Quentin Tarantino Has Best Ever Box Office Opening With Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

Quentin Tarantino has had his best ever box office opening with his latest flick Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

The movie, which stars Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio, took an estimated $40.4m (£32.7m) between Friday and Sunday during its US release, smashing the $30m (£24.3m) Sony predicted it would bring in.

The impressive box office takings mean the film beats Tarantino's previous highest-grossing opening Inglourious Basterds, which took $38m (£30.8m) in 2009.

But while Tarantino has enjoyed his most successful opening weekend, it wasn't quite enough to top Disney's live-action nostalgia fest The Lion King, which took the top spot at this weekend's box office.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is set in the 1969 and centres on former TV actor Rick Dalton (DiCaprio) and his stunt double Cliff Booth (Pitt), who move to LA in an attempt to crack Hollywood.

However, they end up moving in next door to Sharon Tate (played by Margot Robbie), the wife of director Roman Polanski, who was infamously killed in the Manson Family murders.

In the film Charles Manson is played by a very creepy-looking Damon Herriman.

In a statement released last year, Tarantino said: "I've been working on this script for five years, as well as living in Los Angeles County most of my life, including in 1969, when I was seven years old.

"I'm very excited to tell this story of an LA and a Hollywood that don't exist anymore. And I couldn't be happier about the dynamic teaming of DiCaprio and Pitt as Rick and Cliff."

The movie's official Twitter account also shared an open letter from Tarantino, in which he urged viewers not to share spoilers about the movie.

Sony

He wrote: "I love cinema. You love cinema. It's the journey of discovering a story for the first time.

"I'm thrilled to be here in Cannes to share Once Upon a Time in Hollywood with the festival audience.

"The cast and crew have worked so hard to create something original, and I only ask that everyone avoids revealing anything that would prevent later audiences from experiencing the film in the same way."

Tarantino fans in the UK will have to wait a little bit longer before they can see his latest offering, as it doesn't drop here until 14 August.

Topics: TV and Film, US Entertainment

Claire Reid

Claire is a journalist at LADbible who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats. You can contact Claire at [email protected]

@ClaireReid19