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With a new film featuring a star-studded ensemble led by an Oscar-winner, Wes Anderson did wonders with his most recent pic, which is now a streaming hit in the U.S. The Phoenician Scheme, starring Benicio del Toro, hit theaters nationwide on May 30, and less than two months later, on July 25, it landed on Peacock, where it has maintained a very well-deserved dominating spot.

Per FlixPatrol, The Phoenician Scheme is #1 on Peacock in the U.S., a spot it has held on to since arriving on the streamer, except on July 29, when it climbed down to second place. Meghann Fahy’s thriller Drop now takes up that position, with Robert De Niro’s 2023 comedy, About My Father, as #3. Rounding out the top five are the 2008 animation Horton Hears a Who! and Hotel Transylvania 2.

In The Phoenician Scheme, Del Toro portrays a wealthy businessman, Zsa-zsa Korda, who is on the run...

The Phoenician Scheme

Director: Wes Anderson

Starring: Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Mathieu Amalric, Richard Ayoade, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rupert Friend, Hope Davis, F. Murray Abraham, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Willem Dafoe, and Bill Murray

Rating: Can’t Be Rated

I don’t like the cinema of Wes Anderson. It reminds me of those disjointed incoherent self consciously capricious film-school projects where the student wants to let the world he doesn’t care a fig about the rules.

Continuing his flabbergasting quest for the crest of quirkiness, Wes Anderson has now come up with The Phoenician Scheme a film that rattles all rationale and stirs up a storm in a teacup. Like other Anderson oddities this one too is visualized in cartoonstrip colours, mostly pale green, and a mood of mythologized satire , which itself is problematic for any serious viewing.

The...

“The Phoenician Scheme”, ‘black comedy’ feature, written and directed by Wes Anderson, stars Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Riz Ahmed, Bryan Cranston, Mathieu Amalric, Richard Ayoade, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rupert Friend, Hope Davis, F. Murray Abraham, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Willem Dafoe and Bill Murray, streaming July 25, 2025 on Peacock:

“…in 1950, arms dealer, industrialist ‘Zsa-Zsa Korda’ narrowly survives an assassination attempt. While unconscious, he enters the afterlife, where a divine court judges his worthiness to enter ‘Heaven’.

“Knowing he cannot run forever, Korda tries to mend his relationship with his only daughter, Catholic novice ‘Sister Liesl’…”

Click the images to enlarge…...

Amazon MGM Studios’ adaptation of Sarah Hogle’s 2020 bestseller You Deserve Each Other has widened its cast, recruiting Kyle MacLachlan, Justin Long, Natalie Morales, Ana Gasteyer, Timothy Busfield and Hope Davis alongside previously announced leads Penn Badgley and Meghann Fahy. The feature was formally unveiled on 30 June and immediately sparked a tongue-in-cheek Instagram spat between Badgley and Fahy that doubled as early promotion.

The screenplay began with writers Brett Haley and Marc Basch before being overhauled by long-time rom-com partners Marc Silverstein and Abby Kohn, who will also direct and whose credits include Never Been Kissed and He’s Just Not That Into You. Fifth Season is financing the picture with Likely Story’s Anthony Bregman and Peter Cron, while Caroline Jaczko joins as executive producer.

Hogle’s novel—twice shortlisted for the Goodreads Choice Awards—follows Naomi Westfield and Nicholas Rose, an engaged pair who sabotage one another to dodge...

Exclusive: Big casting myriad sources are telling us tonight for the Amazon MGM Studios feature take of Sarah Hogle’s bestselling novel You Deserve Each Other with Natalie Morales, Justin Long, Kyle MacLachlan, Ana Gasteyer, Timothy Busfield, Hope Davis, Delaney Rowe, Lisa Gilroy and Alyssa Limperis joining already cast Penn Badgley and Meghann Fahy.

Billed as a lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers romantic comedy, You Deserve Each Other, follows Naomi Westfield who has the perfect fiancé: Nicholas Rose who holds doors open for her, remembers her restaurant orders, and comes from the kind of upstanding society family any bride would love to be a part of. They never fight. They’re preparing for their lavish wedding that’s three months away. And she is miserably and utterly sick of him.

Naomi wants out, but there’s a catch: whoever ends the engagement will have to foot the nonrefundable wedding bill. When Naomi discovers that Nicholas,...

The Phoenician Scheme is finally winding down its theatrical run after grossing $35 million at the worldwide box office, but the film just got easier for everyone to watch, even at home. Universal Pictures has officially announced that The Phoenician Scheme is now available to rent or purchase on digital platforms like Prime Video or Fandango at Home. To celebrate the news, Collider has even partnered with the studio to bring you an exclusive behind-the-scenes featurette showing director Wes Anderson sing the praises of leading star Benicio del Toro, and also explain how he settled on casting a relative newcomer among a roster of stars like Mia Threapleton. The featurette, along with information about the film’s digital release, can be found below.

