What will Quentin Tarantino's next film be? The director's 9th film, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, is set to hit cinemas on July 26, 2019, but Tarantino doesn't have anything officially in the works to follow it up with. That's not too surprising, because he often has a number of different projects that he's considering at any one time.
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is being billed as not only the 9th film by Quentin Tarantino, but also the penultimate. The director has long insisted that he'll retire from filmmaking after making 10 movies, although he's made plenty of wiggle room for himself, such as classifying Kill Bill Vol 1 & 2 as just one single movie.
Still, with whatever he does next possibly being the last movie he makes - until he states it isn't - then there's going to be a lot of speculation as to what movie Tarantino decides to do next. His career includes a long list of unmade projects, while he's been linked with some big films in recent years, making these the most likely follow-ups to Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.
Star Trek
Quentin Tarantino's Star Trek is the project that seems likely to be his next film right now, simply because it's the one he has spoken about the most in the last couple of years. Tarantino was first reported to be working on Star Trek back in 2017, when it was revealed that he and J.J. Abrams had made a pitch for a new film, which Tarantino would direct and Abrams would produce, with Mark L. Smith later being hired to write the screenplay.
Tarantino has given various updates on Star Trek since then. It was reported in late-2017 that Tarantino's Star Trek will be R-rated, which is in keeping with his sensibilities but a break away from franchise tradition. Tarantino confirmed last month that his take on Star Trek will definitely be R-rated. That follows on from confirmation that a script by Smith, who previously wrote The Revenant, has been completed, but that Tarantino still needs to "weigh in on it." It makes sense that he hasn't been able to give it too much attention, since he's been busy on Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.
With that film about to release and Tarantino on the press circuit, however, more details about his Star Trek movie have started to come out. Tarantino recently confirmed his Star Trek will be in the "Chris Pine timeline", which suggests that he may want Pine to star in his Star Trek film, but without being tied to the continuity established by J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movies. Tarantino also recently revealed that his Star Trek movie will be like Pulp Fiction in space, saying: "That Pulp Fiction-y aspect, when I read the script, I felt, I have never read a science fiction movie that has this sh*t in it, ever."
With Tarantino having been so open about Star Trek - as well as being a huge Star Trek fan - and since the film already has a script, then there's a good chance Star Trek will be Tarantino's next film. However, things don't always go to plan, and Paramount's Star Trek plans have already shifted with the cancellation of Star Trek 4. If Tarantino's Star Trek doesn't happen, he does have some other options.
Kill Bill 3
Kill Bill 3 is something Quentin Tarantino has been talking about the possibility of ever since Kill Bill Vol 2 was released back in 2004. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly at the time, he said: "Oh yeah, initially I was thinking this would be my Dollars Trilogy. I was going to do a new one every ten years. But I need at least fifteen years before I do this again. I've already got the whole mythology: Sofie Fatale will get all of Bill's money. She'll raise Nikki, who'll take on The Bride. Nikki deserves her revenge every bit as much as The Bride deserved hers. I might even shoot a couple of scenes for it now so I can get the actresses while they're this age."
Tarantino has given updates on Kill Bill 3 at various intervals over the years. At one point he was set to make a prequel anime, and then in 2009 he suggested it was going to be his next film, to release in 2014, 10 years after Kill Bill Vol. 2. That never materialized, and Tarantino has largely been non-committal since then. When details about Tarantino's on-set behavior towards Uma Thurman were revealed, it then looked like Kill Bill 3 was never going to happen, but it now seems like it might be back on the cards.
While on the press tour for Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, Tarantino spoke about Kill Bill 3 happening, saying: “Me and Uma have talked about it recently, frankly, to tell you the truth. I have thought about it a little further. We were talking about it literally last week. If any of my movies were going to spring from my other movies, it would be a third ‘Kill Bill.’” So maybe there is a chance of Vernita Green's daughter getting revenge on the Bride after all.
Less Than Zero
Quentin Tarantino has long been linked with adapting Brett Easton Ellis' debut novel Less Than Zero, although anything more concrete is yet to materialize. Tarantino is a huge fan of Ellis and the book itself, which has the kind of challenging subject matter you could imagine the director wanting to sink his teeth into. Published in 1985, Less Than Zero tells the story of a young, rich college student who returns home and enters into a tragical spiral of drugs and sex.
