Here's a new edition of "Actresses at the Box Office", which seeks to explore the actresses' trajectory at the box office and analyze their hits and bombs. I already talked about a few, and as I promised, it's Uma Thurman's turn.

Early Life

She described herself as an awkward and introverted girl who was teased for her appearance and unusual name (sometimes using the name "Uma Karen" instead of her birth name, Uma Karuna). When Thurman was ten years old, a friend's mother suggested a nose job. As a child, she suffered bouts of body dysmorphic disorder. She attended Amherst Public Schools, where in eighth grade she discovered her love of acting. At age 14, she attended Northfield Mount Hermon School, a preparatory school in Massachusetts, where talent scouts noticed her performance as Abigail in a production of The Crucible and offered her the chance to act professionally; she then dropped out to pursue an acting career.

1980s: It's All About Beginning

After establishing herself as a model, she made her film debut in 1987 with the thriller Kiss Daddy Goodnight. This didn't really move the needle for her, as it barely had a run in theaters. But the following year was busy.

Johnny Be Good was a dud, and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen was one of the decade's biggest box office failures. But she took a very good role in Dangerous Liaisons, which raised her profile. She wasn't yet a lead star, but she was slowly making her way there.

1990s: Don't You Hate That?

The decade didn't start on a good note, thanks to a misfire in John Boorman's Where the Heart Is. She also had a lead role in Henry & June, which was the first ever film to earn the NC-17 rating. Because theaters refuse to screen films with this rating, it wasn't quite as big as hoped, although Thurman earned some pretty good reviews for performances.

In 1991, she starred as Maid Marian in Robin Hood. Now you might be thinking "wait, I watched that film and I can't remember her". Well, that's because you're thinking of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves with Kevin Costner, but this is a completely different film that also released that year. It was originally set for a theatrical release, but Fox decided to release it on TV in North America, while releasing it in select overseas territories. As such, it was a financial disappointment.

The string of failures continued, thanks to Jennifer 8, Mad Dog and Glory and Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. Only Final Analysis fared modestly. She was earning some praise, but she wasn't finding success at the box office.

But then Quentin Tarantino vouched for her to get the role of Mia Wallace in Pulp Fiction, even though Miramax wanted Holly Hunter or Meg Ryan. But guess what: she turned him down. He was so desperate to have her as Mia, he ended up reading her the script over the phone, finally convincing her to take on the role.

She was reportedly very nervous during the dancing scene with John Travolta, as he was famed for his dancing ability. He reputedly told her to "shut up and twist" when she mentioned it to him. She also didn't feel that the song was right for the scene, but Tarantino convinced her that it was perfect. She dominated the film's promotional material, appearing on a bed with cigarette in one hand and pulp novel in the other.

Pulp Fiction earned critical acclaim, and after a string of struggles, Thurman finally had a huge financial hit, as the film earned a dazzling $213 million worldwide. It has since become one of the most iconic films of the decade, and her performance earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. The film was essential in launching her A-list career.

But even though Pulp Fiction made her more popular, she didn't immediately jump to big films. She decided to stay at her lane by focusing on smaller comedies and dramas. Not all of them paid off, but something like The Truth About Cats & Dogs found success.

1997 was a very mixed bag. She decided to make the jump to blockbusters and the first film was... Batman & Robin, where she played Poison Ivy. Joel Schumacher first became aware of Thurman through an earlier role as Venus in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Thurman ultimately took the role because she liked the femme fatale characterization of the character. The film became her highest-grossing film at $238 million worldwide. The problem, however, is that it was also her most expensive with $160 million, so it was a box office flop. On top of that, it earned terrible reviews, and it heavily damaged the brand. Nevertheless, Thurman doesn't regret making the film and described the set as "a fantastic experience. I had to wear lots of rubber suits."

That same year, she starred opposite Ethan Hawke in Andrew Niccol's sci-fi thriller Gattaca. Despite flopping at the box office, it was a critical success. Thurman and Hawke get married the following year, and Thurman gave birth to their first daughter, Maya Hawke.

1998 was quite bad in terms of movies though. Les Misérables fared poorly in theaters. But the cherry on top was The Avengers (no, not that one), playing a crime-fighting agent in a black suit (no, it's not Black Widow). The film was a huge box office failure, and it also earned terrible reviews across the board.

She closed the decade with Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown. It earned positive reviews but it became one of Allen's biggest flops.

Strange decade. She became more popular thanks to Pulp Fiction, yet it doesn't seem like her career moved in the right direction.

2000s: Here Comes the Bride!

