Terrence Malick's 'Voyage of Time' Highlights History of the Cosmos

Voyage of Time the IMAX Experience
Brad Pitt narrates Terrence Malick's latest documentary, "Voyage of Time: The IMAX Experience." The film spans eons, from the Big Bang to the rise of diverse life-forms on planet Earth. (Image credit: "Voyage of Time: The IMAX Experience" Trailer)

A new IMAX documentary by award-winning director Terrence Malick takes viewers on a journey through time and outer space. 

The documentary, "Voyage of Time: The IMAX Experience," took Malick nearly four decades to complete, according to a press release accompanying a recently released trailer for the film. The trailer describes the movie as a documentary on the entire lifetime of the cosmos, and features absolutely gorgeous images showing stunning cosmic landscapes, amazing geologic formations and majestic living creatures.

An IMAX version and non-IMAX version of the film will be released in theaters. Actor Brad Pitt, who starred in Malick's 2011 film "Tree of Life," narrates the 40-minute giant-screen adventure as it takes audiences through "the past, present and future," the press release said. This version is set for release in IMAX theaters on Oct. 7. ['A Beautiful Planet': A 3D Film of Earth from Space]

A 90-minute, non-IMAX version of the movie, titled "Voyage of Time: Life’s Journey" and narrated by actress Cate Blanchett, will also be shown in traditional theaters, though the release date for that version has not yet been announced. 

Starting with the birth of the stars and galaxies, the documentary spans eons — from the Big Bang through the subsequent explosion of diverse life-forms on planet Earth, including the rise of dinosaurs and the evolution of modern humans. 

While Malick has directed various other films, including "The Thin Red Line," "Voyage of Time" is his first venture into the world of documentary storytelling. 

IMAX movies and space seem to go hand in hand. In April, IMAX released the documentary "A Beautiful Planet," which was filmed by astronauts on the International Space Station, and depicts life on the station and the beauty of Earth below. Other IMAX films that have included footage captured in space, or that have a space theme, include the 2014 science fiction epic "Interstellar" and the documentaries "Hubble 3D," "Cosmic Voyage," "The Dream Is Alive" and "Blue Planet."

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Samantha Mathewson
Contributing Writer

Samantha Mathewson joined Space.com as an intern in the summer of 2016. She received a B.A. in Journalism and Environmental Science at the University of New Haven, in Connecticut. Previously, her work has been published in Nature World News. When not writing or reading about science, Samantha enjoys traveling to new places and taking photos! You can follow her on Twitter @Sam_Ashley13.