Controversy apparently breeds box office success.
Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Django Unchained’ has now raked in more dough — $130 million to be exact — than any of the director’s other films, even beating out 2009’s ‘Inglorious Basterds,’ a movie that brought in a whopping $120 million.
In addition to becoming Tarantino’s top grossing film, the Academy nominated ‘Django’ for five awards last week, including the Holy Grail of Oscars, ‘Best Picture.’
‘Django’ also had a successful showing at Sunday’s Golden Globe awards. Tarantino took home the award for ‘Best Screenplay,’ which he said was a “damn surprise,” and Christopher Waltz won ‘Best Supporting Actor’ for his role as the bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz.
But it’s been a shaky road to the top for ‘Django.’ The ultra-violent film’s premiere was canceled in the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings. And while Tarantino has been attacked for his gory films in the past, the coincidental timing of his newest movie — released just days after the Newtown massacre — only seemed to enrage his critics more.
At a press conference the day after the Sandy Hook shooting, a media-weary Tarantino asked the press to ‘give him a break.’ But it wasn’t until the British reporter Krishnan Guru-Murthy prompted Tarantino to discuss whether movie violence affects real life violence that the award-winning filmmaker finally snapped.
“I’m shutting your butt down,” Tarantino reprimanded the reporter.
Now, the director can finally rest easy — in a bed of dollar bills.
