Oliver Stone vs. Quentin Tarantino

Oliver Stone and Quentin Tarantino in an epic showdown! Whose directing career is more successful?

February 6, 2011

By Scott Croco

Oliver Stone is a long-established and sometimes controversial director. Quentin Tarantino is a celebrated retro-ist and sometimes visionary. Which one has been more successful in Hollywood?

Oliver Stone		Quentin Tarantino
17	# Films	7
Platoon (1986) Born on the Fourth of July (1989) JFK (1991)	Hits	Pulp Fiction (1994) Inglourious Basterds (2009)
The Hand (1981) Heaven & Earth (1993) U Turn (1997) Alexander (2004) W. (2008)	Flops
Wall Street (1987)	Notable	Reservoir Dogs (1992) Jackie Brown (1997) Kill Bill (2003-04)

Commercial Success Score is based on adjusted box office numbers, calculated using domestic box office dollars, average ticket price in release year, U.S. population, and tickets purchased per capita.

Oliver Stone leads in total adjusted box office, headed by Platoon, JFK, and Any Given Sunday. Quentin Tarantino, on the strength of Pulp Fiction and Inglourious Basterds, has the edge in average adjusted box office. Stone's totals trump Tarantino's averages in this showdown.

Edge: Oliver Stone

Critical Success Score is based on critics' scores as aggregated on Rotten Tomatoes and user scores from IMDB.

Oliver Stone has some decently reviewed films like JFK and Platoon, but most of his films are middle of the road when it comes to critical acclaim, such as Any Given Sunday and World Trade Center. Quentin Tarantino's body of work is highly regarded by critics, led by Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs.

Edge: Quentin Tarantino

Miscellaneous Score is based on Academy award nominations and wins, number of films directed, number of films written, Director's Guild nominations and wins, appearances on AFI lists, and inclusions in the National Film Registry.

Thanks to Platoon (8 noms, 4 wins), Born on the Fourth of July (8 noms, 2 wins), and JFK (8 noms, 2 wins), Oliver Stone has a solid lead in Academy nominations and awards. Tarantino has some Academy awards success with Pulp Fiction (7 noms, 1 win), and Inglourious Basterds (8 noms, 1 win). Oliver Stone has 3 Director's Guild nominations and 2 wins, Tarantino has 2 nominations and 0 wins. Stone and Tarantino each have 1 film on the AFI lists, neither has an NFR film. Stone has directed 17 films and wrote 9 of them, Tarantino has directed 7 films and wrote all 7. Stone's awards and quantity of films put him over the top in this category.

Edge: Oliver Stone