Wes Anderson Takes on Aliens and the West

Focus Features has released the trailer for Asteroid City, the latest ensemble period film from the director Wes Anderson. Asteroid City is the director’s 11th feature film, and is set for a wide release in June this year. The movie is set at a Space Cadet convention, which is being held in a fictional desert town in 1955—just when the idea of space was booming.

The film is the latest collaboration between Anderson and Focus after his last three movies—The Grand Budapest Hotel, Isle of Dogs and The French Dispatch—saw their distribution handled by Searchlight Pictures. Indian Paintbrush is also partnering on the film, with the company working alongside Anderson on every project since 2012’s Moonrise Kingdom.

The Asteroid City trailer taps into that bright, off-kilter aesthetic that has become uniquely linked to Anderson’s films. The uneasy feeling that this aesthetic brings with it is only more compounded by the film’s setting, which feels both vividly real and built as an artifice. With this cast and this fun setting, it seems Anderson has another instant classic on the horizon.

RELATED: Wes Anderson’s ‘Asteroid City’ Sets Theatrical Release Date

Asteroid City is Anderson’s first since 2021’s The French Dispatch which premiered at that year’s Cannes Film Festival, although for the first time in five films, it failed to garner a nomination at the Academy Awards— the first of Anderson’s films since The Darjeeling Limited in 2007 to be snubbed.

Who Is In Asteroid City?

Asteroid City is written and directed by Anderson, alongside his long-time collaborator Roman Coppola, while Anderson also produces alongside Steven Rales — founder of Indian Paintbrush—and Jeremy Dawson. His lucky charms Jason Schwartzman and Adrien Brody appear in the film, as well as frequent collaborators like Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Liev Schreiber and Bryan Cranston. As is standard with Anderson films, the cast is littered with A-list stars and big names, with Maya Hawke, Scarlett Johansson, Margot Robbie, Steve Carell, Sophia Lillis, and Tom Hanks also signing on to the film.

Asteroid City will be released in limited theaters on June 16, 2023, before expanding its theatrical release on June 23, 2023. Check out our interview with Cranston where discussed Asteroid City and working with Anderson and watch the trailer below:

The official synopsis for the film states:

The itinerary of a Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention (organized to bring together students and parents from across the country for fellowship and scholarly competition) is spectacularly disrupted by world-changing events.