“All those scenes of characters driving in Los Angeles were gorgeous — I’ve never seen anything quite like it before. And the Manson girls floating in and out gave just enough of an edge to the proceedings. But judging from the audience reaction in my theater, the crowd didn’t fully embrace the film until the Krakatoa of blood at the end, which was the moment when I lost all sense of engagement.” — HE commenter “Gatsby1040” in yesterday’s OUATIH thread (“Tarantino Spoiler Policy“).

I suspect that ticket buyers everywhere are reacting to Once Upon A Time in Hollywood as I did in Cannes, experiencing a kind of mild, in-and-out, comme ci comme ca satisfaction but not really feeling the heavy current until the finale. What is everyone else detecting? What did the various rooms feel like as people were leaving the theatre?

Forbes‘ Scott Mendelson is sensing that Once Upon A Time in Hollywood is going to earn more than Sony’s projected weekend figure of $30 million. $34 to $39 million, for sure, but possibly as high as the 40s and even the low 50s.

My sense is that OUATIH will develop legs among the 40-plus set. I think it’ll hang in there and become a slow-and-steady earner. It’s not really a film for compulsively texting Millennials and GenZ.

The Hollywood Reporter‘s Borys Kit is reporting that the film needs to earn $375 million worldwide to break even.

Mendelson: “Sure, it’s not as aggressively crowd-pleasing as Django Unchained or Inglorious Basterds, but I think most people walking into a Tarantino movie in 2019 have some idea of what they are in for. The reviews are as positive as you’d expect, and (no spoilers) word will eventually filter out that the movie doesn’t necessarily do all of the things that you [might] be afraid that a Tarantino movie tangentially about the Manson murders might do. Again, no details, but I will argue that the violence is significantly closer in onscreen content to Pulp Fiction than The Hateful Eight.”