In addition to del Toro and Threapleton, Anderson recruited a star-studded roster of talent to bring The Phoenician Scheme to life, though this isn’t uncommon for the director.

Director Wes Anderson has developed quite a sterling reputation for delivering movies that are unmistakably his, and also commercially bankable. But his post-pandemic run has been slightly underwhelming, especially when compared to the high benchmark that he set for himself with The Grand Budapest Hotel a decade or so ago. That movie concluded its run with over $170 million worldwide and is largely considered to be Anderson’s only crossover hit. His other films, including his latest, The Phoenician Scheme, have generally catered to his devoted fan base.

The movie expanded into wide release this weekend, following a record debut seven days ago in just six theaters. The Phoenician Scheme has grossed around $7 million domestically, and another $11 million from overseas markets, for a cumulative global haul of $18 million in around 10 days of release. Produced on a reported budget of $30 million, the movie is already set to overtake the $19 million lifetime global haul of Anderson’s Rushmore,...

It would seem like director Wes Anderson’s charm might be wearing off, going by the mediocre response that his latest film, The Phoenician Scheme, has been greeted with. Despite his popularity in cinephile circles, Anderson has largely struggled to crossover into the mainstream. And he doesn’t really need to. He’s been making movies with controlled budgets, earning massive critical acclaim, and generating respectable profits as well. The Phoenician Scheme, however, has opened with a lower CinemaScore grade than his recent projects, which could be a concern.

The movie earned a B- grade from the folks that watched it on its first day of wide release. The Phoenician Scheme debuted in six locations last week, predictably delivering the year’s best limited debut. It’s expected to gross around $6 million this weekend, which would be enough for a spot in the top five. Produced on a reported budget of $30 million,...

(L to R) Benicio Del Toro as Zsa-Zsa Korda, Michael Cera as Bjorn and Mia Threapleton as Liesl in director Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme, a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Tps Productions/Focus Features © 2025 All Rights Reserved.

For any new Wes Anderson film, some things are certain: the art direction is going to be gorgeous, scenes will have central framing, and every little detail will be carefully thought out. That distinctive visual style is one of the things fans love about Wes Anderson’s work and that distinct visual aesthetic is on full display in The Phoencian Scheme, which explores the vast moral emptiness of the lives of the ultra rich, through a tale of a sort-of Howard Hughes-ish/tech billionaire-type character in the same 1950s-ish world as Asteroid City. The dark comedy, written by Anderson from a story by him and Roman Coppola, is a...

Michael Cera is one of the Hollywood stars who has made a mark in both film and television. However, despite his prolific career, the actor had an unexpected moment when he met martial artist and global icon Jackie Chan.

Cera, who is recently busy promoting Wes Anderson’s new black comedy, The Phoenician Scheme, recently reflected on crossing paths with The Karate Kid star, who left him baffled after he didn’t recognize him.

Michael Cera recalled his awkward interaction with Jackie Chan

In a recent interview with NME, Michael Cera recalled his coincidental encounter with Jackie Chan in London, where both were promoting their respective films, Cera for The Phoenician Scheme and Chan for The Karate Kid: Legends.

Michael Cera in The Phoenician Scheme | Credit: Focus Features

“She asked if I knew Jackie Chan, which I don’t, so she said ‘come meet him’. That was that,” he recalled...

For someone whose movies seem so meticulously crafted, director Wes Anderson sure knows how to keep them coming. In the post-pandemic era alone, the filmmaker has released three theatrical features (and four shorts on Netflix). His latest, the espionage comedy The Phoenician Scheme, opened to typically positive reviews this week, and set the record for the year's biggest debut for a limited release. Anderson is the undisputed king of the platform release; his last few movies have delivered incredible numbers in only a handful of locations.

The Phoenician Schemeopened in six locations this week, grossing over $570,000 for a per-theater average of $95,000. This is the best per-theater average of the year so far, but lower than the record $132,000 PTA that Anderson's Asteroid City scored a few years ago in four theaters. Produced on a reported budget of $25 million, Asteroid City made nearly $55 million worldwide. A couple of years before that, The...

Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme is now the top grossing limited opening of the year with an estimated $570k at just six locations in New York and LA for a per theater average of $95k. The Focus Features’ film expands to 1,500 screens next weekend.

The film unseats A24’s Friendship which kicked the indie box into high gear last month with a great $445k limited opening and $75k per theater opening for Andrew DeYoung’s feature debut starring comedian Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd. It’s at no. 8 this weekend.

The Phoenician Scheme, written by Anderson and Roman Coppola, stars Benicio del Toro as a family patriarch and business titan beset by rivals and assassins, and Mia Threapleton as his daughter, a nun, whom he wants to inherit it all. Michael Cera, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Riz Ahmed, Mathieu Amalric, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Richard Ayoade, Rupert Friend, Hope Davis,...

