ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER: Paul Thomas Anderson’s New Film Has Finally Screened!

January 30, 2025

On January 23, 2025, director Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest magnum opus finally screened to a packed house in Phoenix, Arizona. The test screening was held at the Harkins Theatre November 14. Anderson was in attendance and seemingly pleased with the almost-finished product. We also, finally, have an official title of his latest feature, One Battle After Another. As was long rumored, it’s based on Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland. Anderson has been wanting to adapt his novel for well over a decade.

Plot Details

While plot details of Anderson’s adaptation are still not entirely clear, Pynchon’s Vineland is set in California in 1984. The year of Ronald Reagan’s reelection. Vineland is a fictional town that is a refuge for hippies and the dying counter-culture. One that has been devastated by Reaganomics and the growing conservative movement in California. The novel’s main protagonist is Zoyd Wheeler (played by Leonardo DiCaprio who goes by “Bob” or “Ghetto Pat”), a burnt-out hippie trying to survive a world that he no longer recognizes.

Leonardo DiCaprio in a still from “One Battle After Another” (2025). Photo courtesy of Warner Brothers.

Anderson is no stranger to Pynchon’s work as he adapted his 2009 novel Inherent Vice, released in 2014. Pynchon is not the easiest author to adapt as he writes in a stream-of-consciousness way that, at face value, seems to be unfilmable. Think Hunter Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The film was in pre-production for decades before Terry Gilliam finally got it made in 1998 (to less-than-stellar reviews).

Adaptation

Early reports from the screening suggest that Anderson’s adaptation of Vineland is somewhat looser than Inherent Vice. He’s changed some of the names and also updated the setting to the modern day. This will be the first time since the underrated Punch Drunk Love in 2002 that Anderson has set his film in modern times.

Warner Bros. greenlit the film for $140 million, his most expensive to date. Reports state it’s the director’s most “mainstream” film. According to The Film Stage, One Battle After Another is filled with high-octane action sequences, car chases, and is “quite batshit crazy.” Anderson is aiming high and trying to appeal to a widespread audience. Indeed, he’ll need to as it’ll take upwards of $300 million to turn a profit.

Release

One Battle After Another will be released on August 8, 2025, and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Regina Hall, Sean Penn, Alana Haim, Teyana Taylor, Wood Harris, Benicio del Toro, and Shayna McHayle. Music will once again be provided by longtime collaborator Jonny Greenwood. One Battle After Another is Anderson’s first film to screen in IMAX.