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Having taken a 20-year sabbatical from directing feature films and then waiting seven years to deliver another one following his long-awaited comeback, Terrence Malick has been positively prolific ever since The New World seemingly reignited his creative passion.
The 2005 historical epic marked just his fourth movie as director since 1973, only for him to embark on what’s a frenzied run of output by his laconic standards after going on to helm another six in the aftermath, with a seventh on the way. As the majority of his recent output tends to do, though, the retelling of the drama between Colin Farrell’s John Smith and America’s indigenous communities in 17th Century took a while to gain favor.
It may have been the recipient of awards season recognition for its stunning visuals, but reviews were largely mixed at the time of its release, contributing to the meandering and lengthy period piece earning less than $50 million at the box office against a $30 million budget.
Time can heal most wounds, in fairness, and that’s proven to be the case with The New World after it slowly but surely underwent a reappraisal, to the extent there’s now a lot of folks out there who would name it as not just Malick’s best, but one of the finest cinematic experiences to emerge from the entirety of the 2000s.
It remains unclear how many streaming users will end up forming that opinion, although one thing that can’t be denied is The New World‘s return to prominence on-demand, with FlixPatrol revealing it to be one of the biggest hits on iTunes this week.