Born to Be Offbeat Before she was dubbed “The Queen of the Indies,” Parker Posey was a precocious, premature twin from Baltimore. Born in 1968, she spent most of her childhood in Mississippi in a household that did not quite know what to do with her dreamer energy. “I was kind of strange,” a 27-year-old Posey told Index Magazine in 1996, “... very absent-minded.” Things to do: Subscribe to The Hollywood Insider’s YouTube Channel, by clicking here. Limited Time Offer – Free Subscription to The Hollywood Insider Click here to read more on The Hollywood Insider’s vision, values and mission statement here – Media has the responsibility to better our world – The Hollywood Insider fully focuses on substance and meaningful entertainment, against gossip and scandal, by combining entertainment, education, and philanthropy. She eventually found a home for her creativity. She attended the State University of New York at Purchase, a training ground for...

Wes Anderson, one of Hollywood’s most revered and identifiable contemporary filmmakers, is back with “The Phoenician Scheme.” The writer-director’s follow-up to his acclaimed 2023 sci-fi dramedy, “Asteroid City,” is another high-concept, highly stylized ensemble film bursting with more vibrant pastels and deadpan gags than you can count. But will it be able to live up to the standard of Anderson’s past films? There is only one way to find out.

Here is how, when and where you can watch “The Phoenician Scheme.”

When does “The Phoenician Scheme” come out?

“The Phoenician Scheme” is set to be released in limited theaters on Friday, May 30. It will expand nationwide on Friday, June 6.

Is “The Phoenician Scheme” streaming?

Like most of Wes Anderson’s films, “The Phoenician Scheme” will be release exclusively in theaters. It may be weeks or months before the film makes its video-on-demand premiere, and even longer before...

Even America’s dad has a dirty mouth. While on the red carpet for “The Phoenician Scheme” on Wednesday night, Tom Hanks began joking that one of the photographers was taking too long.

“I want to be right where [the other photographers are],” Hanks said, gesturing to move along the press line so that he could pose elsewhere. The exchange ended with Hanks saying, “Shut the f–k up.”

Hanks, who dropped the f-bomb while smiling and jostling his arms, clearly meant the statement as a joke. As such, the A-lister’s outburst was met by laughter from the photographers around him.

Wes Anderson’s latest film follows a wealthy businessman who appoints his only daughter, a nun, as the sole heir to his estate. As Zsa-zsa Korda (Benicio del Toro) sets off on his latest scheme, he and his team are targeted by several foes, including corporate competitors, terrorists and assassins. In addition to del Toro and Hanks,...

Mia Threapleton is leading her first major movie and she was joined by the star-studded cast at the NYC premiere!

The 24-year-old actress, who is the daughter of Oscar winner Kate Winslet, walked the carpet with co-star Scarlett Johansson at the premiere of The Phoenician Scheme on Wednesday (May 28) at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City.

Also in attendance were co-stars Benicio del Toro, Tom Hanks, Michael Cera, Bryan Cranston, Hope Davis, Stephen Park, and F. Murray Abraham, as well as writer and director Wes Anderson.

IMDb notes that in the new film, wealthy businessman Zsa-zsa Korda (del Toro) appoints his only daughter, a nun (Threapleton), as sole heir to his estate. As Korda embarks on a new enterprise, they soon become the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists, and determined assassins.

The Phoenician Scheme will be released in limited theaters on May 30 ahead of a wider release...

Benicio Del Toro stars as Zsa-Zsa Korda in director Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme, a Focus Features release.

Credit: Courtesy of Tps Productions/Focus Features © 2025 All Rights Reserved. The new movie from writer/director Wes Anderson, The Phoenician Scheme, is a comedic spy caper with one of Anderson’s typical high-quality ensemble casts. Benicio Del Toro takes center stage as an arms dealer, joined by the likes of Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbach, Michael Cera, Bryan Cranston, and Hope Davis, among others. Del Toro was Anderson’s first choice for the central role; in fact, Del Toro told us that he was brought on board while Anderson had only a fraction of the film’s script ready to read. (Click on the media bar below to hear Benicio Del Toro.) https://www.hollywoodoutbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Benicio_-Del_Toro_The_Phoenician_Scheme_.mp3

The Phoenician Scheme opens in...

Here’s some great news for Wes Anderson aficionados awaiting the arrival of the eccentric filmmaker’s work in 4K Ultra HD: The Criterion Collection has announced that his first 10 feature films will be released as a deluxe 4K Uhd box set on September 30th. Pre-orders are ongoing.

Approved by the director himself, The Wes Anderson Archive: Ten Films, Twenty-Five Years features new 4K masters of Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Isle of Dogs, and The French Dispatch.

This expansive special edition collector’s set contains 10 4K Uhd discs presented in Dolby Vision Hdr, alongside 10 Blu-ray discs of the films. It boasts over 25 hours of special features, including audio commentaries, interviews, documentaries, deleted scenes, auditions, short films, commercials, storyboards, animation tests, archival recordings, still photography, and visual essays. 10 illustrated books...

