Terrence Malick

Terrence Malick's post-Tree of Life work has become impenetrable: his last three films average a 58% score on Metacritic, 27 points below his earlier 85% average. While The Tree of Life won the Palme d'Or in 2011, films like To the Wonder and Knight of Cups cost roughly $10 million each but gross less than $1 million, a 90% loss—30% worse than the typical art-house director's break-even rate. Malick's refusal of conventional narrative now reads as self-indulgence, outperforming only #4 Zack Snyder in alienating audiences, with six consecutive films losing money.