When you think of big budget productions shot back-to-back, your mind will instantly wander towards The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End, The Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions, or Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame.
That’s completely fair when those aforementioned movies racked up billions upon billions of dollars in ticket sales, but that means the time Clint Eastwood did it often gets swept under the rug. The legendary actor and acclaimed filmmaker shot World War II epics Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima in one extensive block at a combined cost of nearly $120 million, with the two historical tales releasing exactly two months apart in October and December of 2006.
Ironically, it was the cheaper of the two that earned more money from theaters, scored superior reviews from critics, and fared better among audiences. Flags of Our Fathers was a bomb after recouping just $60 million on a $90 million budget, while Letters from Iwo Jima nabbed $68 million on a production spend of $19 million.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the former holds respectable critical and user scores of 72 and 69 percent, but the latter exceeded it with ratings of 91 and 86 percent. Based on the critical and commercial consensus, then, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Letters from Iwo Jima is the one making a comeback on streaming.
As per FlixPatrol, the companion piece recounting the titular battle from the perspective of the Japanese soldiers has been rocketing up the charts on Google Play Movies, but it’s well worth your time to seek out both halves of the stirring true-life tale.