Arriving in theaters later this week, The Phoenician Scheme is Wes Anderson's latest directorial effort, a spy comedy that stars Academy Award-winning actor Benicio del Toro in the lead role. Critics have landed on a verdict for the film, and while some might believe his unique filmmaking style is getting repetitive, most agree that it's another compelling installment in Anderson's filmography. The film is set to hit theaters on May 30, 2025.

As of this writing, The Phoenician Scheme boasts a 78% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 80 reviews by critics. Early reception for the Anderson-directed project claims that it falls well within the formula the filmmaker has crafted over the decades. However, that doesn't mean there isn't plenty to enjoy from the crime caper, which features another jaw-dropping call sheet. Read the critics' consensus from the review aggregate website:

"A caper made with all the intricacy of a Rube Goldberg machine,...

For the second time in three years, Cannes’ competition ends with a film in which Josh O’Connor plays a scruffy, late-20th-century man with some knack for pinching masterpieces. Following (spiritually or otherwise) Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera is Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind, an experiment in form so thorough and self-assured that even Robert Bresson might have appreciated it. Nobody expected the versatile director’s first heist movie to resemble Ocean’s 11, but The Mastermind is still remarkably low on flash. There is a jazzy score by Rob Mazurek and some even-jazzier opening credits, but this is very much a Reichardt joint: from its gorgeous, sylvan landscapes and autumnal color palette to the patient, observational tone, it suggests what robbing art in the early part of the 1970s might have truly felt like.

Whatever the case, The Mastermind will be billed as a new addition to the heist genre,...

Sergei Loznitsa’s Two Prosecutors and Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just An Accident finished joint top of Screen’s final 2025 Cannes jury grid with an average score of 3.1.

The final two titles on the grid, the Dardenne brothers’ Young Mothers, and Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind, both landed with 2.7.

See the final grid below:

Young Mothers sees the Dardenne brothers return to Competition with the story of five teenagers, all housed in a shelter for young mothers and hoping for a better life for themselves and their babies.

The film scored two four-stars (excellent), from Peter Bradshaw and Stephanie Zacharek,...

Josh O’Connor heaped praise on his “The Mastermind” director Kelly Reichardt during the film’s Cannes press conference on Saturday, saying “there’s a kindness” to working with her “which you don’t often get.”

“I don’t know that I was necessarily aware of it at the time but there is something in working with Kelly,” O’Connor said. “There’s a kindness to working with Kelly which you don’t often get. I find that really informs a performance.”

“The Mastermind,” a subdued, ’70s-set film starring O’Connor as an art thief on the run and Alana Haim as his wife, earned a 5.5-minute standing ovation at its premiere on Thursday night. Earlier in the press conference, O’Connor said that he’d been “a big follower of Kelly’s films” before signing onto the project and was drawn to his character due to his “ordinary” nature.

“When...

Kelly Reichardt’s “The Mastermind” ushers us into the slightlythreadbare reality of 1970s Massachusetts, a landscape of muted browns and an unspoken societal malaise. Here we meet J.B. Mooney (Josh O’Connor), a carpenter by trade but seemingly an idler by nature, husband to Terri (Alana Haim) and father to two young sons.

His seemingly unremarkable existence, however, harbors a rather ambitious, if ill-defined, scheme: the robbery of a local art museum. The film immediately signals its departure from the crisp precision of a typical heist narrative; this will be less about the thrill of the caper and more a meditation on the character undertaking it, a slow burn examination of a man perhaps unequal to his own designs. One gets the sense that the title itself might be the first piece of irony in a meticulously crafted study of aspiration meeting inadequacy.

Anatomy of an Anti-Heist

The planned acquisition...

In the end, Josh O’Connor made it to Cannes.

The La Chimera and Challengers actor was unable to make the Wednesday evening premiere of Oliver Hermanus’ The History of Sound, in which he stars alongside Paul Mescal, as he was still shooting in New York, working on Steven Spielberg’s new film. But O’Connor was given time away from the as-yet-untitled sci-fi project and caught a flight to Cannes Thursday night, meaning he was fresh and ready for Friday’s red carpet premiere of Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind.

Reichardt and O’Connor walked the carpet, joined by castmembers Alana Haim, John Magaro and Hope Davis.

Others in attendance included Viola Davis, strolling along in a stunning yellow gown, with husband Julius Tennon; Elle Fanning, a day after her red carpet premiere for Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value; and Isabella Ferrari. How to Have Sex director Molly Manning Walker,...

It may be the last day of the Cannes Film Festival’s Official Selection lineup, but there’s still plenty of action at the Palais. Josh O’Connor was in town this evening for the world premiere of Kelly Reichardt’s latest, The Mastermind, which received an 8-minute ovation and is the final movie in the Competition. It will be followed later tonight by the Midnight showing of Ethan Coen’s Honey Don’t!

Alana Haim (Licorice Pizza) also stars in The Mastermind. Set in a sedate corner of Massachusetts circa 1970, the story follows Jb Mooney (O’Connor), an unemployed carpenter turned amateur art thief, who plans his first big heist. When things go haywire, his life unravels.

