It’s hard to know what to think about Asteroid City, but with Wes Anderson’s previous gems it’s also hard not to look forward to the upcoming UK release date. To keep your Darjeeling Express running and to save you from going to the dogs, we’ll also cover the latest on the age rating, story, cast and runtime.
Written and directed by Anderson, it follows in the illustrious footsteps of The French Dispatch, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Moonrise Kingdom. It looks like it’s taking the “Wes-ness” level up to 11 with a style that’s reminiscent of The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou.
AdvertisementThe cast is about as off-the-hook as it gets, which is pretty standard for Anderson films, which have featured everyone from Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Bill Murray (Ghostbusters Afterlife), Bruce Willis (Die Hard), Ralph Feinnes (No Time To Die), George Clooney and Meryl Streep. The cinematic style is reminiscent 1950s TV, which matches the timeline for the story and it should have a lot of impact on the big screen.
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Story – What is Asteroid City about?
If you’ve seen the trailer below and didn’t read the description it’s easy to be left confused about what the Asteroid City story is about. The good news is that it’s way more simplistic at the heart of the plot, which revolved around a Stargazer or Space Cadet conventions in 1955.
It takes place in the fictional American locale of Asteroid City and it trails the attendees of the convention as they participate in the program of events. There’s everything from scholastic competition to theatrical productions on the agenda, but it gets a seismic jolt when world changing events coincide with it all.
More than any previous Wes Anderson film, it looks like the story is going to focus on relationships and characters. There’s still the same quirky style and off-beat comedy, but with the kind of heart that made Jo Jo Rabbit and Submarine such great alt-homages.
AdvertisementA big part of the story is the single parent family that gets stranded in Asteroid City during convention in the wake of their mother’s death. Their car breaks down on route to their grandfather’s and they have to call him in to come get them.
It sounds like their dad hasn’t told them that their mother died three weeks ago. This should tell you everything you need to know about the story before the release date later in 2023.
Cast
As mentioned above, the Asteroid City cast is pretty impressive, which we’ve come to expect from Wes Anderson films. Jason Schwartzman plays Mitch Campbell, the dad of the family, and he’s joined by Tom Hanks as his father-in-law and Scarlett Johansson as an actress he meets at the convention.
Jeffrey Wright (Felix from No Time To Die) plays the military man heading up the Space Cadet festivities, Josh Brolin (Avengers Endgame) is on the convention team, Matt Dillon is the local mechanic, and Steve Carell (Despicable Me) looks terrible in a green visor. Maya Hawke (Stranger Things Season 2 and 3) plays another teacher at the convention, Tony Revolori (Spider-Man No Way Home, Willow) is on the military staff, and Sophia Lillis (It, Dungeons & Dragons Honor Among Thieves) is an alien obsessed attendee.
AdvertisementTilda Swinton (Doctor Strange) returns once again as the charge of the local planetarium, following on from her roles in the cast of Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Isle of Dogs and the French Dispatch. We didn’t catch him in the trailer, but Brian Cranston is in Asteroid City too – maybe as the president that’s mentioned part way through – and it’s a similar story for Edward Norton, Rupert Friend (Homeland, Obi-Wan Kenobi), Willem Defoe (Spider-Man No Way Home), Margot Robbie (Birds of Prey), Jeff Goldblum (Jurassic World Dominion) and Adrien Brody.
The cast also includes Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Stephen Park, Fisher Stevens, Bob Balaban and Hong Chau. The kids at the convention include Jake Ryan, Grace Edwards, Ethan Lee and Aristou Meehan.
We’ll update you with more on the cast for Asteroid City as it’s confirmed with names for all of the characters.
Asteroid City UK release date
The Asteroid City UK release date has been confirmed for June 23rd, 2023, which is a week later than in North America where it’s out on June 16th. This could be to do with scheduling differences between the two areas, but we sometimes get films out a little later in the UK compared to America.
June is going to be a packed month for films, so it might be that there’s more scope for multiple releases on the same weekend in the US compared to the UK. The Flash and Elemental is also due out on both sides of the Atlantic on the 16th, so this could have pushed the Asteroid City release date back as week in the UK.
AdvertisementThe 23rd is just a little quieter with no big films out as competition in both locations. However, it’ll have to go up against Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny a week later in the UK on June 30th.
With a release date of the 23rd June, we’re expecting the film to arrive on DVD, Blu-ray and standard digital around October 2023 in the UK and September in the US. It should be available on early access digital a couple of months after it comes out on the big screen, so you’re probably looking at August for both territories.
Age rating in the UK and America
The official Asteroid City age rating for the UK won’t be announced by the British Board of Film Classification until we get closer to the release. However looking back on the rest of the Wes Anderson catalogue there’s at least a little to go on in terms of the potential age certificate for both the UK and North America.
AdvertisementHowever, it’s a bit of a mixed bag with the PG certificate given to Isle of Dogs compared to the 15 age rating for both The French Dispatch and The Grand Budapest Hotel. The latter two were rated R in the US, with the animated 2018 film being a PG-13.
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Apart from the reference to seeing a nude scene, there isn’t much in the trailer that could hint at Asteroid City being given the same rating as The French Dispatch and The Grand Budapest Hotel. If anything, it looks more in line with Moonrise Kingdom, which was given a 12 certificate in the UK and PG-13 in America.
The notes for Moonrise Kingdom included moderate sex references and that appears to be the case for Wes Anderson’s next film too based on the nude scene comment. Both films have kids in them, which is a pretty good indicator that they’ll be pitched similarly, so that should give you a good indicator for the age rating.
Runtime
As with the age rating, the runtime for Asteroid City will be confirmed a little closer to the June release date. Looking back on Moonrise Kingdom, that was a pithy 1 hour and 30 minutes long, but we’ll be surprised if the 2023 film is quite that short.
AdvertisementEven Isle of Dogs was 7-minutes longer than that and The French Dispatch came in at 1 hour and 44 minutes. Wes Anderson films are usually fairly tight, though, so you’re probably looking at less than 2 hours, which is a little refreshing considering the length of films like Avatar 2 and Guardians of the galaxy Vol 3.
Trailer
At the time of writing, there’s only one trailer out for Asteroid City and you can see it in full below. A cool point to note is that the film has been shot on Kodak film, which is how it’s achieved such a great 1950 finish.
The trailer adds in a bit of confusion about he story with references to dates a thousand years in the future, but this is all just a part of the fun of the Space Cadet convention experience. We’re not expecting any time travel or actual alien visitations, but hey you never know with Wes Anderson.
It’s a lot of fun to re-watch the trailer and play spot the cast as you go. A few of them aren’t as recognisable as others. You don’t even see Tilda Swinton’s face and a lot of the huge cast aren’t in it, so it’s not easy to get them all.
Check out our film news section to keep tabs on the latest, or check out the movie on the Focus Features website at www.focusfeatures.com/asteroid-city.
