Kill Bill To Be Split Into 2 Films

[Guest NaturalBornThriller4:20]

Director Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill will be split into two films, with the first part to be released on October 10. The New York Times reports on the confirmation from Miramax co-founder Harvey Weinstein.

 

Miramax Films will take the unusual and potentially risky move of releasing "Kill Bill," the much-anticipated Quentin Tarantino martial arts action-adventure film, as two movies, the first to open in the fall. Miramax will in effect be taking a three-hour film with a 200-page script and turning it into a serial.

 

Harvey Weinstein, a co-founder of Miramax, which is financing the film, said in an interview on Monday that the first installment would be in theaters on Oct. 10. The second release date is in still being negotiated, but it could be two to six months later, he said.

[Guest godthedog]

this should be interesting, i'm more intrigued by this than i was by the trailer.

[Guest Lethargic]

From what I've seen of this movie I think it's gonna be cool, but not three hours of cool. That seems to be stretching it pretty thin. And I really just wanna go see a good QT movie. Not go see half of one.

[Guest razazteca]

Crisis on Infinite QT Universe!

 

Uma vs Lucy will get my $

[Guest spiny norman]

Why can't they just release it as one three-hour film? Gone With The Wind is the highest grossing movie ever made counting inflation, and it's four hours. Just release it as one movie!

[Guest Boomer Sprinklespax]

Why can't they just release it as one three-hour film? Gone With The Wind is the highest grossing movie ever made counting inflation, and it's four hours. Just release it as one movie!

Because Kill Bill won't be Gone With The Wind. People are too fickle to deal with a three hour action movie, I think. Despite the greatness and overwhelming success of Lord of the Rings, I still hear the constant complaint that the movies are too long and draining to moviegoers. I don't think people would deal well with a three hour martial arts action movie, and thusly it would kill word of mouth on the film. That's probably the thinking behind the split.

[Guest spiny norman]

Yes, but Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown were both, what, 2 1/2 hours? Gladiator was about that long too. Tarantino can generally make good movies that can sustain interest for 150 minutes, will an extra half hour kill the moviegoer?

[Guest Choken One]

Titanic was 3 hours...

 

Long movies actually draw money dispite what hollywood claims...

[Guest spiny norman]

Titanic's not really an action movie though. Braveheart would be a better comparison.

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

Heck I WANT a movie to be long most of the time. At least it makes me feel like I got my $'s worth...

[Guest Ravenbomb]

Uma vs Lucy will get my $

Plus it's got the girl who played Chigusa in Battle Royale

[Guest Vyce]

I don't quite get this.

 

Most big movies nowadays seem to be at least 2 hours to two 1/2 hours. The LOTR series is 3 hours long. Wasn't Pearl Harbor a couple years ago around that length?

 

This just seems like a bad idea.

[Guest Karnage]

Doesn't Miramaxe usually shorten martial arts movies?

[Guest SP-1]

Are we forgetting LOTR? 3 hours. Each. Tons of money. Not to mention the others above.

[Guest MDH257]

It's all about money people. Miramax gets double the admission price for the cost of one movie.

 

BTW, Ain't it Cool is saying that QT is pushing for the second part to be released 5 to 6 weeks later, not 2 to 6 months.

[Guest Lethargic]

I find it funny that they act like this is original even though we are currently in the middle of the Matrix doing the same thing.

 

If they wanna split it up into two movies, fine, whatever. But do NOT make them come out 5 months apart. When they original discussed this they were saying a few weeks apart. Now it's a few months. I don't wanna wait that long to see the end of the movie. That is if the first part is good. What if the first part bombs?

[Guest Prototype450]

Good Point Lethargic. If it does Mirmax will be kicking themselves.

[Guest evenflowDDT]

Boo! I'll just wait for them to recombine the movie for the DVD release. If it didn't have Tarantino's name attached, I'd've dismissed the trailer as another wire-fu throwaway anyway (and I'm about ready to dimiss it as such anyway, except I know Tarantino's one of the biggest fucking dorks in the world, so he's seen enough crap to probably know how to do it right). What's up with America's obsession with white women doing martial arts?

[Guest Crucifixio Jones]

The same obsession they have with anyone white doing shit they don't normally do i.e. boxing, play basketball, rap, etc.

[Guest Vyce]

But is Tarantino the guy to do this with?

 

I mean, none of his movies were huge blockbusters as far as I know.

 

I just don't know if there'll be a horde of people waiting to see the second half of the film.

[Guest godthedog]

'pulp fiction' made over 200 million. considering this was 1994 and it only cost 8 million to make, that's a pretty awesome figure.

[Guest MarvinisaLunatic]

Well thinking about it, they'll make more money in the DVD release...

 

Profit from 2 1.5 hour DVDS > 1 3 hour DVD, plus they'll probably throw out a box set. I wouldn't be surprised if they also throw out a 3 hour "Directors Vision Cut" (The Full 3 Hour Movie) of it as well to get people to double dip later on.