Also in the cast are John Magaro, Hope Davis, Bill Camp, Gaby Hoffmann, Amanda Plummer, Eli Gelb, Cole Doman, Javion Allen, Matthew Maher and Rhenzy Feliz.

Mubi will distribute in select territories, retaining rights in North America,...

Kelly Reichardt’s latest film “The Mastermind,” starring Josh O’Connor as an art thief on the run, earned a 5.5-minute standing ovation at its Cannes premiere on Friday night.

Reichardt’s subdued, ‘70s-set movie was essentially a one-man show for O’Connor, with him appearing in nearly every scene. Haim plays his quiet wife, who is aware of his husband’s schemes but leaves with their twin boys once the cops start tracking him down.

In tears, Reichardt humbly accepted the applause, but as the standing and clapping went on and on, she seemed eager to take the mic and get on with her remarks. She poignantly told the crowd, “America’s in a ditch right now, but maybe we’ll get out of it. But in the meantime we have the movies.”

Though the film doesn’t have an outwardly strong political message, it’s set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War,...

Cannes film festival

Reichardt’s quietist, observational style is unexpectedly successful at creating a super-naturalistic depiction of an art gallery robbery

It needs hardly be said that the title is ironic. The abject non-hero of Kelly Reichardt’s engrossingly downbeat heist movie, set in 1970s Massachusetts, is weak, vain and utterly clueless. By the end, he’s a weirdly Updikean figure, though without the self-awareness: going on the run with no money and without a change of clothes, to escape from the grotesque mess he has made for himself and his family.

This is James, played with hangdog near-charm by Josh O’Connor; he is an art school dropout and would-be architectural designer with two young sons, married to Terri (a minor complaint is that the excellent Alana Haim is not given enough to do). James depends on the social standing of his father Bill, a judge, formidably played by Bill Camp,...

Jauntier than any of Kelly Reichardt’s previous work, “The Mastermind” packs an ironic punch. That the title need not be taken literally becomes clear right from the start, of course; that the film’s shaggy-dog tone belies something far-sadder and more allegorical takes a bit longer to set-in. Closing out the Cannes competition with a throwback crime caper set to a jazz-beat, “The Mastermind” also gives the minimalist filmmaker a new world to etch out in fine detail, sending us back to 1970 with a very millennial guide.

Jb Mooney (Josh O’Connor) is what we would call a failson. Married, with his own pair of precocious boys, this art-school-dropout turned-of-work-carpenter (in both instances more by than choice than misfortune) gets by on his family name and money. Not that either go particularly far – his dad (Bill Camp) is just a small-town judge in Framingham, Ma, while his wife (Alana Haim...

Leave it to Kelly Reichardt to make a ‘70s movie that looks and feels like a lost ‘70s movie, from its scruffy visual aesthetic to its muted colors, its patient character observation and unhurried pacing to its unstinting investment in an underdog protagonist whose careful planning results in a coup that soon goes south. Josh O’Connor’s rumpled appeal makes him an ideal fit for the title role in The Mastermind, a minor-key heist caper that spends as much or more time on the aftermath of the crime, when it morphs gracefully into another of the director’s singular character studies of struggling Americans.

The film is set in Massachusetts circa 1970, two decades before the infamous art theft at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, whose walls still conserve the empty spaces where stolen paintings by artists including Vermeer, Rembrandt, Manet and Degas once hung. It seems like quintessential Reichardt...

With an anti-eco-thriller, an anti-buddy-road-movie and a couple of anti-Westerns under her belt, Kelly Reichardt may never have met a genre she couldn’t meticulously deconstruct. But rarely has she done so with such offbeat wit and bluesy wisdom as with anti-heist movie “The Mastermind,” a canny rejoinder to the glamorous high drama of the traditional robbery-gone-wrong plot, in which an extraordinary act gradually comes undone when exposed to nothing more malign than the everyday forces of ordinary life, and the fatal flaws of an ordinary man. Very possibly her most accessible and enjoyable film to date, still it remains an unmistakably Reichardtian investigation into the fabric of ordinariness and what happens when it frays.

It is 1970 in suburban Massachusetts where it’s forever windbreaker weather, and the Mooney family are taking a trip to the Framingham Art Museum. Aside from father Jb (Josh O’Connor) staring rather too intently at some Arthur Dove abstract paintings,...

When the jazzy, jittery opening of Kelly Reichardt’s “The Mastermind” begins with slow, vertically crawling title cards in Bauhaus-like font, you know you’re about to be thrown back in cinematic time.

Shot on film with the grainy warmth that evokes a sleepy 1970 New England municipality as much as it does actual movies from the ‘70s, “The Mastermind” is Reichardt’s version of a heist movie — meaning that the filmmaker hijacks conventions laid by filmmakers like Jean-Pierre Melville and Sidney Lumet for a spin that still retains her patient bent for long, luxuriating takes. Here, Josh O’Connor plays J.B. Mooney (what a name!), an art thief who falls down a hole of his own digging, as a poorly hatched job to rip off a series of Arthur Dove abstract paintings from a fictional Massachusetts museum sends his private and family lives careening out of his grasp.

