One Battle After Another

One Battle After Another is an upcoming American satirical black comedy action film produced, written, and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, and Chase Infiniti. The film is reportedly loosely based on Thomas Pynchon's 1990 novel Vineland. It is scheduled to be released on September 26, 2025, by Warner Bros. Pictures.
When their evil enemy resurfaces after 16 years, a group of ex-revolutionaries reunites to rescue one of their own's daughter.
In June 2023, Paul Thomas Anderson's next film, rumored to star Regina Hall, Viggo Mortensen, and Joaquin Phoenix, found its home at Warner Bros. Pictures. In January 2024, Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, and Hall were confirmed to star. In February 2024, Alana Haim, Wood Harris, Teyana Taylor, Shayna McHayle and Chase Infiniti joined the cast. Dicaprio earned $20 million for his involvement.
Principal photography began in California on January 22, 2024. The film, under the working title BC Project, filmed for eleven days across Humboldt County in Arcata, Cutten, Eureka, and Trinidad. On February 3, production moved to Sacramento, with filming at the Sacramento County Administration Building and Sacramento County Courthouse. Some controversy was garnered when a homeless encampment was cleared to allow for filming. On-location filming also took place in El Paso, Texas, in June 2024. The film was shot on 35 mm film using VistaVision cameras by Michael Bauman, marking his second collaboration with Anderson following Licorice Pizza (2021).
In February 2024, Variety reported that the film had been greenlit with a $115 million production budget. In August 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported the budget to be "more than $140 million", noting that Anderson's highest-grossing film, There Will Be Blood (2007), only made $76 million, but that "Warner executives say DiCaprio's box-office track record justifies the budget for Anderson". That month, sources indicated the film had been titled The Battle of Baktan Cross as rumors circulated that it was loosely inspired by Thomas Pynchon's novel Vineland (1990), Anderson having previously adapted Pynchon's Inherent Vice (2009) into a feature film (2014).
The title was officially revealed when Warner Bros. debuted a teaser on March 20, an official trailer debuted the following week. The film had multiple test screenings beginning in January 2025, some of which reinforced the rumored connection to Vineland. This marked the first time since Boogie Nights (1997) that Anderson agreed to audience testing; based on the feedback Anderson cut eight to ten minutes from the film. The film marks the sixth feature film collaboration between Anderson and composer Jonny Greenwood, and the fifth and final between Anderson and first assistant director and producer Adam Somner, who died in November 2024.
The film is scheduled to be released on September 26, 2025, and will be the first of Anderson's films to be released in IMAX. It was previously scheduled to be released on August 8, 2025, but was moved for a potential awards season run. According to Variety, the film will need to gross $260–300 million to turn a profit.