Wes Anderson recap: the story so far

No. 01 · 1996 · Film

Bottle Rocket recap

Bottle Rocket (1996) follows two aimless Texas friends who decide to become professional thieves using a 75-year plan drawn up in a notebook. Dignan (Owen Wilson) springs Anthony Adams (Luke Wilson) from a voluntary psychiatric unit, and the two practise by burgling Anthony's own family home. They recruit Bob Mapplethorpe (Robert Musgrave), the only person they know with a car, and rob a bookstore for a small take. Hiding out at a motel, Anthony falls for Inez (Lumi Cavazos), a Paraguayan housekeeper who speaks little English, and quietly leaves her most of their cash, which splits the friends up. Dignan later joins the gang of Mr. Henry (James Caan), a landscaper and part-time crook, and talks Anthony and Bob into a safe job at a cold storage plant. Wes Anderson directs from a script he wrote with Owen Wilson, expanding their 1992 short. This is Anderson's first feature and the start of his career.

How Bottle Rocket ends

Bottle Rocket ends with Dignan in prison after the cold storage heist collapses. The safecracker cannot open the safe, Bob fires a gun by accident, and Dignan stays behind to help a stricken accomplice and is caught. Meanwhile Mr. Henry has emptied Bob's house of its furniture; the job was cover for robbing them. Anthony and Bob visit Dignan, who pretends to launch an escape before admitting he is joking, then notes that Anthony was once in the hospital and now he is the one locked up. There is no sequel.

Post-credits scenes

No. Bottle Rocket has no mid- or post-credits scene.

No. 02 · 1998 · Film

Rushmore recap

Rushmore (1998) follows Max Fischer, a 15-year-old scholarship boy who runs half the clubs at an elite Houston prep school while failing nearly every class. Max (Jason Schwartzman) befriends Herman Blume (Bill Murray), a gloomy steel magnate with two sons at the school, and falls for Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams), a widowed first-grade teacher. To win her, he starts building an aquarium on the baseball field without permission and is expelled to a public high school. Blume, meanwhile, begins seeing Rosemary himself. When Max finds out, the two wage a petty war: Max tells Blume's wife about the affair and releases bees into his hotel room, and Blume flattens Max's bicycle with his car. Wes Anderson directs, again co-writing with Owen Wilson. It follows Bottle Rocket as Anderson's second feature and begins his long run of films with Murray and Schwartzman.

How Rushmore ends

Rushmore ends with Max staging his Vietnam War play at Grover Cleveland High and bringing Blume and Rosemary back together. After he is arrested for cutting Blume's brake lines, Max sinks into working at his father's barbershop, then makes peace with Blume at the hospital bed of the headmaster. He returns to school, improves his grades and gives up on Rosemary. The play moves Blume, a Vietnam veteran, and he and Rosemary appear to reconcile. At the party Max introduces his classmate Margaret Yang as his girlfriend and shares a dance with Rosemary.

Post-credits scenes

No. Rushmore has no mid- or post-credits scene.

No. 03 · 2001 · Film

The Royal Tenenbaums recap

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) follows a disgraced father who fakes a terminal illness to win his way back into the lives of his three former child prodigies. Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) walked out on his wife Etheline (Anjelica Huston) years earlier. Now financial genius Chas (Ben Stiller) is a widower smothering his two sons, playwright Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) hides in the bath and in a dull marriage to neurologist Raleigh St. Clair (Bill Murray), and former tennis star Richie (Luke Wilson) is adrift after a public breakdown. All of them drift back to the family house just as Etheline's accountant Henry Sherman (Danny Glover) proposes to her. Royal's lie is exposed, Richie learns of Margot's secret past and her affair with novelist Eli Cash (Owen Wilson), and he attempts suicide. Wes Anderson directs from a script with Owen Wilson. As his third feature, it follows Rushmore and precedes The Life Aquatic.

How The Royal Tenenbaums ends

The Royal Tenenbaums ends with the family mended and Royal dead of a heart attack at 68. Royal grants Etheline a divorce so she can marry Henry. On the wedding day, a drugged Eli crashes his car into the house; Royal pulls his grandsons clear, and Chas, who loses his dog, finally thanks his father. Afterwards Margot stages a play about the family, Eli enters rehab, Richie teaches tennis, and Chas loosens up. Chas rides in the ambulance when Royal dies, and the family buries him under an epitaph he wrote himself about dying to save them from a sinking battleship.

