Editing Pulp Fiction (section)

=== Release and box office ===
''Pulp Fiction'' premiered in May 1994 at the [[1994 Cannes Film Festival|Cannes Film Festival]]. The Weinsteins "hit the beach like commandos," bringing the picture's entire cast over to France.{{sfn|Charyn|2006|p=96}} The film was unveiled at a midnight hour screening and caused a sensation.{{sfn|Biskind|2004|p=174}}<ref name="Mas">{{cite news|last=Maslin|first=Janet|title=Pulp Fiction; Quentin Tarantino's Wild Ride On Life's Dangerous Road|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/23/movies/film-festival-review-pulp-fiction-quentin-tarantino-s-wild-ride-life-s-dangerous.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=1994-09-23|access-date=2007-09-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180515224056/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/23/movies/film-festival-review-pulp-fiction-quentin-tarantino-s-wild-ride-life-s-dangerous.html|archive-date=May 15, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> It won the [[Palme d'Or]], the festival's top prize, generating a further wave of publicity.<ref name="PdO">{{cite web |url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/index.php/en/archives/awards/1994 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013220900/http://www.festival-cannes.com/index.php/en/archives/awards/1994 |archive-date=2007-10-13|title= All the Awards—Festival 1994|publisher=Cannes Festival|access-date=2007-09-14}}</ref>

The first U.S. review of the film was published on May 23 in industry trade magazine ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]''. [[Todd McCarthy]] called ''Pulp Fiction'' a "spectacularly entertaining piece of pop culture&nbsp;... a startling, massive success."<ref name="TM">{{cite magazine|last=McCarthy|first=Todd|authorlink=Todd McCarthy|title=''Pulp Fiction''|url=https://variety.com/1994/film/reviews/pulp-fiction-1200437049/|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=1994-05-23|access-date=2007-09-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171228172344/https://variety.com/1994/film/reviews/pulp-fiction-1200437049/|archive-date=December 28, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> From Cannes forward, Tarantino was on the road continuously, promoting the film.{{sfn|Dawson|1995a|p=173}} Over the next few months, it played in smaller festivals around Europe, building buzz: Nottingham, Munich, [[Taormina Film Fest|Taormina]], Locarno, [[Norwegian International Film Festival|Norway]], and [[San Sebastián International Film Festival|San Sebastián]].<ref>{{cite news|title=''Pulp Fiction'' |url=https://www.variety.com/profiles/Film/main/30051/Pulp+Fiction.html?dataSet=1&query=%22pulp+fiction%22+1994 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012013656/http://variety.com/profiles/Film/main/30051/Pulp%2BFiction.html?dataSet=1&query=%22pulp%2Bfiction%22%2B1994 |archive-date=2007-10-12 |work=Variety |access-date=2007-09-20 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Tarantino later said: "One thing that's cool is that by breaking up the linear structure, when I watch the film with an audience, it does break [the audience's] [[alpha wave|alpha]] state. It's like, all of a sudden, 'I gotta watch this&nbsp;... I gotta pay attention.' You can almost feel everybody moving in their seats. It's actually fun to watch an audience in some ways chase after a movie."<ref name="T24">Enhanced Trivia Track, ch. 24, ''Pulp Fiction'' DVD (Buena Vista Home Entertainment).</ref> In late September, it opened the [[New York Film Festival]]. ''[[The New York Times]]'' published its review the day of the opening. [[Janet Maslin]] called the film a "triumphant, cleverly disorienting journey through a demimonde that springs entirely from Mr. Tarantino's ripe imagination, a landscape of danger, shock, hilarity and vibrant local color&nbsp;... [He] has come up with a work of such depth, wit and blazing originality that it places him in the front ranks of American film makers."<ref name="Mas" />
{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://charlierose.com/videos/368 Charlie Rose interview with Quentin Tarantino on ''Pulp Fiction'', October 14, 1994]}}
On October 14, 1994, ''Pulp Fiction'' went into general release in the United States. As Peter Biskind described: "It was not platformed, that is, it did not open in a handful of theaters and roll out slowly as word of mouth built, the traditional way of releasing an [[Independent film|indie film]]; it went wide immediately, into 1,100 theaters."{{sfn|Biskind|2004|p=189}} In the eyes of some cultural critics, ''Reservoir Dogs'' had given Tarantino a reputation for glamorizing violence. Miramax played with the issue in its marketing campaign: "You won't know the facts till you've seen the fiction", went one slogan.{{sfn|Dawson|1995a|p=171}} ''Pulp Fiction'' was the [[List of 1994 box office number-one films in the United States|top-grossing film at the US box office]] its first weekend with a gross of $9,311,882, edging out a [[Sylvester Stallone]] vehicle, ''[[The Specialist]]'', which was in its second week and playing at more than twice as many theaters. The gross claimed by Miramax Films was disputed by others. [[Warner Bros.]] initially reported an estimated gross of $8.9&nbsp;million for ''The Specialist'', with Bob Weinstein then reporting a gross for ''Pulp Fiction'' of $9.1&nbsp;million, claiming that the film was on another 100 screens that had previously been overlooked. Warner Bros. then updated their gross to $9.3&nbsp;million, claiming they had made a calculation error.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Daily Variety]]|page=1|last=Klady|first=Leonard|date=October 17, 1994|title=Shootout at the B.O. peak}}</ref>
Early Monday morning, Miramax Films reported a gross of $9.3&nbsp;million with Warner Bros. reporting $8.9&nbsp;million for ''The Specialist'', placing ''Pulp Fiction'' first but other industry sources did not believe Miramax Films' numbers. ''Variety'' estimated that ''Pulp Fiction'' grossed $8.6 to $9&nbsp;million for the weekend.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Daily Variety]]|page=1|last=Klady|first=Leonard|date=October 18, 1994|title='Pulp' claims B.O. title; competitors call it fiction}}</ref>

