Wes Anderson finally won his Oscar for the short film The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, and now the acclaimed director is returning with his next feature length movie, The Phoenician Scheme.
Like his most recent effort, 2023’s Asteroid City, The Phoenician Scheme is another star-studded affair, with both frequent collaborators and exciting new players joining Anderson’s 2025 new movie both in front of and behind the camera.
Find out everything you need to know about The Phoenician Scheme directly below.
The Phoenician Scheme release date
Audiences can watch The Phoenician Scheme starting May 30, when the movie gets a limited release in US movie theaters before it expands wide to additional US markets on June 6, courtesy of Focus Features. The movie is also expected to premiere in UK cinemas on May 30.
Prior to its release to general audiences, The Phoenician Scheme is going to screen in competition at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.
The Phoenician Scheme cast
As always, Anderson has brought together quite the acclaimed cast for his latest movie. Leading the movie is Benicio Del Toro as Zsa-zsa Korda, one of the richest men in Europe. Oscar-winner Del Toro (Traffic) previously worked with Anderson on The French Dispatch. Meanwhile, a pair of new additions to Anderson’s troupe playing key roles are Mia Threapleton (The Buccaneers) as Sister Liesel, Zsa-zsa’s daughter who has become a nun, and Michael Cera (Scott Pilgrim vs the World) as Bjorn Lund, their tutor.
Other members of the cast that have previously worked with Anderson include Tom Hanks (Asteroid City), Bryan Cranston (Isle of Dogs, Asteroid City), Mathieu Amalric (The Grand Budapest Hotel, The French Dispatch), Jeffrey Wright (The French Dispatch, Asteroid City), Scarlett Johansson (Asteroid City), Richard Ayodae (The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar), Rupert Friend (The French Dispatch, Asteroid City), Hope Davis (Asteroid City) and Benedict Cumberbatch (The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar). Meanwhile, Riz Ahemd (Sound of Metal) is another first-time collaborator with Anderson.
The Phoenician Scheme plot
Frequent collaborators, Anderson and Roman Coppola once again worked together to co-write the script for The Phoenician Scheme. Here is the (sparse) synopsis for the movie from Focus Features:
“The story of a family and a family business.”
The Phoenician Scheme trailer
Watch the trailer for The Phoenician Scheme, which sees Anderson expanding his sandbox once again with what looks like a globe-trotting adventure, right here:
Wes Anderson movies
Anderson has been quite prolific in recent years, with The Phoenician Scheme representing his third feature-length movie since 2021 (The French Dispatch and Asteroid City the others) and his fourth project overall when you throw in The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.
Anderson is of course best known for his trademark visual style and dialogue, as famously seen across his directing resume, which you can review right here:
- Bottle Rocket (1996)
- Rushmore (1998)
- The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
- The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
- The Darjeeling Limited (2007)
- Fantastic Mr. Fox (2010)
- Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
- The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
- Isle of Dogs (2018)
- The French Dispatch (2021)
- Asteroid City (2023)
The Phoenician Scheme behind the scenes
The Phoenician Scheme was filmed in Germany in association with Studio Babelsberg.
Anderson is a producer through his production company American Empirical Pictures, working with Indian Paintbrush and Steven Rales, Jeremy Dawson and John Peet.
This is the third movie that Anderson has made and released in collaboration with Indian Paintbrush and Focus Features. The previous two were Moonlight Kingdom and Asteroid City.
