Clint Eastwood’s Flags Of Our Fathers has come and gone in most theatres, and it looks like it didn’t quite live up to expectations. Shot for $90 million, the WWII pic has so far grossed only $33 million domestically. My guess is that it just looked overly patriotic and sentimental at a time when people had seen enough of that. However, as it turns out, Eastwood has also been working simultaneously on a companion piece called Letters From Iwo Jima, which tells the story from the Japanese side. This, in my opinion, is a lot more interesting, if only because it’s a perspective we don’t often get in WWII flicks.

A trailer and website have now gone online for Letters From Iwo Jima, and it looks to focus a lot more on the battle itself than Flags Of Our Fathers did (which, in my opinion, is a good thing). But will the lack of interest in Flags doom Letters From Iwo Jima before it even hits theatres? I know a lot of people have been talking up both of these movies with Oscars in mind, but does Clint run the risk of splitting votes between the two choices? Personally I’m just interested to see if an American director can do this story justice. It’s pretty weird to think that he probably had to direct most of the actors without really knowing what they were saying either. Letters From Iwo Jima will be released on December 20th, most likely in select theatres. Check out the website and trailer now at the link below.