ASTEROID CITY (2023): Wes Anderson’s Latest Gets a Six-Minute Standing Ovation at Cannes

Wes Anderson Film Met with a Great Response at Cannes

The new Wes Anderson picture, Asteroid City, is getting some nice reactions at Cannes, not the least of which is a six-minute standing ovation.

Wes Anderson’s previous film, The French Dispatch, deserved an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. It didn’t happen for whatever reason. Now, though, Anderson’s latest, Asteroid City, seems poised for wide mainstream acclaim given its six-minute standing ovation after its premiere at Cannes. Could a Best Picture nod or another screenplay nomination be far behind? If distributor Focus Features does what it has to, the answer is that a nomination for Oscar gold could possibly be coming Anderson’s way.

Scarlett Johansson was the talk of Cannes after people saw her performance in the new Anderson picture as–what else?–an actress (named Midge Campbell) in a desert tourist-laced town. Johansson sports dark hair in her role in the picture. Jason Schwartzman may be the film’s male lead but all eyes were on Tom Hanks who is new to Anderson territory and, according to some reviews, Hanks held his own against the high-profile ensemble cast of the picture. Steve Carell and Margot Robbie are also onboard Anderson’s new thought-provoking laugh fest.

Anderson and Roman Coppola wrote the story of Asteroid City which seems a likely contender for a Best Screenplay nomination come Oscar time. Most of the events in the movie are “a play within a play” narrated by none other than Bryan Cranston! The film is set in 1955.

The last time Focus Features and Wes Anderson teamed up, the results were absolutely terrific. It was, perhaps, Anderson’s finest hour with the 2012 gem Moonrise Kingdom. Some will say The Grand Budapest Hotel from Searchlight was better but Moonrise Kingdom has a special place in Anderson fans’ hearts for its adorable young actors and seasoned older ones.

What makes the six-minute standing ovation an indicator of the film’s possibility to be a box-office hit is the fact that the Cannes audience seemed to connect to the material which is something that not every Anderson film is able to make its audiences do–see The Royal Tenenbaums which garnered a deadly “C-” CinemaScore grade. The alien and family themes that are front and center in Asteroid City could be the types of plot lines that will intrigue audiences to a greater degree than they usually are by Anderson’s movies. While some early reviews of Asteroid City are mixed, the overall response is highly encouraging. It could even do $40-45 million at the domestic box-office as summer counter-programming to the blockbusters.

Asteroid City is opening on June 16th and is Anderson’s 11th film. It is Johansson’s first live-action film with Anderson. After the six-minute standing ovation at Cannes, we are expecting great things. Look for our review when the film opens!

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