There was never a chance that Terence Malick’s next film, Tree of Life, was going to come out in 2009. Some people held hopes for it, but Malick is slow, and there’s an IMAX component to the film – a companion film, it seems, although nothing is clear – that means release scheduling may have to be built around that.

But now it’s official: you will not see new Malick in 2009. Anne Thompson caught up with Bob Berney, head of Tree of Life‘s distributor Apparition, who said that their tentative December 25th release date was pie in the sky. “It’s definitely not going to come out this year,” he said.

Malick is still working on the film, a 50s family drama that spans the history of the entire planet (yes, there are dinosaurs), which he has been planning for the last three decades. And this is Malick, which means he’s in absolutely no rush at all. It’s unknown when the film will hit – maybe at  Cannes next year?  – but I think it’s going to be a wait.