Netflix’s new thriller sequel might be literally its biggest film in years – with Brad Pitt in the lead

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Sometimes you watch a trailer and almost get a sense of unreality from the fact that a movie or show you’ve spent so long reading about is actually coming out. That’s how I’d describe the trailer that Netflix dropped at the end of last week for The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, with Brad Pitt front and centre as the leading man.

This is the long-gestating semi-sequel to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino’s most recent film, and it’s been in the works for years. Tarantino wrote the script, and the estimable David Fincher has stepped into the directing chair to actually make the thing, and now it’s on the cusp of release – hitting cinemas on 25 November in a way that’s totally unique for Netflix so far.

That unique factor is that this is the first time Netflix has ever released a film exclusively in IMAX, sticking with the biggest cinema format you can find as the default way to watch the movie. It isn’t shouting about whether the film was actually made on IMAX film stock, though, so you can safely assume it wasn’t.

That IMAX run will apparently last for a couple of weeks, into mid-December, before the film goes the traditional route and becomes available for subscribers on 23 December. That means it’s a cinch for Christmas viewing if your family is so inclined, although it’s probably not going to be the most family-friendly fare in all.

We know that Pitt reprises his role as stuntman Cliff Booth, although it seems like he’s now distinctly washed up and taking basically whatever work he can get to keep paying the bills. He’ll get pulled into a wacky series of events, though, when he signs up to help another famous actor with some shady people.

There are glimpses of a whole lot of different sequences in this trailer, too, from dirt racing to mud wrestling, and it’s great that you can watch it and still not have that much of a sense of where the film will go. As someone who’s already gone to the cinema to watch Netflix movies on a couple of occasions, I might just have to add this one to that list.