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Happy Holidays from PT Anderson: The Director’s New Film Drops Christmas Day

By  · Published on March 30th, 2017

Anytime Paul Thomas Anderson releases a new movie is cause for celebration, but this year doubly so.

Via Jeff Sneider, EIC of The Tracking Board, it was announced yesterday at the Focus Features presentation during Cinema Con that the writer-director’s next film, the yet-to-be-officially-titled collaboration with Daniel Day Lewis about a royal dressmaker in the 1950s, will be released here in the US on Christmas Day 2017.

No footage was shown and that pesky working title – Phantom Thread­ – was neither confirmed nor denied, but by all accounts production is going swimmingly and an end-date is in sight. As I mentioned above, the film deals with a dressmaker, played by Day Lewis, but specifically the film “illuminates the life behind the curtain of an uncompromising dressmaker commissioned by royalty and high society.” Other members of the cast include Lesley Manville (Secrets & Lies), Richard Graham (Titanic), and Vicky Krieps (Hanna). It wasn’t revealed whether the December 25th release date is a limited run or nationwide engagement, but chances are the film will bow in New York and L.A. before going wide in early 2018.

Either way, this date places Phantom Thread — or whatever he’s calling it – in Oscar contention. Sorry, everybody else acting this year, DDL’s back to drink your awards season milkshake.

In other news and points of interest…

…the first trailer for the new film adaptation of Stephen King’s It was released…

…as was the second for Luc Besson’s sci-fi epic (and potential masterpiece) Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

…Disney announced the title and release date for Wreck-It Ralph 2

…Netflix announced that the next film from Gareth Evans, director of The Raid, will be all theirs. Title, release date, and cast info right here

…and is Jordan Peele going to direct a live-action version of AkiraMaybe

Over in our corner of the internet we had a lot of really interesting posts go up yesterday, including an assessment of the rest of 2017’s superhero movies, a grumpy critic’s Star Wars story, filmmaking tips from Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly, a look at the new show from Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman, and the newest episode of Shot by Shot in which the cinematography of Mad Max: Fury Road is discussed.

And lastly, take a look at five of the most popular shots we tweeted over the last 24 hours. Want more? You know where to find us.

THE OMEN (1976) DP: Gilbert Taylor | Dir: Richard Donner
HAMLET (1996) DP: Alex Thomson | Dir: Kenneth Branagh
THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) DP: Harold Rosson | Dir: Victor Fleming
TOM AT THE FARM (2013) DP: André Turpin | Dir: Xavier Dolan
INSIDE OUT (2015) Dir: Pete Docter, Ronnie Del Carmen | See IMDb for artist info

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