Post-credits scenes

No. The Royal Tenenbaums has no mid- or post-credits scene.

No. 04 · 2004 · Film

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou recap

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) follows a fading oceanographer who sets out to film and kill the jaguar shark that ate his partner. Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) has not had a hit documentary in nine years when the creature eats his friend Esteban. A Kentucky airline pilot, Ned Plimpton (Owen Wilson), turns up believing Zissou is his father and funds the voyage with his inheritance. Aboard the aging ship Belafonte are Zissou's estranged wife Eleanor (Anjelica Huston), his jealous first mate Klaus Daimler (Willem Dafoe), and a crew of unpaid interns, joined by a pregnant journalist, Jane Winslett-Richardson (Cate Blanchett), whom Ned and Zissou both court. The crew steals equipment from Zissou's rival Alistair Hennessey (Jeff Goldblum) and is boarded by pirates. Wes Anderson directs and co-wrote with Noah Baumbach. His fourth feature, it follows The Royal Tenenbaums.

How The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou ends

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou ends with Zissou finding the jaguar shark and choosing not to kill it. Before that, he leads a rescue of the kidnapped bond man and Hennessey from the pirates, and Ned dies after their helicopter crashes during a last search; Eleanor has already told Jane that Zissou is sterile. In a submarine with the whole crew, Zissou watches the shark glide past and wonders if it remembers him. The finished documentary premieres dedicated to Ned, named as his son, and Zissou receives a standing ovation outside the theater.

Post-credits scenes

No. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou has no mid- or post-credits scene.

No. 05 · 2007 · Film

The Darjeeling Limited recap

The Darjeeling Limited (2007) puts three estranged brothers on a train across India a year after their father's funeral, on a trip the eldest calls spiritual. Francis Whitman (Owen Wilson), his face bandaged after a motorcycle crash, has planned every stop and confiscated the passports of Peter (Adrien Brody), who is about to become a father, and Jack (Jason Schwartzman), a writer nursing a breakup. They haul their late father's monogrammed luggage, visit temples, buy painkillers and a venomous snake, and fight constantly. Francis finally admits the real goal is to find their mother, Patricia (Anjelica Huston), now a nun in the Himalayas. After a brawl they are thrown off the train. Walking through the countryside, they try to save three boys swept into a river, and one drowns. Wes Anderson directs, writing with Roman Coppola and Schwartzman; the short Hotel Chevalier serves as a prologue. It follows The Life Aquatic as Anderson's fifth feature.

How The Darjeeling Limited ends

The Darjeeling Limited ends with the brothers dropping their father's luggage to catch a new train. After the boy's funeral, they remember their father's funeral day, then tear up their plane tickets and go to the convent. Patricia welcomes them but will not explain why she skipped the funeral, and Francis admits his crash was deliberate. The next morning she has gone, leaving breakfast. Running for the Bengal Lancer, they throw off the monogrammed suitcases, and on board Peter and Jack tell Francis to keep their passports.

Post-credits scenes

No. The Darjeeling Limited has no mid- or post-credits scene.

No. 06 · 2009 · Film

Fantastic Mr. Fox recap

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) adapts Roald Dahl's novel about a reformed chicken thief who returns to raiding the farms of three vicious farmers. Years after promising his wife Felicity (Meryl Streep) he would quit stealing, Mr. Fox (George Clooney) is a newspaper columnist who buys a tree home overlooking the farms of Boggis, Bunce and Bean. With the opossum Kylie (Wally Wolodarsky), he steals poultry and cider, while his small son Ash (Jason Schwartzman) resents his athletic visiting cousin Kristofferson (Eric Anderson). The farmers shoot off Mr. Fox's tail, tear up the hill and trap the animals underground, so Mr. Fox has everyone tunnel into the farms and empty them. Franklin Bean (Michael Gambon) floods the tunnels with cider and captures Kristofferson. Wes Anderson directs in stop motion from a script with Noah Baumbach. As his sixth feature and first animated one, it follows The Darjeeling Limited.

