Debate’s been raging on Twitter and elsewhere in the last few days after a couple of articles suggesting, once again, that movies are dead. A summer of weak and underperforming blockbusters and quiet indie releases, along with the success of Peak TV and Netflix, lead some to suggest that cinema is going the way of the dodo. Well, we hate to break it to the naysayers, but this morning, just as the world’s biggest film festival is getting underway, Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film just got the green light.
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Focus Features have won an auction for worldwide rights for the new movie from the “Magnolia” and “Inherent Vice” director, which will reteam him with his Oscar-winning “There Will Be Blood” star Daniel Day-Lewis. As previously reported, it’ll be a drama set in the fashion world in the 1950s, and Focus will finance the $35 million budget entirely, making this one of the biggest deals ever struck at a festival.
While details are still thin on the ground (aside that Anderson will produce alongside longtime producing partner JoAnne Sellar and Megan Ellison, who backed his last couple of films too), the good news is that we shouldn’t have long to wait: shooting will apparently begin next year for a release before the end of 2017. It couldn’t be better news to start the fall season off with (particularly with Focus, who looked to be getting out of the prestige game for a while, but see this joining a slate that also includes movies by Tom Ford, Joe Wright and Sofia Coppola, among others). More news on this as we get it.