Writer/director Wes Anderson’s latest film The Grand Budapest Hotel has been given a release date.  It will be released, courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures, on March 7, 2014.  His latest, which comes on the heels of one of the filmmaker’s most critically and commercially viable movies, 2012’s Moonrise Kingdom, is set a luxurious European hotel, and as is the case with all of the filmmaker’s movies, stars a vast array of Anderson regular player and neophytes.

The film stars Ralph Fiennes as M. Gustave, a concierge at said hotel, and the film recounts his collection of stories which includes the theft and recovery of a rare Renaissance painting.  Expect a lot of more of the filmmaker’s noted quirkiness and endlessly crafty production design.  While Fiennes is a first-timer on team Anderson, many of his regular troupe play supporting characters in the film including Bill Murray (this film marks his seventh collaboration with Anderson), Willem Dafoe, Adrien Brody, Jeff Goldblum, Tilda Swinton, Edward Norton, Jason Schwartzman and Owen Wilson (who co-wrote the screenplays for Anderson’s Bottle Rocket and The Royal Tenenbaums, the later of which earned a writing Oscar nomination.)  Newcomers on the team include Jude Law, Saoirse Ronan, F. Murray Abraham, Tom Wilkinson and Léa Seydoux (Blue is the Warmest Color.)

While unusual for an Anderson film to premiere in the spring (typically his movies are released in the fall and winter in the hopes of garnering awards consideration), this may not prove to be a bad move altogether.  Moonrise Kingdom, after all, was the first film of the directors oeuvre to be released in summer and wound up being one of his greatest successes.  A limited engagement run is expected but not confirmed at this time. As of now the film is opening against 300: Rise of an Empire and Mr. Peabody & Sherman.  The very Anderson-like one-sheet of The Grand Budapest Hotel was released a few days ago, and a trailer is expected later this week.