Quentin Tarantino previously made all of his movies with Harvey Weinstein, first at Miramax and then at The Weinstein Company. When it was revealed last month that Weinstein had been sexually assaulting women for decades and that he would be kicked out of his company, Tarantino decided to take his business elsewhere, which led to a bidding war among all the major studios except Disney (which doesn’t release R-rated movies). Now the bidding war is over and Deadline reports that Sony has emerged victorious.

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Image via Miramax

Sony will have the worldwide distribution rights to the movie, which will take place in the late 60s, early 70s. Although early reports claimed that the movie was about Charles Manson, it now turns out that Manson is a minor role similar to Adolf Hitler in Inglorious Basterds. The film will be yet another unique, Tarantino-esque view on history, specifically Los Angeles in the late 60s. And because it’s Tarantino, major actors are lining up to land a role with Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and Leonardo DiCaprio all being mentioned for the two lead male roles. Additionally, Tarantino has his eye on Margot Robbie to play the late Sharon Tate, who was murdered by Manson’s cult.

So what gave Sony the edge? Deadline reports, “I’m told Tarantino sparked to [Sony head Tom Rothman’s] deep knowledge of film history. Few can hang with Tarantino in that regard, but Rothman held his own and the studio chased this one hard.” Okay then. It also probably makes good business sense since Sony has revamped its worldwide distribution, and Tarantino approved the marketing campaign presented by Josh Greenstein and his team.

Filming on the movie, which is going by the working title #9 for Tarantino’s ninth film, is set to begin in mid-2018 for a 2019 release. The budget will be similar to the cost of Django Unchained.

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Image via The Weinstein Company
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Image via The Weinstein Company
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Image via Entertainment Weekly