Against its budget of $8.5&nbsp;million and about $10&nbsp;million in marketing costs, ''Pulp Fiction'' grossed $107.93&nbsp;million at the U.S. box office, making it the first Miramax film to surpass $100&nbsp;million in the United States and Canada.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Screen International]]|title=Miramax in hit land|page=33|date=August 22, 1997}}</ref> Worldwide, it took in nearly $213&nbsp;million.{{efn|name=BoxOffice|{{sfn|Biskind|2004|p=189}}{{sfn|Waxman|2005|p=78}}<ref name="Mojo"/> ''Box Office Mojo'' gives $106&nbsp;million in foreign grosses for a worldwide total of $213.9&nbsp;million; Biskind and Waxman apparently concur that $105M&nbsp;/ $212.9M are the correct figures.}} In terms of domestic grosses, it was the tenth biggest film of 1994, even though it played on substantially fewer screens than any other film in the top 20.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=1994&p=.htm|title=1994 Domestic Grosses|website=Box Office Mojo|access-date=2007-09-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717164659/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=1994&p=.htm|archive-date=July 17, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> Popular engagement with the film, such as speculation about the contents of the precious briefcase, "indicates the kind of cult status that ''Pulp Fiction'' achieved almost immediately."{{sfn|Real|1996|p=259}} As ''[[MovieMaker]]'' puts it, "The movie was nothing less than a national cultural phenomenon."<ref>{{cite web|last=Rose |first=Andy |title=10 Years of MovieMaker, 10 Years of Indie Film Growth|url=http://www.moviemaker.com/articles/item/10_years_of_moviemaker_10_years_of_indie_film_2952/|work=MovieMaker|date=Winter 2004|access-date=2007-09-21|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071122005136/http://www.moviemaker.com/articles/item/10_years_of_moviemaker_10_years_of_indie_film_2952/|archive-date=2007-11-22}}</ref> Abroad, as well: in Britain, where it opened a week after its U.S. release, not only was the film a big hit, but in book form its screenplay became the most successful in UK publishing history, a top-ten bestseller.{{sfn|Dawson|1995a|pp=171, 13}}