Kill Bill: Volume 1

"Kill Bill" redirects here. For other uses, see Kill Bill (disambiguation).

Kill Bill: Volume 1
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Quentin Tarantino
Written by	Quentin Tarantino
Produced by	Lawrence Bender
Starring	Uma Thurman Lucy Liu Vivica A. Fox Daryl Hannah Michael Madsen David Carradine Sonny Chiba Julie Dreyfus Chiaki Kuriyama
Cinematography	Robert Richardson
Edited by	Sally Menke
Music by	RZA
Production companies	A Band Apart Shaw Brothers Studio Super Cool ManChu
Distributed by	Miramax Films
Release date	October 10, 2003 (2003-10-10)
Running time	110 minutes
Countries	United States Hong Kong
Languages	English Japanese
Budget	$30 million
Box office	$180.9 million

Kill Bill: Volume 1 is a 2003 American martial arts film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Uma Thurman as the Bride, a mercenary who swears revenge on a group of assassins (Lucy Liu, Daryl Hannah, Vivica A. Fox and Michael Madsen) and their leader, Bill (David Carradine), after they try to kill her and her unborn child. Her journey takes her to Tokyo, where she battles the yakuza.

Kill Bill was inspired by 1970s exploitation films and martial arts films. It features an anime sequence by Production I.G and a black-and-white sequence. Volume 1 is the first of two Kill Bill films made in a single production; Volume 2 was released six months later. They were originally set for a single release, but the film, with a runtime of over four hours, was divided in two. This meant Tarantino did not have to cut scenes.

Kill Bill was theatrically released by Miramax Films in the United States on October 10, 2003. It received positive reviews and grossed $180.9 million worldwide on a $30 million budget, achieving the highest-grossing opening weekend of a Tarantino film to that point. A single film combining both parts, Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair, was theatrically released on December 5, 2025.