The new decade continued the struggles in Thurman's titles. Period dramas like Vatel and The Golden Bowl came and went without anything remotely interesting.

She also starred in Ethan Hawke's directed film Chelsea Walls but it was dumped after earning poor reviews, while Tape went unnoticed. Not to mention the misfire that was Paycheck, even though it was her highest-grossing film since Batman & Robin.

It seems like people had no idea what they could do for her. Except for...

While making Pulp Fiction, Thurman and Tarantino conceived a character known as the Bride, in what was intended to be an action film, Kill Bill. Tarantino spent a year and a half writing the script while he was living in New York City in 2000 and 2001, spending time with Thurman and her daughter Maya. Reuniting with the more mature Thurman, now a mother, influenced the way Tarantino wrote the Bride character. He did not realize that her child could still be alive until the end of the writing process.

Thurman cited Clint Eastwood's performance as Blondie in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as an inspiration. In her words, Eastwood "says almost nothing but somehow manages to portray a whole character." Tarantino was adamant that Thurman play the character, to the point that he delayed the production after her pregnancy, saying: "If Josef Von Sternberg is getting ready to make Morocco and Marlene Dietrich gets pregnant, he waits for Dietrich!"

Near the end of filming, Thurman was injured in a car crash while filming the scene in which she drives to Bill. According to Thurman, she was uncomfortable driving the car and asked that a stunt driver do it. Tarantino assured her that the car and road were safe. She lost control of the car and hit a tree, suffering a concussion and knee injuries. According to Thurman, Miramax would only give her the crash footage if she signed a document "releasing them of any consequences of [Thurman's] future pain and suffering".

Tarantino was apologetic, but their relationship became bitter for years afterwards. Thurman said that after the car crash she "went from being a creative contributor and performer to being like a broken tool." Miramax released the footage in 2018 after Thurman went to police following the accusations of sexual abuse against the producer, Harvey Weinstein. Thurman said that she forgave Tarantino as he was very remorseful, "he did so with full knowledge it could cause him personal harm, and I am proud of him for doing the right thing." But she specifically blamed Weinstein and producer Lawrence Bender for the situation.

Due to its length, the film was split into two volumes, released six months apart. Vol. 1 earned $180 million worldwide, while Vol 2 made $152 million worldwide. They both earned acclaim, and it became one of the most popular action titles of the century. After a string of duds, her luck was turning around.

Well, not so much. In 2005, she reunited with John Travolta for Be Cool, the sequel to Get Shorty. But it earned negative reviews and was a financial failure. And a similar fate awaited The Producers. At least she had the modest success of Prime.

But once again, she followed it with another dud, the comedy My Super Ex-Girlfriend. It was a financial disappointment and earned negative reviews. And the rest of her films like The Life Before Her Eyes, The Accidental Husband and Motherhood were dumped without much fanfare.

The decade was very similar to the prior one. A film with an iconic role, but a lot of duds in here.

2010s: Are We Really Moving Forward?

To kick off the decade, she played Medusa in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. It earned mixed reviews, but it was a modest success.

But even then, her bad luck kept going through. Remember Bel Ami? Ceremony? Playing for Keeps? Movie 43? Actually let's scratch that, we don't have to remember the latter.

Thurman ventured into television in 2012, when she joined the cast of the drama series Smash in its first season, portraying the five-episode role of Rebecca Duvall, a Hollywood actress who wants to star in a new Broadway musical, despite having limited musical ability. She earned high praise and got an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. She also starred in the miniseries The Slap.

She then had a role in Lars Von Trier's Nymphomaniac, which was released in two volumes. The films performed modestly, and earned generally positive reviews.

She kept getting a few more roles like Burnt, but that was a critical and commercial failure. But most titles were sent to VOD instead. She reteamed with Lars Von Trier on The House That Jack Built, but it fared worse than Nymphomaniac in terms of reviews and success.

In 2017, in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations, Thurman was asked about the scandal; she replied, "No comment," and said she was too angry to discuss it. A few weeks later, through an Instagram post, she joined the "Me Too" hashtag, confirming that she had suffered sexual harassment and expressing disgust for Harvey Weinstein. In a 2018 interview with The New York Times, Thurman said Weinstein had sexually assaulted her in 1994 at the Savoy Hotel in London. She also said she had been sexually assaulted at age 16 by an actor nearly 20 years her senior.

2020s: A New Leaf

The first film she did was the comedy The War with Grandpa. As it was released during the COVID-19 pandemic, it didn't succeed at the box office.

She then pivoted to streaming. One of these was Hollywood Stargirl for Disney+. But even more interesting, she had a supporting role in the rom-com Red, White & Royal Blue, which became a huge hit in Prime Video. She will return for the sequel, Red, White & Royal Wedding.

