Here's why Wes Anderson's next two movies aren't on Searchlight

With seven nominations under his belt, perennial Oscar nominee Wes Anderson can make his own choices. It helps that he's one of Hollywood's most visually creative writers. Since 2012's "Moonrise Kingdom," released by Focus Features, Searchlight has distributed all of Anderson's features, from his 2014 biggest worldwide hit, "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (four Craftsmanship Oscars, $163 million worldwide) and the 2018 stop-motion "Isle of Dogs" ($59 million in 2018) to "The French Dispatch" in 2021 ($45.6 million worldwide) which was delayed by a year its world premiere in Cannes due to the pandemic and which also relied, like everyone else, on online revenue.

So why did Anderson return to Focus for his latest star-studded comedy set, “Asteroid City” (2023), an original “poetic meditation on the meaning of life” co-written with regular collaborator Roman Coppola ? This time, Anderson returns to a fictional American location, staging the 1955 story at a desert town's Junior Stargazer convention, which attracts competing students and their parents from across the country. (Yet the Europhile is shooting the film in Spain.)

Regular cast members Jason Schwartzman, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Ed Norton, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum and Tony Revolori return, alongside Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis , Stephen Park, Rupert Friend, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Matt Dillon, Hong Chau, Margot Robbie and Rita Wilson and "many more," according to the press release.

The truth is, Anderson was happy to go with either distributor. It was not his decision to make. The player who decided on the deal was the man who has financed all of Anderson's films since 2006, Steven Rales, chief executive of Indian Paintbrush. He closed the deal with Focus and Universal International to handle global distribution on Searchlight's competitive offering.

Searchlight hopes to be back in the Anderson business next time. "We love Wes and are sad not to be a part of it," a Searchlight spokesperson told IndieWire. “We can't wait to see it. We love working with him.”

UTA Clients Wes Anderson and Lea Seydoux

Stéphane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images

"We are beyond thrilled to be the global home of Asteroid City," said Peter Kujawski, President of Focus Features, "bringing Focus back into business with Wes and his producing partners."

Focus recently opened “Brian and Charles” and “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris,” starring Lesley Manville and Isabelle Huppert. also featuring Issa Rae and Ashton Kutcher; Todd Field's "TÁR" featuring Cate Blanchett; and James Gray's Cannes entry "Armageddon Time" featuring Jeremy Strong, Anth...