Wes Anderson Announces Next Film, ‘Asteroid City’

Less than a year after the release of his most recent movie, Wes Anderson is already at work on his next feature film. This one is called Asteroid City, and while it does not have an official release date yet, it will be coming soon from Focus Features and Indian Paintbrush.

Here is how a press release describes the premise, which was conceived by Anderson and Roman Coppola:

ASTEROID CITY is a poetic meditation on the meaning of life. It tells the story of a fictional American desert town circa 1955 and its Junior Stargazer convention, which brings together students and parents from across the country for scholarly competition, rest/recreation, comedy, drama, romance, and more.

So that definitely sounds like a Wes Anderson movie for sure.

In keeping with his last several movies like The Grand Budapest Hotel and The French Dispatch, the film features an enormous all-star cast. In the case of Asteroid City, the names include Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Ed Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Stephen Park, Rupert Friend, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Matt Dillon, Hong Chau, Willem Dafoe, Margot Robbie, Tony Revolori, Jake Ryan, Grace Edwards, Aristou Meehan, Sophia Lillis, Ethan Lee, Jeff Goldblum, and Rita Wilson. The press release claims there are “many more” people in it beyond that. 26 name stars weren’t enough?!?

Asteroid City will be Anderson’s 11th film in a 25 year career. While he has become one of the most beloved arthouse directors of his generation, he’s made just one film that grossed more than $100 million. Want to take a guess which one it was? Answer: The Grand Budapest Hotel. (His second highest-grossing movie is The Royal Tenenbaums, which made $71.4 million worldwide.)

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