“The Mastermind...

"You are in a Wes Anderson movie – everything is all in sync." Hot on the heels of its Cannes Film Festival debut, Focus Features has revealed an entertaining new behind-the-scenes featurette for The Phoenician Scheme, the latest creation from director Wes Anderson (trailer here). His 12th feature film so far, taking us on another adventure. This one opens in theaters soon at the end of this month - check your local listings. A dark tale of espionage following a strained father-daughter relationship within a family business while they try to negotiate important deals. Anderson says that The Phoenician Scheme is a story about a family "with a rather dark tone", about a father & daughter played by Benicio Del Toro & Mia Threapleton. The ensemble includes Michael Cera, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Riz Ahmed, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Richard Ayoade, Rupert Friend, Hope Davis, Benedict Cumberbatch, plus Mathieu Amalric and many, many others.

To celebrate the anticipated release of Wes Anderson’s latest endeavour, The Phoenician Scheme, which opens in UK cinemas this week, we had the pleasure of chatting to some of his eclectic cast to find out more.

The story of a family and a family business. Benicio del Toro as Zsa-zsa Korda, one of the richest men in Europe; Mia Threapleton as Liesl, his daughter/a nun; Michael Cera as Bjorn, their tutor. Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Mathieu Amalric, Richard Ayoade, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rupert Friend, and Hope Davis also star.

Chattingto del Toro, Threapleton and Cera, we talk about the continued lure of Anderson and wanting to step into his worlds, the characters and their loveable, unique family dynamics, playing basketball with Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston and Riz Ahmed, who they think would be a great fit for the next Anderson film who hasn...

Kelly Reichardt returns to the Cannes Film Festival with The Mastermind, a 1970s-set anti-heist film that’s less about the robbery and more about its emotional and social fallout.

The latest feature from the First Cow and Showing Up director is another exploration in quiet rebellion and the tension between individual freedom and collective responsibility. Premiering Friday night, it’s the last competition film to screen on the Croisette, and among the most anticipated. Art house distributor and streamer Mubi will release The Mastermind in North and Latin America and in select territories, including the U.K. and Germany, with The Match Factory handling international sales.

The Mastermind stars Josh O’Connor as James Blaine “J.B.” Mooney, an art-school dropout and unemployed carpenter who plans that one big job that will change his life: A daytime heist from a scarcely-guarded local museum. The plot was inspired by several actual snatch-and-grab jobs from the era,...

Disney family title Lilo & Stitch and Paramount action film Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning square off at the UK-Ireland box office this weekend, in what exhibitors will hope is one of the highest-grossing weekends of the year.

Both titles are opening wide, and have built interest with extensive marketing campaigns and two days of previews, from Wednesday 21.

Box office takings are not expected to crack the weekend of July 21-23, 2023, when the Barbenheimer phenomenon brought in £29.4m from Barbie and Oppenheimer alone – the only occasion when two films have taken more than £10m on the same weekend in the territory.

Exclusive: Here’s your first footage of Josh O’Connor in Cannes Competition film The Mastermind, which launches at the festival tomorrow.

Alana Haim (Licorice Pizza) also stars in Kelly Reichardt’s movie, which is set in a sedate corner of Massachusetts circa 1970. The film follows Jb Mooney (Josh O’Connor), an unemployed carpenter turned amateur art thief, who plans his first big heist. When things go haywire, his life unravels.

Also starring are John Magaro, Hope Davis, Bill Camp, Gaby Hoffmann, Amanda Plummer, Eli Gelb, Cole Doman, Javion Allen, Matthew Maher and Rhenzy Feliz.

Mubi will distribute in select territories, retaining rights in North America, UK, Ireland, Latam, Germany, Austria, Benelux, Turkey, and India, with The Match Factory handling international sales.

Producers on the film are Neil Kopp, Anish Savjani, and Vincent Savino of filmscience.

Filmscience has produced all of Reichardt’s films since Old Joy and this will be...

A new book from Christophe Narbonne offers a deep dive into every Wes Anderson film, episode and short — from classics such as “Rushmore” to newer favorites like “Asteroid City.”

The 288-page book officially comes out Sept. 9 and is part of the “All the Films” series, which so far include analyses and commentary on the films of Steven Spielberg, Alfred Hitchcock and, now, Anderson. You can pre-order Anderson’s edition of “All the Films” on Amazon and Target for $40 starting today.

Organized chronologically, the book displays Narbonne’s years of research and film expertise to cover every short film and movie that Anderson has ever directed, including behind-the-scenes stories of how each project was conceived, cast and produced. Narbonne also explores the director’s unique filmmaking style, his relationship with regular cast members like Owen Wilson and Bill Murray and his stories’ recurring themes. It also includes hundreds of photographs to...

