrangement there, Deadline’s Zac Ntim wrote. The trailer’s arrival in late September puts marketing on a roughly two-month runway into the IMAX bow, with streaming timed for late December when subscribers are already deep in year-end watchlists.

Story-wise, Cliff remains the World War II special-ops veteran, trailer resident and pit-bull companion who doubles as stunt double, driver and fixer — a character whose work dried up after the Bruce Lee altercation and rumors about his wife’s death in the prior film. The 1977 setting lets the sequel lean into late-’70s industry politics, street-level jobs and a Hollywood that looks different from the late-’60s dream factory Tarantino mythologized the first time.

Whether Tarantino’s “10 film” directing rule factored into his decision not to helm remains unconfirmed; Polygon notes he already counts himself at that limit depending on how Kill Bill is tallied as one film or two. What is confirmed is the credit split that matters for audiences and awards calendars: Fincher directs, Tarantino scripts, Pitt returns, Netflix distributes after IMAX. That division also explains why the trailer feels like a collision of two brands — Fincher’s precision framing and Tarantino’s verbal swagger — rather than a simple remount of 2019’s vibe.

Polygon’s Elijah Gonzalez framed the cut as “punchy,” stressing gleeful violence and odd “jobs” for the film industry that keep Cliff in the orbit of movie people without recreating Rick Dalton’s A-list path. Deadline emphasized Oscar context and the IMAX-to-Netflix calendar, giving exhibitors and streamer marketers the same two dates to sell. Together the outlets supply the dual-source spine: who made it, who stars, when it hits giant screens, and when it hits the app.

With IMAX locked for Thanksgiving week and streaming timed for the holiday corridor, The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth is now a calendar event as much as a trailer moment. Polygon and Deadline’s dual coverage of the first look underlines the same core facts — Fincher, Tarantino, Pitt, Nov. 25 IMAX, Dec. 23 Netflix — while leaving audiences to judge whether the spin-off’s violence and cool land as homage, evolution or cash-in when the full film arrives.