Wes Anderson’s next film, “Asteroid City,” will be released by Focus Features in select cities on June 16, 2023, with a nationwide release the following week.
The film sees Wes Anderson and his Indian Paintbrush production outlet return to Focus for the first time since his 2012 film “Moonrise Kingdom,” which was followed by three films released by Searchlight Pictures. His last film, “The French Dispatch,” was released in 2021 and grossed $46.3 million worldwide, Anderson’s lowest grossing since “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” in 2009 but higher than many arthouse films that struggled to gain a foothold in the post-shutdown theatrical market.
At a time when arthouse films have largely struggled to find a theatrical audience, Focus will be looking for a strong turnout from Anderson’s devoted fans during a crowded June release slate that is loaded with major blockbusters. The film’s limited release will fall on the same weekend as Warner Bros./DC’s “The Flash” and the original Pixar film “Elemental,” with the wide release happening one week before Disney releases “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.”
“Asteroid City” is set in 1955 in a fictional American desert town, where a convention of “Junior Stargazers” is set to bring students and parents together for scholarly competition. But the convention is soon disrupted by events that will change the world.
As with all of the director’s films, “Asteroid City” features an ensemble cast that includes previous Anderson collaborators Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Ed Norton, Adrien Brody, and Liev Schrieber, with Tom Hanks making his first appearance in an Anderson film.