Wes Anderson is a director renowned for his unique visual style and storytelling approach. His films often explore themes such as grief, the loss of innocence, and complex family dynamics. Anderson's signature aesthetic, combined with his frequent use of ensemble casts and quirky narratives, has led critics to classify him as an auteur – a director whose creative vision strongly shapes his work, making his films instantly recognizable and stylistically consistent.

Anderson's career began by earning critical acclaim for Bottle Rocket and Rushmore in the late 1990s, but it was The Royal Tenenbaums in 2001 that earned his first Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. His subsequent films like The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited, and Fantastic Mr. Fox furthered his acclaim, the last of which earned a Best Animated Feature nomination. His later successes include Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Isle of Dogs, The French Dispatch,...

Wes Anderson has mocked Donald Trump’s movie tariffs plan.The filmmaker, 55, hit out at the U.S. president as rage continues to grow in the film industry about the effects slapping a 100 percent tariff on movies made abroad will have on the entertainment business.Speaking at a Cannes Film Festival press conference for his new film ‘The Phoenician Scheme’, Wes drew laughter from the audience as he remarked: “Can you hold up the movie in customs? It doesn’t ship that way.”He added: “The tariff is interesting because I’ve never heard of a 100 percent tariff before. I’m not an expert in that area of economics, but I feel that means he’s saying he’s going to take all the money. “And then what do we get? So it’s complicated to me.”The director was in Cannes for the premiere of ‘The Phoenician Scheme’, a...

Alamo Drafthouse is your Wes Anderson headquarters this summer, as the theater chain gears up for the Texan auteur's latest film, The Phoenician Scheme. The theater chain is offering an advanced screening of the film and a Q&a with the film's cast and crew on May 29, in advance of the film's wide release on June 6. And while you're there, the Drafthouse also has a line of exclusive Phoenician Scheme collectibles. The May 29 advance screening will also feature a Q&a session with director Anderson and stars Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, and Michael Cera. The Q&a can be seen in person at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown Brooklyn, and will be livestreamed immediately afterward to every other Alamo Drafthouse in the country.

If you're on the other side of the country, Alamo will also have a Phoenician Scheme immersive experience at Alamo Drafthouse New Mission in San Francisco, California, from...

Wes Anderson’s films are painstakingly detailed to capture his signature style. Donald Trump’s plan to impose a supposed 100 percent tariff on American films produced outside of the U.S., on the other hand, is not particularly detailed or well thought out. During a press conference for The Phoenician Scheme at Cannes Film Festival, Anderson poked some holes in the president’s logic — or lack thereof.

“The tariff is interesting because I’ve never heard of a 100 percent tariff before,” Anderson said. “I’m not an expert in that area of economics,...

Wes Anderson skewered Donald Trump’s proposed tariff on movies shot abroad at a Cannes press conference for his new film “The Phoenician Scheme,” questioning how it will work.

“Can you hold up the movie in customs? It doesn’t ship that way,” the director said, evoking a chorus of laughter.

“The Phoenician Scheme,” which features a sprawling cast of Anderson regulars, shot in partly Germany. When asked about the tariffs, Anderson initially replied: “I thought you said he was giving us a plug or something. Did Trump see it?”

But he then went on to mock the idea: “The tariff is interesting because I’ve never heard of a 100% tariff before. I’m not an expert in that area of economics, but I feel that means he’s saying he’s going to take all the money. And then what do we what do we get? So it’s complicated to me.

With three previous films in the Cannes competition beginning with Moonrise Kingdom (2012), followed by 2011’s The French Dispatch (read ★★ review) and 2023’s Asteroid City (read ★ review), Wes Anderson has a safe home in France. Production on The Phoenician Scheme took place back in March of last year – the espionage black comedy features tons of folks in Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Mathieu Amalric, Richard Ayoade, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rupert Friend, and Hope Davis. It’s about a wealthy businessman Zsa-zsa Korda appoints his only daughter, a nun, as sole heir to his estate.…...

It’s not Cannes without Wes Anderson, and the Houston native’s The Phoenician Scheme has its world premiere Sunday night in Cannes, notching a 7½-minute ovation. First-time Anderson-film star Mia Threapleton was tearing up as the crowd’s applause continued.

“The only thing really I can think to say — I think of 12 words to say that would stand for everything in this movie,” Anderson said to the audience after the screening. He then proceeded to point at and name-check his castmates who were on hand, along with longtime writing and producing partner Roman Coppola. Here’s how it went down:

Director Wes Anderson gives a speech after #ThePhoenicianScheme premiered in #Cannes2025 and thanks his cast pic.twitter.com/HZnbA60Ei5

— Deadline (@Deadline) May 18, 2025

Wes Anderson’s #ThePhoenicianScheme Scores 7.5-Minute Ovation After #Cannes2025 Premiere, Leaving Mia Threapleton In Tears pic.twitter.com/opwWgZV6Jb

— Deadline (@Deadline) May 18, 2025

So how...

Wes Anderson has delighted the Cannes Film Festival once more with his latest directorial effort “The Phoenician Scheme,” which played in competition two years after “Asteroid City” did the same at the 2023 festival. “The Phoenician Scheme” earned Anderson and his sprawling cast a 6.5-minute standing ovation.

