Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill: Volume 1 was released in 2003.
The martial-arts revenge film premiered at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival and opened in cinemas in October of that year. Uma Thurman stars as the Bride, a former assassin who awakens from a coma and begins hunting the members of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad.
Kill Bill was originally conceived as one long film, but its extensive running time led Miramax to divide it into two volumes. Volume 1 focuses heavily on the Bride’s return to action, her confrontation with O-Ren Ishii, and the climactic battle with the Crazy 88.
Volume 2 followed in 2004 and continues the story rather than functioning as a separate reboot. This release order is why the two films are commonly identified by their volume numbers and different years.