Movies are not about the weekend that they’re released, and in the grand scheme of things, that’s probably the most unimportant time of a film’s life.

Tarantino is pushing back against the industry’s fixation on opening-weekend box office as the primary measure of a movie’s value. The quote argues that a film’s “life” is long: it unfolds through repeat viewings, word of mouth, critical reappraisal, repertory screenings, home media, and cultural influence over years or decades. By calling release weekend “the most unimportant time,” he reframes success as durability rather than immediacy—an attitude consistent with his cinephile emphasis on film history and canon formation. The remark also implicitly critiques marketing-driven hype cycles that can distort how audiences and studios judge artistic achievement.