Fox Searchlight to release 'Tree of Life'

Fox Searchlight Pictures has acquired the theatrical rights to Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life," which stars Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain. The studio said it will release the film next year.

"Terrence Malick has crafted a deeply moving, keenly observed and magisterial film. Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and the entire cast's performances are simply amazing," said the studio's Stephen Gilula and Nancy Utley.

"The Tree of Life" is the impressionistic story of a Midwestern family in the 1950s chronicling the journey of the eldest son Jack (Sean Penn) through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years.

Jack tries to reconcile the complicated relationship with his father (Pitt) and finds himself a lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life while questioning the existence of faith.