Kill Bill DVD Selling Well
04-15-04 | 08:02 AM
#1
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Kill Bill DVD Selling Well
Tarantino's 'Bill' Makes a Killing on DVD
By Brett Sporich
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Quentin Tarantino (news)'s bloody revenge tale "Kill Bill-Vol. 1," starring Uma Thurman (news), sold more than 2 million DVDs during its first day in release, according to studio executives.
While Tuesday's 2 million first-day sales figure is not a record, it does bode well for Tarantino's pop culture comedy, whose sequel opens in theaters Friday via Miramax.
"'Kill Bill' is an extraordinary achievement and reaffirms that Quentin's films are true movie events," Miramax chief operating officer Rick Sands said.
Warner's "The Matrix Revolutions," starring Keanu Reeves (news), Laurence Fishburne (news) and Carrie-Anne Moss (news), was the top-selling DVD for the week ending April 11, according to Nielsen VideoScan's First Alert weekly sales chart.
By Brett Sporich
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Quentin Tarantino (news)'s bloody revenge tale "Kill Bill-Vol. 1," starring Uma Thurman (news), sold more than 2 million DVDs during its first day in release, according to studio executives.
While Tuesday's 2 million first-day sales figure is not a record, it does bode well for Tarantino's pop culture comedy, whose sequel opens in theaters Friday via Miramax.
"'Kill Bill' is an extraordinary achievement and reaffirms that Quentin's films are true movie events," Miramax chief operating officer Rick Sands said.
Warner's "The Matrix Revolutions," starring Keanu Reeves (news), Laurence Fishburne (news) and Carrie-Anne Moss (news), was the top-selling DVD for the week ending April 11, according to Nielsen VideoScan's First Alert weekly sales chart.
04-15-04 | 08:05 AM
#2
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Re: Kill Bill DVD Selling Well
Originally posted by Groucho
"'Kill Bill' is an extraordinary achievement and reaffirms that Quentin's partial films are true 1/2 movie events," Miramax chief operating officer Rick Sands said.
"'Kill Bill' is an extraordinary achievement and reaffirms that Quentin's partial films are true 1/2 movie events," Miramax chief operating officer Rick Sands said.
04-15-04 | 08:29 AM
#4
DVD Talk Legend
My Best Buy still had several in stock, but the display rack was well picked. Just to show how popular the film was among shoppers, out of the six people getting checked out Tuesday, five of us had a copy of the DVD. 
QT and the Wein$teins definitely have their money in the bank on this one.
QT and the Wein$teins definitely have their money in the bank on this one.
04-15-04 | 08:33 AM
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From: Little Rock, AR
Originally posted by PixyJunket
Funny how so many people are quick to tear Kill Bill for being split into two movies, but nobody seems to mention it for Matrix.
Funny how so many people are quick to tear Kill Bill for being split into two movies, but nobody seems to mention it for Matrix.
04-15-04 | 08:40 AM
#8
Does this mean we'll get the SE sooner than expected?
04-15-04 | 08:41 AM
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"Funny how so many people are quick to tear Kill Bill for being split into two movies, but nobody seems to mention it for Matrix."
That's because the Matrix movies were concieved and made as two separate movies, and people were told in advance that this was the way it would work. Same with LOTR.
Kill Bill was concieved and made as one movie, but then hacked in half at the last minute to extract the maximum amount of money from the audience. And the plan seems to be working brilliantly.
That's because the Matrix movies were concieved and made as two separate movies, and people were told in advance that this was the way it would work. Same with LOTR.
Kill Bill was concieved and made as one movie, but then hacked in half at the last minute to extract the maximum amount of money from the audience. And the plan seems to be working brilliantly.
04-15-04 | 08:45 AM
#11
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Originally posted by Inverse
Kill Bill was concieved and made as one movie, but then hacked in half at the last minute to extract the maximum amount of money from the audience. And the plan seems to be working brilliantly.
