New Paul Thomas Anderson Movie Heads To MGM

Paul Thomas Anderson's latest film, an untitled coming-of-age pic set in a high school in the 1970s, is packing its bags and moving to a new location. The film was originally set to be released by Focus Features but will now hail from MGM. A "budgetary issue" is being cited as the reason for the move. Plot details are vague, but the movie apparently follows several different storylines, similar to Anderson's Magnolia.

Focus Features, who released Paul Thomas Anderson's most recent film Phantom Thread, will no longer handle Anderson's next project. The untitled film has now been passed to MGM, with THR reporting "budgetary" issues as the cause. Anderson had hoped to shoot the movie for Focus this summer, but of course, the coronavirus has made getting a film off the ground next to impossible right now. Focus has had the rights to the movie since December of 2019.

As for what the film is about, well, that's a bit vague. We know it's set in high school in the 1970s, and it's also been reported that the movie "involves multiple storylines surrounding one centering around a kid actor attending high school in the San Fernando Valley." But that's about it! That said, that's more than enough for me. Anderson has made one great film after another, and I'm excited to see him return to the multiple narrative format he used for Magnolia and Boogie Nights.

I'm also excited just to have a new Anderson film in general. He's been keeping busy making music videos for folks like Thom Yorke and Haim, and that's all well and fine, but I want a movie, damn it. Of course, there's still going to be a waiting period here, since no one has any real clue when movie productions can go into full gear again. Nor do we know when movies can really start opening again.