Wes Anderson's live-action follow-up to his stop-motion feature Isle of Dogs will reportedly be a post-WWII musical. The project is currently untitled, and filming is expected to begin sometime this year, or possibly early 2019.

Though there is currently very little information regarding Anderson's next movie, it's expected to be a musical taking place directly after WWII in France, and will be Anderson's third period piece, following the 1960s-set Moonrise Kingdom and the decade-jumping Grand Budapest Hotel. The musical will reportedly follow in a similarly whimsical vein of Anderson's eclectic filmography, including critical darlings like The Royal Tenenbaums, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Rushmore.

According to Charente Libre (via The Playlist) Anderson was spotted in southwestern France, preparing for the upcoming shoot. He was seen scouting for houses around a small, historically preserved city called Angoulême. That said, aside from any potential filming locations, the general time period, and the fact that this may turn out to be Anderson's first foray into musicals (though music plays a significant role in all of his movies - namely in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, in which Brazilian musician Seu Jorge is seen occasionally singing acoustic covers of various David Bowie songs), there are currently no other details regarding the movie.


The only other speculation that might be worth considering is the potential release date of the movie. There is generally a two to three year gap between Anderson's movies, which suggests that this next project may not make its way to theaters until around 2020 or 2021. The longest gap between his movies was the four years in between The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and his most recent stop-motion feature Isle of Dogs (2018), likely due to the time commitment necessary for stop-motion animation (Isle of Dogs was longer and more technically complex than his previous stop-motion feature Fantastic Mr. Fox).

Fans of Wes Anderson might also factor in that familiar faces will show up in his next movie, as he tends to cast actors he's worked with in the past (see: Bill Murray, Anjelica Huston, Willem Dafoe, Jason Schwartzman, and Owen Wilson). Also, assuming this movie does turn out to be a musical, Anderson will have the opportunity to stretch his creative palette even further than usual - which is really saying something, considering how removed from reality he allows some of his movies to be.