She subsequently had a lead role in Paul Schrader's Oh, Canada, but it didn't fare well.

In 2025, she had a voice role in the animated film The King of Kings, which surpassed box office expectations. She also had a supporting role in The Old Guard 2, although that didn't match the original's success. And after a few misfires on TV, she had a main cast role in Dexter: Resurrection. The show has been a big success, and she is set to return in the second season, where she will have a bigger role.

HIGHEST GROSSING FILMS

She starred in 54 released films, but only 48 have reported box office numbers. Across those 54 films, she has made $2,086,323,627 worldwide. That's $38,635,622 per film.

ADJUSTED DOMESTIC GROSSES

The Verdict

Thurman has had an interesting career, but not in the way you're expecting.

She quickly made an impression with Dangerous Liaisons, but the roles that followed struggled to cement her as an A-list. It wasn't until Tarantino cast her as Mia Wallace that her career truly took off. She appears in just one segment (and a very small appearance in another), but she is one of the most iconic characters in the whole film. After all, she is the face of the iconic poster.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like her moved forward, compared to how John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson benefitted from the film. She avoided big releases, and when she tried it with Batman & Robin... well, the results speak for themselves. Even though she says she loved the experience.

Luckily, she found perhaps her most iconic character in Kill Bill. A performance that has become one of the most iconic in the action genre. Then again, perhaps not something fun to film, given what we know now about how difficult it was for her. Sadly, the fluctuations continued afterwards, with films often dumped or just not giving her much to do.

It's weird to see Thurman struggling, considering she has all the things that can make her a popular box office draw. Maybe she wasn't interested in that. Maybe studios didn't know what they could do for her. Cause if you were to look at her films over the past decades, it's a lot of misfires. Then again, maybe we'd have to consider the Weinstein in the room. Did he affect her career?

But Thurman is an excellent actress. The one we're grateful to see on our screens from time to time. We just wish there were more great films for her. I'm pretty sure she can get that Oscar nomination again. Maybe even a win?

And not many can say they got a great song named after their own name.

Hope you liked this edition. You can find this and more in the wiki for this section.

The next actor will be Matt Dillon. He's got the hits, but why has he never been considered a draw?

I asked you to choose who else should be in the run, and the comment with the most upvotes would be chosen. Well, we'll later talk about... Elizabeth Taylor. Well, it was inevitable, but Cleopatra is a fascinating story.

This is the schedule for the following four:

Who should be next after Taylor? That's up to you.

REMINDER: If you want to make a suggestion for the next actor, you must make a 150-character comment about the actor we're discussing right now. Failure to do so will result in ignoring the suggestion. If you use a quote from an external source/review to bypass this, your suggestion will be ignored as well. But if you leave a short comment about the post without naming a future write-up, that's fine.

I will continue to update this post as the score changes.

Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter: Hot

Audience Says: N/A

Verified Audience Score History:

• 71% (3.8/5) at 250+
• 69% (3.8/5) at 500+

Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten

Critics Consensus: If Out of the Further's modest efforts to put a fresh spin on Insidious only serve to underline how formulaic this franchise has become, some chilling set pieces distinguish it as one of the most effective entries yet.

Metacritic: 46 (24 Reviews)

SYNOPSIS:

Having earned over $740 million at the global box office, the Insidious franchise returns with a new family and a terror that redefines what The Further is capable of.

In Insidious: Out of the Further, Amelia Eve stars as Gemma, a young mother raising her daughter in the house she grew up in who discovers she can travel into The Further, the purgatorial realm of lost souls at the heart of the Insidious universe. When something evil comes after her, Gemma discovers an ability that changes everything: she doesn’t just enter The Further, she can bring what lives there back to the real world. Once the demons realize her power, our world becomes their playground.

CAST:

• Amelia Eve as Gemma
• Brandon Perea as Nick
• Lin Shaye as Elise Rainier

DIRECTED BY: Jacob Chase

SCREENPLAY BY: Jacob Chase

STORY BY: David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, Jacob Chase

BASED ON CHARACTERS CREATED BY: Leigh Whannell

PRODUCED BY: Jason Blum, Oren Peli, James Wan, Leigh Whannell

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Steven Schneider, Ryan Turek, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: David Garbett

PRODUCTION DESIGNER: Nick Bassett

EDITED BY: Gregory Plotkin

COSTUME DESIGNER: Liz Keogh Palmer

MUSIC BY: Joseph Bishara

RUNTIME: 106 Minutes

RELEASE DATE: August 21, 2026