If “the Hateful Eight” does indeed bottom out at $50 million, it will rank as Tarantino’s lowest solo box office performance since “Jackie Brown” hit $40 million in 1997. It’s testament to the quality of Tarantino’s writing that a film that runs for almost three hours and only contains two sets, very rarely feels lethargic and overstretched.
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The film dropped 59.6 percent in its second week despite opening in 464 additional movie theaters nationwide, according to Box Office Mojo, who predicted the movie would “top out around $50 million or so”.
The award-winning director and writer released his eighth feature film, “The Hateful Eight”, while also resurrecting Ultra Panavision 70, a method of filming that had been basically obsolete. Bob (Demian Bichir), who’s taking care of Minnie’s while she’s visiting her mother, is holed up with Oswaldo Mobray (Tim Roth), the hangman of Red Rock, cow-puncher Joe Gage (Michael Madsen), and Confederate General Sanford Smithers (Bruce Dern). Would the film’s cast return for the stage production, or would new actors be selected to fill the roles?
“The Hateful Eight” has been well-received by critics. In fact, I’m seeing it for a third time tonight, and I can’t wait to once again unravel Tarantino’s rewarding narrative.
Beyond the film itself, the road-show experience that Tarantino created harkens back to another age in filmmaking.
In terms of its place in his oeuvre, The Hateful Eight arguably belongs somewhere in the middle. Ruth is convinced one of them, or possibly more than one, are in cohorts with Domergue: biding their time for an opportunity to strike so they can free her. Not only did the director use a vintage filming method but also a vintage movie atmosphere that modern-day cinema has left behind. Whether you love or hate Tarantino or his movies, he’s an undeniably invigorating presence in the current climate of synthetic honesty and forced apologies: a filmmaker unafraid to speak his mind, unremitting in the freedom of his language and unrelenting in his cinematic style.
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The film’s digital multiplex version will screen from January 21.
