Could a Franchise Movie Be Quentin Tarantino’s Last Film?

Over the last few years, there have been two competing ideas about Quentin Tarantino going around: one, that he plans to make one more movie and then ride off into the sunset, retiring from directing before he feels like he has nothing else to say. Two, that he is constantly entertaining the idea of making a movie based on a big franchise like Star Trek. Now that the Pulp Fiction filmmaker has decided to abandon The Film Critic, some fans are already wondering whether he might actually make a big summer tentpole as his last film, ending on a financial high note and exploring a kind of movie Tarantino has yet to put his fingerprints on.

Tarantino’s long-rumored Star Trek movie is the one that fans remember the most, but over the years, the filmmaker has teased a number of crowd-pleasing blockbusters that never quite came to pass. Not long after the Django/Zorro comic book, Tarantino expressed interest in potentially developing a similar project on the big screen. He has flirted with adaptations of Elmore Leonard’s Forty Lashes Less One, David Morrell’s First Blood, and Bret Easton Ellis’s Less Than Zero over the years, and once even talked about trying to do an adaptation of the James Bond novel Casino Royale, which would have been set in the 1960s and featured period elements largely absent from the franchise.

Some of those were never likely to happen — Eon reportedly never entertained the idea of working with Tarantino on a Bond movie, and it’s difficult to imagine anyone adapting First Blood and now drawing unwanted comparisons to the 1982 version (Sylvester Stallone’s first outing at John Rambo). Others feel very on-brand, such as Less Than Zero and Forty Lashes Less One, but while they’re recognizable properties, nobody would much think of those as “franchise movies.”

On the one hand, you can understand why people are curious. Tarantino is notoriously obsessed with popular culture, and his eccentric, rat-a-tat dialogue would be right at home in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There are also unique challenges to making a big, franchise movie that Tarantino has never had to contend with during his career as an art-film auteur. One could see somebody who is as in love with the craft of filmmaking as Tarantino, wanting to experience those challenges at least once.

On the other hand, to do so as his final film is fraught. What if it turns out he isn’t actually pleased with the outcome of making a film with so many “bosses?” And would it feel like a betrayal of his own fans — or even his own body of work — to say “goodbye” on such a strange note? Tarantino has a distinctive style that’s immediately recognizable to audiences. How much of that would he have to surrender, to say he “got” to work on a big franchise?

Another obstacle — one that could be overcome, but it’s there — is the standard that most big-budget franchise films expect their directors to sign on to a contract that includes studio options for sequels. For Tarantino to make just one movie, set the tone for the franchise, and bounce wouldn’t be impossible…but it wouldn’t be ideal.

Following up Once Upon a Time in Hollywood with The Movie Critic felt like Tarantino had some specific thoughts about Hollywood, film as an art form and as an industry. That was a clean narrative, especially for somebody who has been so obsessed with the art form and the industry throughout his career. Tarantino’s decision to leave The Film Critic behind raises questions about what statement he really plans to go out on. While it’s not impossible he could make some big, franchise blockbuster that shocks everyone, it feels a lot more likely that Tarantino will go out on his own terms, crafting something from the ground up, including all of his usual tropes and tells. After all, it’s not like “the final film from visionary director Quentin Tarantino” being blasted all over a movie trailer won’t be enough to make it a hit.

One credible guess is that Tarantino could thread the needle, making a big, expensive tentpole movie where he gets to maintain total control. Of all his abandoned projects, the thing that feels most likely to turn into a blockbuster wouldn’t even be a franchise in the traditional sense: Kill Bill vol. 3. For years, fans have wondered about a return to the world of Kill Bill. Various people involved with the original movies have given variations on a “never say never” answer, and both Tarantino and Maya Hawke — Kill Bill star Uma Thurman’s real-life daughter — have expressed an interest in doing a third installment together in the past.