Quentin Tarantino fans, get ready to double your pleasure.

Miramax Films and the writer-director of '90s landmarks Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs have announced unusual plans to splice his long-awaited new action film, Kill Bill, into two movies and release them within months of each other, a studio rep confirmed Wednesday.

"There were no obstacles involved in splitting up Kill Bill at all because I've always designed the movie, thought about the film, as malleable in any number of versions," Tarantino said in a statement to the New York Times, adding that he was considering releasing three separate versions in Asia, Europe and America.

Tarantino said the idea to divide the three-hour martial-arts epic was initially suggested by Miramax honcho Harvey Weinstein after the mogul visited the set in China, where the filmmaker spent more than five grueling months filming his 200-page script.

Miramax's blessing may come as a surprise to those movie-biz folks who refer to Weinstein as "Harvey Scissorhands," a nickname reflecting the studio czar's penchant for forcing directors not only to slash costs on their films but also running times.

But, according to Miramax's cofounder, there are exceptions to the rule.

"Miramax is the house Quentin Tarantino built," Weinstein told the New York Times on Tuesday, adding that the helmer was given "carte blanche."

Miramax is backing the three-hour martial arts epic to the tune of $55 million, excluding marketing costs--a paltry sum compared to most Hollywood blockbusters, but helped by the movie's Chinese location shoot and accommodating actors, many of whom worked for scale.

Weinstein said Tarantino liked the idea of breaking up Bill enough to shoot two opening credit sequences for the film, which like his other work, divides the story into chapters.

But it wasn't until Miramax chief flew to Los Angeles three weeks ago and saw a rough cut of the first hour and a half that the decision was set in stone.

Kill Bill, Tarantino's fifth big-screen helming effort and his first since 1997's underwhelming Jackie Brown, stars Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Daryl Hannah, Michael Madsen and David Carradine. Martial-arts master Sonny Chiba, to whom Tarantino paid homage in his script for 1993's True Romance, also makes an appearance.

The plot follows a female assassin known as the Bride (Thurman), who's attacked on her wedding day and ends up in a coma. She wakes up five years later and decides to seek bloody revenge on Bill (Carradine), the man who tried to kill her.

Chock-full of gory fight sequences, Kill Bill is Tarantino's first all-out action flick, fusing his beloved kung-fu flicks and pulpy B-movie revenge thrillers to create what insiders say is his most violent movie to date.

Tarantino has staged his brutal fights scenes in several locations, including a nightclub called the House of Blue Leaves (in which 100 people are reportedly slain), a snow-covered garden and a suburban home. There's so much bloodshed that the director is said to have ordered special "samurai" blood just to get the right shiny look.

Serializing films isn't unheard of in Hollywood, especially considering the recent blockbuster successes of The Lord of the Rings and The Matrix trilogies. But some industry types suggest there's a risk splitting Bill into two 90-minute features, saying audiences might not embrace the idea of paying twice for what Weinstein calls "just a fun B-movie."

There are some logistical problems, too. For instance, the studio must now renegotiate Thurman and Liu's salaries, since the stars' contracts were initially for one movie, not two.

But Weinstein insists it works out and he's hoping Tarantino's draw as a top-drawer filmmaker and his rabid fanbase will make Bill more popular than a Royale with cheese.

Part one of Kill Bill is scheduled for release on October 10, while the concluding installment will likely hit theaters in early 2004.