Less Than Zero was adapted into a film in 1987 starring Robert Downey Jr. and James Spader, but it was only loosely based on the source material and Ellis himself wasn't a fan. Tarantino's friend Roger Avary directed an adaptation of another Ellis novel, Rules of Attraction, in 2002, which is where the rumors of Tarantino's interest started. Ellis himself said in both 2010 and 2012 that Tarantino had been trying to adapt Less Than Zero, although obviously to no avail. It's been a long time since then, but this would be an interesting shift in direction for Tarantino at this point in his career, and if it's a serious passion project then he could try again to make it happen.
Killer Crow
Inglourious Basterds is one of Quentin Tarantino's most successful films at the box-office, so it's not too much of a surprise that he's considered making a spin-off, although it would depict events that were originally going to be in the film itself. Tarantino first started writing Inglourious Basterds in the late-90s, but when he couldn't make the ending work he dropped it to focus on directing Kill Bill instead. When he returned to the project he went back to his initial draft and trimmed it right down, resulting in the finished product that focuses on the titular Basterds.
That meant Tarantino cut a lot of material from the original Inglourious Basterds script, however, which he has since said could work as a film in its own right, going by the working title Killer Crow. Set to form part of a revisionist history trilogy with Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained, Killer Crow would've centered on a group of black soldiers who are court-marshaled but end up escaping and going on a rampage, killing white soldiers and officers in an attempt to make it to Switzerland. Tarantino last discussed Killer Crow back in 2015, so it does seem like he might've dropped it, but with plenty of material already in place it would be an easier one for him to revisit as his next movie.
Django/Zorro
While no movie sequel to Django Unchained has been made (yet), one does exist in comic book form, although it didn't quite take the direction anyone might've expected after seeing the film. Written by Quentin Tarantino and Matt Wagner, Django/Zorro is a seven-issue comic book run that picked up after the events of Django Unchained. After settling Broomhilda safely in Chicago, Django goes back out on the road, where he meets the legendary Zorro, joining him on a mission to free indigenous people from slavery.
It sounds like the kind of wild idea that might be confined to a comic book, but Tarantino is working on a Django/Zorro movie adaptation. Earlier this year he tapped Jerrod Carmichael to write a script for the Django/Zorro film, although Tarantino's exact involvement is unclear. It might simply be that he's overseeing the project as an executive producer, or that he's going to co-write it with Carmicheal, and there's an outside chance he'll direct it. A Django/Zorro movie is at the very least moving forward, and if Tarantino takes a more active role in its development or gets a script he loves, then there's a possibility he'll want to be the one who makes it.
Other Movies Tarantino Could Make Next
Quentin Tarantino is a director with an expansive, eclectic filmography, and he's been linked with various projects over the years, meaning there are a lot of outside candidates for what movie he might decide to make next, regardless of whether it's actually Tarantino's final film or not. One of the most tantalizing unmade Tarantino movies is a Reservoir Dogs/Pulp Fiction spin-off centering on Vic & Vincent Vega, played by Michael Masden and John Travolta respectively. Given how long it's been, however, with both actors aging out of what would've been a prequel, Double V Vega now seems unlikely to ever happen.
Another oft-discussed Tarantino project that never happened is an adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Forty Lashes Less One. Tarantino's a big Leonard fan, having turned Rum Punch into the movie Jackie Brown, but the last update he gave on this was in 2015, when he stated he wanted to turn it into a miniseries instead. He's also mentioned doing a Bonnie & Clyde style crime film set in the 1930s, but has never gone too far into specifics on that one. Finally, he was linked to a number of comic book movie projects in the 90s, including Luke Cage, Silver Surfer, and Green Lantern. While it's hard to imagine Tarantino directing a comic book movie, the pulling power of Marvel and DC is considerable, and he is a comic book fan, so it's not completely impossible. With Once Upon A Time In Hollywood releasing, it hopefully won't be too much longer before we find out what Quentin Tarantino's next movie is.