Kill Bill was concieved and made as one movie, but then hacked in half at the last minute to extract the maximum amount of money from the audience. And the plan seems to be working brilliantly.
04-15-04 | 08:47 AM
#12
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Originally posted by PixyJunket
Funny how so many people are quick to tear Kill Bill for being split into two movies, but nobody seems to mention it for Matrix.
Funny how so many people are quick to tear Kill Bill for being split into two movies, but nobody seems to mention it for Matrix.
Actually, several people at DVDTalk have brought that up the Matrix comparison.
However, I don't believe that the Matrix was ever meant to be a single movie, split up into three movies.
I've read that it was always designed to be a trilogy.
There used to be an intermission in movies of similiar length (Lawrence of Arabia, The Godfather, Das Boot, et cetera).
I just hope that this doesn't start a trend of having to pay twice to see a single movie, that's all.
04-15-04 | 08:51 AM
#13
DVD Talk Limited Edition
It was either break it into two movies or edit down to be a reasonable length for the theaters. Of course then people would freak because of all the cut scenes. Of course of QT hadn't made it so long to begin with, it wouldn't be an issue.
04-15-04 | 08:56 AM
#14
DVD Talk Legend
Originally posted by Inverse
That's because the Matrix movies were concieved and made as two separate movies, and people were told in advance that this was the way it would work.
That's because the Matrix movies were concieved and made as two separate movies, and people were told in advance that this was the way it would work.
04-15-04 | 09:58 AM
#15
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
You know, when I first heard Kill Bill was going to be split up last year I was kind of pissed off. However, when I saw it in theatres last October, I understood and even supported the choice. I'm not saying that every movie should be split, but with the current cut of ~90 mins, there is a lot of tension, blood and violence. If the movie were to be show in the original 3 hour length, it might become too much to handle.
04-15-04 | 10:47 AM
#16
According to the Variety review, Vol 2 is 137 minutes, so the total for the "two films" clock in at 4+ hours (part 1 was 110 min). I'm perfectly content with the split and even happier that we get to see everything as QT wished without having to worry about cutting the film to fit into theatrical viewing time frames.
04-15-04 | 11:44 AM
#20
DVD Talk Legend
Originally posted by resinrats
It was either break it into two movies or edit down to be a reasonable length for the theaters. Of course then people would freak because of all the cut scenes. Of course of QT hadn't made it so long to begin with, it wouldn't be an issue.
It was either break it into two movies or edit down to be a reasonable length for the theaters. Of course then people would freak because of all the cut scenes. Of course of QT hadn't made it so long to begin with, it wouldn't be an issue.
04-15-04 | 05:39 PM
#23
DVD Talk Hero
Those are pretty good sales for a film that was not really a blockbuster and kind of outside the mainstream. I'm glad to see so many picking the disc up.
For what its worth, I think the first part completely works as a separate film. After the intense "Showdown at the House of Blue Leaves", I really don't know if I could take another 2 hours plus, I had to catch my breath. The film is in chapters, and the split didn't hurt it at all, in my eyes. It also allowed QT to keep more of the shots in that he would have been pressured to cut out, if he had to deliver an approx 3 hour single film.
Of course, this won't stop me from watching a double feature of the two films in the future.
For what its worth, I think the first part completely works as a separate film. After the intense "Showdown at the House of Blue Leaves", I really don't know if I could take another 2 hours plus, I had to catch my breath. The film is in chapters, and the split didn't hurt it at all, in my eyes. It also allowed QT to keep more of the shots in that he would have been pressured to cut out, if he had to deliver an approx 3 hour single film.
Of course, this won't stop me from watching a double feature of the two films in the future.
04-15-04 | 05:52 PM
#25
That would be pretty sweet, except I'd miss the closing shots from Vol 1 where the "revelation" is told and the Zamfir song cues up. That was a cool closing for the first part. Then again I'll have the multiple Vol 1 discs anyway.