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Total Film
Total Film
Entertainment
Emily Garbutt

Asteroid City is a town under quarantine and potential alien invasion in new trailer for Wes Anderson's next movie

Jason Schwartzman and Tom Hanks in Asteroid City

It seems Wes Anderson is trying his hand at sci-fi, as the first trailer for the director's next movie, Asteroid City, arrives.

The movie is set in the '50s in a fictional desert town in the US, where Jason Schartzman's protagonist's car breaks down while he's dropping off his son at a junior stargazer and space cadet convention. However, the event is spectacularly disrupted by "world-changing events" when it seems an alien spaceship touches down in Asteroid City. The town is put under quarantine, trapping the junior space cadets, Schwartzman's character, his four kids, and their grandfather (Tom Hanks) within the city limits – without an end in sight.

Sci-fi is a change of pace for the director, who's known for his whimsical dramas like The Grand Budapest Hotel and The French Dispatch, but we can't wait to see how this technicolor adventure pans out.

Asteroid City features a huge ensemble cast of A-listers and plenty of regular Anderson collaborators, including Scarlett Johansson, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Willem Dafoe, Margot Robbie, Jeff Goldblum, Rita Wilson, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Stephen Park, Rupert Friend, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Hong Chau, Tony Revolori, and Sophia Lillis.

Anderson co-wrote the screenplay with Roman Coppola, who he previously worked with on 2007's The Darjeeling Limited and 2012's Moonrise Kingdom – the latter of which was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. 

Asteroid City will arrive in select theaters on July 16, with a wider release following on July 23. In the meantime, check out our guide to the rest of 2023's most exciting movie release dates.

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