“One Of The Greatest Movies The World Will Never See”: Tarantino’s Cancelled 10th Movie Addressed By Studio Boss

Summary Tarantino's canceled final film, The Movie Critic, is praised by Sony boss Tom Rothman as the "best movie the world will never see."

Tarantino's dedication to perfection seemingly led to the scrapping of The Movie Critic, causing uncertainty for his final film plans.

Despite its cancellation, hopes remain high for Tarantino's 10th movie.

Quentin Tarantino's scrapped final film The Movie Critic has been praised by studio boss Tom Rothman, chairman of Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group. The iconic Pulp Fiction writer-director has made nine movies so far (he counts Kill Bill and its sequel as one movie), rising to prominence with his debut Reservoir Dogs, released during the heyday of '90s American independent cinema. First announced in 2022, The Movie Critic was intended as the 61-year-old Tarantino's planned 10th and final film but, in a surprise turn of events, in April 2024, The Movie Critic's cancelation was announced.

Rothman, whose Sony Pictures distributed Tarantino's most recent movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, was full of praise for the director in a Deadline interview and dubbed The Movie Critic as "the best movie the world will never see," before revealing that he is fine with the decision, and that he expects that whatever Tarantino chooses to do for his final movie, it will be one of the greatest ever made. Check out Rothman's full comments on this matter below:

I would just say this. I have unbounded respect for Quentin, and he is a true artist, and his art is more important to him than anything else. I respect that. And I think he’s very, very determined that his 10th movie will be his last feature film. I’m sure he will go on to do many, many vibrant, creative things because he’s an absolute fountain of creativity, but he wants his last movie to be meaningful to him. And what are you going to say really to that? Except, right on baby. So yeah, I think it’ll go down as … and Kubrick and a lot of great directors had them … as maybe one of the greatest movies the world will never see. I am greatly consoled by the absolute certainty that whatever movie he does decide to make as his last movie will in fact be even better.

Why Tarantino Scrapped The Movie Critic

What will his final film be?

This isn't the first time Tarantino has been willing to cancel or delay planned movies if he is unhappy with elements surrounding them, with Deadline reporting a decade ago that the director shelved The Hateful Eight after the initial script was leaked. There are a number of reasons why the Oscar winner could have chosen to drop The Movie Critic as his final film, and reports suggest he was unhappy with the screenplay and didn't want to compromise on the quality of the final chapter in his filmography.

Tarantino won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for the movies Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained.

Tarantino has always been a director who strives for excellence, and scrapping The Movie Critic due to a lack of perfection could create problems with realizing his 10-movie plan. Now that the planned movie is off the table, Tarantino has no set final movie in place, and this is going to make it difficult for him to plan the most epic and satisfying send-off, which might cause him to rethink his plan. This could even mean he winds up making more than 10 movies before his retirement, and revives hope that Kill Bill 3 could become his final film.

Whatever the choice for his 10th movie, Sony could well be the distributor once again, as the director was reportedly happy with the job they did with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. There is a small chance Tarantino may choose Once Upon a Time in Hollywood as his final movie, as the film is a love letter of sorts to the film industry, and would be a fitting swansong for the director. However, the hope will be that Tarantino pivots on his decision to drop The Movie Critic, and chooses a new project for his 10th and final film.

Source: Deadline