Wes Anderson is Returning to Stop-Motion Animation for His Next Film

Following up The Grand Budapest Hotel, his Oscar-nominated box office success, Wes Anderson will be returning to the world of stop-motion animation for his next project (currently untitled). Like his first stop-motion film, Fantastic Mr. Fox (a critically acclaimed indie hit), this movie will also focus on the animal kingdom, however, this time dogs will take center stage.

Little is known about the new project aside from the fact that it has already moved into production. One matter of note is that Anderson has been known to have a troubling history with canines in his work. Several of his films feature scenes in which dogs are killed or injured, such as The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic, and most recently Moonrise Kingdom. There was even an article written at The New Yorker back in 2012 titled “Does Wes Anderson Hate Dogs?” Perhaps this notice is the reason that a cat was the subject of abuse in Grand Budapest. Regardless of their fates in his past flicks, there is no confirmation that any dogs will be harmed in the making of Anderson’s next film.

At last year’s Lisbon & Estoril Film Festival, Anderson revealed that he was planning on fashioning his next project after the influence of filmmaker Vittorio De Sica, where the movie would be organized into a episodic series of vignettes. According to sources, this idea is a separate concoction from his stop-motion film now in the works.

Fans, as well as the industry, will likely be on board Anderson’s move back into animation as both its chronological and animated predecessors (Grand Budapest and Mr. Fox) were both critical smashes and fan favorites.