John Travolta’s ‘Grease’ and ‘Pulp Fiction’ Top the Charts on Pluto

Two of John Travolta’s most famous movies have topped the charts on Pluto. Grease (1978) and Pulp Fiction (1994) are currently streaming for free and sit at #6 and #7, respectively. Both movies were popular and influential when they debuted, and have stood the test of time, as new generations have discovered both. And the two movies couldn’t be more different, with one being a musical and the other a crime thriller with a non-linear structure.

Travolta was coming off his hit film, Saturday Night Fever in 1977 when Grease opened a year later and became a beloved hit, earning nearly $160 million at the domestic box office on a $6 million budget (not counting releases). The instant classic about a greaser named Danny (Travolta) falling in love with Sandy (Olivia Newton John), a well-to-do girl, cemented his major movie star status, and is considered one of the greatest musicals ever.

By the time Pulp Fiction opened in October 1994, Travolta’s career had more or less stalled out. While Look Who’s Talking had briefly revitalized his career in 1989, the movies released prior and after were mostly forgotten. Director Quentin Tarantino’s classic helped to re-launch Travolta’s career, and he was soon being paid tens of millions of dollars to star in films like Broken Arrow, Michael, and Face/Off.

‘Pulp Fiction’ Recently Celebrated its 30th Anniversary

Pulp Fiction celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2024 with a 4K screening in theaters last October and an Ultra HD Blu-ray and digital release in December. Tarantino’s film defied many cinematic conventions when it debuted at Cannes in 1994, going on to win the Palme d’Or, the prestigious film festival’s top award.

While the 1990s saw the rise of the indie / art house feature, Pulp Fiction stood apart from other famous films released that decade, including El Mariachi, Gas Food Lodging, Clerks, The Usual Suspects, Fargo, and others. Its ode to crime pulp stories and non-linear narrative entranced both audiences and critics alike, and currently sits at 92% critical and 96% audience Fresh ratings at Rotten Tomatoes.

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Pulp Fiction’s influence also spawned a slew of copycats, including Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Even Go (1999), directed by Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) and written by John August (Big Fish) shares similar narratives and non-linear structure.

And unlike his peers, Tarantino never became a fully mainstream director, choosing instead to focus on films like Jackie Brown, Kill Bill Vols. 1 and 2 (he considers them one film in two parts), and Django Unchained. He has claimed he will direct only one more film following his ninth, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which debuted in 2019.

There isn’t any word on what his tenth and final film will be, following his abandoning of The Critic earlier in 2024. The film, set in the 1970s, had Brad Pitt starring and followed a film critic who wrote for a magazine like Playboy, and was inspired by Pauline Kael, an influential critic.

You can make it a John Travolta double feature with Grease and Pulp Fiction which are both streaming free on Pluto.

• Release Date

  October 14, 1994

  Runtime

  154 minutes

• Release Date

  July 7, 1978

  Runtime

  110 minutes

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