Rolling Thunder Pictures was a short-lived film distribution company, set up under Miramax Films by Quentin Tarantino, that was headed by Jerry Martinez and Tarantino. It specialized on releasing independent, cult, or foreign films to theaters. [1] The company was created in 1995 but closed in 1999. [1] The company was named after the film Rolling Thunder . [2]
The following films were re-released under the Rolling Thunder Pictures label:
The label also released the independent films Hard Core Logo and Curdled . The 1994 Jet Li film Fist of Legend had been scheduled for a Rolling Thunder Pictures release, but eventually Dimension Films released it. Other production companies re-released on DVD later.
On April 16, 2013, coinciding with the release of Django Unchained , Miramax and Lions Gate released a special DVD set of three films previously released under the Rolling Thunder Pictures label. The set includes The Mighty Peking Man , a King Kong knock-off; Detroit 9000 , a detective-style blaxploitation film; and Switchblade Sisters , an obvious inspiration for Tarantino's films. Tarantino said of the collection "If you like my stuff, you can look at it as – this is where mine came from."
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, film critic, and actor. His films are characterized by nonlinear storylines, dark humor, stylized violence, extended dialogue, ensemble casts, references to popular culture, alternate history, and neo-noir.
Robert Anthony Rodriguez is an American filmmaker and visual effects supervisor. He shoots, edits, produces, and scores many of his films in Mexico and in his home state of Texas. Rodriguez directed the 1992 action film El Mariachi, which was a commercial success after grossing $2.6 million against a budget of $7,000. The film spawned two sequels known collectively as the Mexico Trilogy: Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico.
Miramax, LLC is an American entertainment company known for producing and distributing films and television shows. Its headquarters are located in Los Angeles, California. Miramax was founded in 1979 by brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein, and was a leading independent film motion picture distribution and production company before it was acquired by The Walt Disney Company on June 30, 1993, in the company’s first acquisition. Miramax was sold by Disney to Filmyard Holdings, a joint venture of Colony NorthStar, Tutor-Saliba Corporation, and Qatar Investment Authority, in 2010, ending Disney's 17-year ownership of the studio. In 2016, the company was sold to the beIN Media Group. In 2019, beIN agreed to sell a 49% stake in the company to ViacomCBS. The sale was completed on April 3, 2020.
Kill Bill: Volume 1 is a 2003 American martial arts film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Uma Thurman as the Bride, who swears revenge on a team of assassins and their leader, Bill, after they try to kill her and her unborn child. Her journey takes her to Tokyo, where she battles the yakuza.
Jackie Brown is a 1997 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino and starring Pam Grier in the title role. The film is an adaptation of Elmore Leonard's 1992 novel Rum Punch. It is the only feature-length film that Tarantino has adapted from a previous work. It was Tarantino's third directorial effort following Reservoir Dogs (1992) and Pulp Fiction (1994). The film pays homage to 1970s blaxploitation films, particularly the films Coffy (1973) and Foxy Brown (1974), both of which also starred Grier in the title roles.
Kill Bill: Volume 2 is a 2004 American neo Western martial arts film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Uma Thurman as the Bride, who continues her campaign of revenge against the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad and their leader Bill, who tried to kill her and her unborn child.
Dimension Films is an American film production company owned by Lantern Entertainment. It was formerly used as Bob and Harvey Weinstein's label within Miramax, which was acquired by The Walt Disney Company on June 30, 1993, to produce and release independent films and genre titles, specifically horror and science fiction films.
The Beyond is a 1981 Italian Southern Gothic supernatural horror film directed by Lucio Fulci, from an original story created by Dardano Sacchetti, and starring Catriona MacColl and David Warbeck. Its plot follows a woman who inherits a hotel in rural Louisiana that was once the site of a horrific murder, and which may be a gateway to hell. It is the second film in Fulci's "Gates of Hell" trilogy after City of the Living Dead (1980), and was followed by The House by the Cemetery (1981).
Grindhouse is a 2007 American film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. Presented as a double feature, it combines Rodriguez's Planet Terror, a horror comedy about a group of survivors who battle zombie-like creatures, and Tarantino's Death Proof, a slasher about a murderous stuntman who kills young women with modified vehicles. The former stars Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, Michael Biehn, Jeff Fahey, Josh Brolin, and Marley Shelton; the latter stars Kurt Russell, Rosario Dawson, Vanessa Ferlito, Jordan Ladd, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Tracie Thoms, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Zoë Bell. Grindhouse pays homage to exploitation films of the 1970s, with its title deriving from the now-defunct theaters that would show such films. As part of its theatrical presentation, Grindhouse also features fictitous exploitation trailers directed by Rodriguez, Rob Zombie, Edgar Wright, Eli Roth, and Jason Eisener.
Fight for Your Life is a 1977 American grindhouse action film directed by Robert A. Endelson and starring William Sanderson and Robert Judd. It was presented at the Quentin Tarantino Film Festival in the QT Six Lineup showing held in October 2005. The story revolves around three criminals who hold a Black family hostage and forces them to fight for their lives.
Jack Hill is an American film director in the exploitation film genre. Several of Hill's later films have been characterized as feminist works.
The Quentin Tarantino Film Festival, or QT-Fest, was a semi-annual film and multimedia event held by the Austin Film Society in Austin, Texas and attended by film director Quentin Tarantino, where he screened a selection of his favorite films using prints he owns.
Switchblade Sisters is a 1975 American exploitation action film detailing the lives of high school-aged female gang members. It was directed by Jack Hill and stars Joanne Nail, Robbie Lee and Monica Gayle. The film is also known as The Jezebels, Maggie's Stiletto Sisters, and The Warriors II: Las Navajeras.
Death Proof is a 2007 American slasher film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Kurt Russell as a stuntman who murders young women with modified cars that he purports to be "death-proof". Rosario Dawson, Vanessa Ferlito, Jordan Ladd, Rose McGowan, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Tracie Thoms, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Zoë Bell co-star as the women he targets.
Planet Terror is a 2007 American action horror film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. Set in Texas, the film follows the survivors of a biochemical outbreak as they battle zombie-like creatures and a rogue military unit. It stars Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, Michael Biehn, Jeff Fahey, Josh Brolin, and Marley Shelton.
Detroit 9000 is a 1973 American action film directed by Arthur Marks from a screenplay by Orville H. Hampton. Originally marketed as a blaxploitation film, it had a resurgence on video 25 years later.
Quentin Tarantino is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor, who has directed ten films.
Django Unchained is a 2012 American Revisionist Western film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, starring Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson, with Walton Goggins, Dennis Christopher, James Remar, Michael Parks, and Don Johnson in supporting roles. Set in the Old West and Antebellum South, it is a highly-stylized, heavily-revisionist tribute to Spaghetti Westerns, in particular the 1966 Italian film Django by Sergio Corbucci, whose star Franco Nero has a cameo appearance.
Arthur Ronald Marks was an American film and television director, writer, producer and distributor best known for his work in the blaxploitation genre, directing films such as Bonnie's Kids, Detroit 9000, Friday Foster, Bucktown, The Monkey Hu$tle and J. D.'s Revenge. He also directed and produced numerous episodes of the American legal drama Perry Mason, as well as episodes of Starsky & Hutch, Mannix, I Spy, My Friend Tony, The Dukes of Hazzard, Steve Canyon, and Young Daniel Boone.
The following is a list of unproduced Quentin Tarantino projects in roughly chronological order. During his long career, American film director Quentin Tarantino has worked on a number of projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under his direction. Some of these projects are officially cancelled and scrapped or fell in development hell.