Anderson’s leading lady Mia Threapleton — who has acting in her blood thanks to mother Kate Winslet — was overcome with emotion as the applause raged on, smiling as tears poured down her face. Flanked by stars Michael Cera and Benicio del Toro, Anderson kept his comments brief, saying: “I can think of about 12 words to say that stand for everything in this movie: Richard Ayoade, Riz, Alexandre, Michael, Mia, Jeffrey, Rupert, Benedict, God and Benicio del Toro.”

“The Phoenician Scheme” stars del Toro as business magnate Zsa-zsa Korda, who happens to be one of the richest men in Europe. Threapleton stars as his daughter,...

Cannes Film Festival hosted the world premiere of The Phoenician Scheme, the latest film from director Wes Anderson, which boasts a star-studded cast ensemble and his return to the Croisette after premiering Asteroid City in 2023 and The French Dispatch in 2021.

Anderson was joined by the stars of the film, including Michael Cera, Riz Ahmed, Benicio del Toro, Rupert Friend, Mia Threapleton, Jeffrey Wright, Benedict Cumberbatch, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Antonia Desplat and Bill Murra,y who all walked the red carpet at the Grand Théâtre Lumière, Sunday, May 18.

Related: Deadline Studio at Cannes Film Festival 2025

Other guests who attended the event included Alexander Skarsgård, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Charlotte Le Bon, Julianne Moore, Edward Norton, Shia Labeouf, and Jury Members Alba Rohrwacher, Jeremy Strong, and Halle Berry.

Related: Cannes Film Festival 2025 In Photos: Awards Ceremony, Movie Premieres, Parties & More

The film is described as an espionage black comedy with a notably dark tone, exploring...

Over coffee in Soho, Antonia Desplat is describing her journey to Wes Anderson’s set for The Phoenician Scheme — the espionage drama that marks his fourth picture to compete for the Palme d’Or.

Desplat was working on French TV drama Made in France when the email arrived: “Wes wants to know if you want to come to Potsdam next week to play one of Benicio del Toro’s dead wives.”

One year before being beckoned to Germany by Anderson, Desplat had played the female lead in Johnny Depp’s Modi: Three Days on the Wing of Madness, opening in June, which chronicles Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani’s rampage through pre-World War I Paris. Desplat plays Modigliani’s lover, the formidable writer and poet Beatrice Hastings.

In response to that email request, Desplat says, “I literally just jumped on a plane, went to Potsdam, then next to Berlin, and had...

With the 2025 Cannes Film Festival kicking off on Tuesday, one key question is what movies not to miss on the Croisette.

From competition veterans like the Dardenne brothers, Kelly Reichardt and Joachim Trier to newly promoted auteurs like Ari Aster, Oliver Hermanus, Carla Simón and Oliver Laxe, THR’s chief film critic rounds up 10 essential premieres

Die, My Love

Lynne Ramsey first turned heads in Cannes with her stunning 1999 feature debut Ratcatcher, about a 12-year-old boy growing up in poverty in the Glasgow housing projects. The Scottish director returned to the Croisette three years later with Morvern Callar, graduating to the official competition with We Need to Talk About Kevin in 2011 and You Were Never Really Here in 2017. Admirers have had a long wait for Ramsey’s fifth feature, a thriller with a vein of comedy she describes as “dark and fucked-up,” starring Jennifer Lawrence as a new mother walloped by postpartum depression,...

The Cannes Film Festival is nearly here and while it’s easy to get swept up in the glitz and glamor and very big yachts, there’s another, equally important side to the festival as a marketplace for films from all over the world seeking distribution.

And there are some very big movies at this year’s festival which don’t have distribution, either domestically or internationally, that are very much worth keeping an eye on. They could be some of the festival’s biggest splashes.

“Die My Love” (Courtesy Cannes Film Festival) Die, My Love (Lynne Ramsay)

Scottish director Lynne Ramsay is one of the most exciting filmmakers working today and the fact that she has only made five features total, beginning with her outstanding debut feature “Ratcatcher” (back in 1999), turning the release of each new film into a verifiable event. “Die, My Love,” her first since 2017’s “You Were Never Really Here,...

Heists and war movies are two of the most popular genres in cinema history. So, what happens when you mix them together, and throw in Challengers star Josh O'Connor for good measure? You get The Mastermind, the new movie directed by Kelly Reichardt (First Cow). The film is set to make its debut at this year's Cannes Film Festival (which takes place from May 13 to 24), and the first look at the Vietnam War heist film has just been released.

Deadline recently released the first official look at Josh O'Connor and Alana Haim in The Mastermind. Kelly Reichardt wrote and directed the upcoming film, which follows an art thief looking to score big in the middle of the Vietnam War. Following its debut at Cannes, The Mastermind is being distributed by Mubi. Expect a limited theatrical release, before the movie lands on the Mubi streaming service. The theatrical release date is...