 

So I would imagine that there would be as much, if not more money to be made from the 2 movies going to DVD as oppposed to just 1 3 hour movie in the theatre with a DVD release.

[Guest MDH257]

Good Point Lethargic. If it does Mirmax will be kicking themselves.

The Movie's budget is only $55 Million. It's not as if Kill Bill has to be the Box Office hit of the year or heads will roll.

 

 

BTW, My money is on Christmas Day as the release date for Part 2.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Hey, why not just make Return of the King into 2 different 2 hour movies while Hollywood is at it.

[Guest Vyce]

'pulp fiction' made over 200 million. considering this was 1994 and it only cost 8 million to make, that's a pretty awesome figure.

Reservoir Dogs and Jackie Brown didn't do that great at the box office.

 

If you include ancillary Tarantino projects, films like True Romance and From Dusk Til Dawn were at best modestly successful (I don't know if either did more than 100 million worldwide).

 

The guy's just not a big box office draw. Doesn't mean he doesn't put out great films, but I personally don't think people will be rabid to see TWO "Bill" flicks.

[Guest godthedog]

i never said he was, you just said "none of his movies were huge blockbusters," which was misinformed.

[Guest Human Fly]

I find it funny that they act like this is original even though we are currently in the middle of the Matrix doing the same thing.

But if the Matrix sequels were one movie it would be 5 hours long.

 

I want to know how long Kill Bill is before I put down my money to see it. There is no way I'll put down 9 bucks to watch an hour and a half movie with a teaser ending. That's even if Kill Bill is 3 hours right now. I'm afraid splitting it will either leave us with two 1 hour and 15 minute movies, or two one hour and 35 minute movies with pointless scenes that kill pacing.

[Guest Crucifixio Jones]

Having read the screenplay I don't see how this would be too long to just put out all at once. I've waited long enough for this to hit theaters; I'm not going back TWICE to see the entire thing.

 

Weinstein and Miramax are a bunch of crooked snakes, plain and simple. His movie marketing philosophies may be effective, but he rubs me the wrong way when he sacrifices the art just to make a few extra bucks.

 

Harvey can't ever see eye-to-eye with his directors. He wants quality but he's always over their shoulder about final cut and editing (Gangs of New York anyone?). Let them do their thing, that's what you hire and pay them for. People know what to expect with Scorsese and Tarantino. You don't have to cut their work to ribbons or split it up for their fans to easily digest it. Personally, I'd rather serious filmmakers just go somewhere else other than Miramax from now on. Weinstein wants and demands "hits" but he's too overbearing to actually let it happen on its own. Then when it does, he swoops in to take all the credit.

[Guest Boomer Sprinklespax]

Weinstein and Miramax are a bunch of crooked snakes, plain and simple. His movie marketing philosophies may be effective, but he rubs me the wrong way when he sacrifices the art just to make a few extra bucks.

 

Harvey can't ever see eye-to-eye with his directors. He wants quality but he's always over their shoulder about final cut and editing (Gangs of New York anyone?). Let them do their thing, that's what you hire and pay them for. People know what to expect with Scorsese and Tarantino. You don't have to cut their work to ribbons or split it up for their fans to easily digest it. Personally, I'd rather serious filmmakers just go somewhere else other than Miramax from now on. Weinstein wants and demands "hits" but he's too overbearing to actually let it happen on its own. Then when it does, he swoops in to take all the credit.

This seems a tad wrong. I realize what you're saying here, and while it is partially true, I don't think it's fair to call the Weinsteins a "a bunch of crooked snakes." The Weinsteins simply do what every major movie studio does, but the difference is that Miramax routinely cranks out great films that ARE very artful and well-done. They may be watching over the shoulder of many major productions that they are responsible for, but at least they don't totally butcher films, destroy franchises, and just generally put out crap like most other major movie studios.

 

And even if you don't agree with what I've said above, from what I've read it's not as if anyone is forcing Tarantino into doing this, therefore you can't say that the Weinsteins are fucking things up here. If anything, Miramax is allowing QT to do whatever he wants and serialize his film, which we can all agree seems to be a pretty risky move.

[Guest Crucifixio Jones]

I've always read that QT wants to release it as a single film, but because he and Harvey keep butting heads about the length and edits, Harvey wants to release it in two parts. If you're QT and you want your ENTIRE vision released, what would you do? You'd agree to it, too. You don't want to put out a watered-down, heavily edited version of what you originally intended.

 

The crooked snakes comment wasn't for them being watchdogs, btw, just the fact that they're going to try to get $16 outta the movie-going public when they could easily just release Kill Bill in its entirety and settle for the $8. But for various reasons, they won't. To me, that's criminal. "He rubs me the wrong way when he sacrifices the art just to make a few extra bucks," is what I said when I called him a crook.