How Fantastic Mr. Fox ends

Fantastic Mr. Fox ends with the animals living happily in the sewers under a supermarket. Mr. Fox kills Bean's security rat in a fight, then offers to surrender in exchange for Kristofferson. The farmers set an ambush, but the animals counterattack, and Ash proves himself by freeing Kristofferson and releasing a rabid beagle. With the farmers waiting outside a manhole, the animals settle below ground, tunnel into a supermarket owned by the three men, and dance in the aisles as Felicity announces she is pregnant again. Dahl's book ends with the animals feasting underground and never tells of a supermarket.

Post-credits scenes

No. Fantastic Mr. Fox has no mid- or post-credits scene.

No. 07 · 2012 · Film

Moonrise Kingdom recap

Moonrise Kingdom (2012) follows two 12-year-olds who run away together on a New England island in 1965, setting off a search by scouts and adults. Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman), an orphan at a Khaki Scout camp, and Suzy Bishop (Kara Hayward), a troubled girl living with her lawyer parents (Bill Murray and Frances McDormand), met at a church play a year earlier and planned the escape by letter. They hike to a cove they name Moonrise Kingdom. Scout Master Randy Ward (Edward Norton) and island police captain Duffy Sharp (Bruce Willis) lead the hunt, and they learn Sam's foster parents no longer want him, leaving him facing an orphanage and a Social Services officer (Tilda Swinton). The other scouts change sides and help the pair flee to a bigger scout camp across the water, as a hurricane closes in. Wes Anderson directs from a script with Roman Coppola. His seventh feature, it follows Fantastic Mr. Fox.

How Moonrise Kingdom ends

Moonrise Kingdom ends with Captain Sharp becoming Sam's legal guardian. During the storm, Sharp catches up with the children on the steeple of the church where they met and holds on to them as lightning destroys it. Seeing what Sam faces, he agrees to take the boy in, which keeps him out of the orphanage. Later Sam paints the lost cove, wiped off the map by the storm, at Suzy's house, then climbs out the window to ride along on Sharp's patrol, promising to see her tomorrow.

Post-credits scenes

No. Moonrise Kingdom has no post-credits scene; the credits play over a child's guide to the score.

No. 08 · 2014 · Film

The Grand Budapest Hotel recap

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) follows a fastidious concierge and his young lobby boy after he is framed for the murder of a rich old guest. In the 1930s in the fictional Zubrowka, Monsieur Gustave H. (Ralph Fiennes) runs a mountain resort and romances its elderly clients, including Madame D. (Tilda Swinton). When she dies and leaves him the painting Boy with Apple, her son Dmitri (Adrien Brody) has him arrested. Gustave escapes prison with tools smuggled in pastries baked by Agatha (Saoirse Ronan), girlfriend of his protégé Zero Moustafa (Tony Revolori). With help from a secret society of concierges, they chase the truth while Dmitri's hitman Jopling (Willem Dafoe) kills witnesses. The tale is nested inside a writer's 1968 conversation with the older Zero (F. Murray Abraham). Wes Anderson directs from a story he developed with Hugo Guinness. This eighth feature follows Moonrise Kingdom.

How The Grand Budapest Hotel ends

The Grand Budapest Hotel ends with Gustave cleared and rich, and then killed. A second will turns up behind the painting naming Gustave as heir, proving Dmitri arranged his mother's murder. Zero becomes concierge and marries Agatha. On a train, soldiers stop Zero, Gustave defends him, and they shoot Gustave. The older Zero explains that Agatha and their son later died of Prussian grippe, and that he keeps the decaying hotel in her memory. Anderson credits the writings of Stefan Zweig as inspiration.

Post-credits scenes

No. The Grand Budapest Hotel has no post-credits scene, though a small animated dancer appears during the credits.

No. 09 · 2018 · Film

Isle of Dogs recap

Isle of Dogs (2018) follows a 12-year-old boy who flies to a garbage island off Japan to find the dog taken from him under a citywide canine ban. In Megasaki in 2038, Mayor Kenji Kobayashi (Kunichi Nomura) uses an outbreak of dog flu to exile every dog to Trash Island, starting with Spots (Liev Schreiber), bodyguard to his ward Atari Kobayashi (Koyu Rankin). Atari crash-lands there and is helped by a pack led by Chief (Bryan Cranston), a stray who refuses to be anyone's pet. On the mainland, a rival scientist who has found a cure is poisoned, and the American exchange student Tracy Walker (Greta Gerwig) uncovers a plot to wipe out dogs. Chief, after a bath, turns out to look much like Spots. Wes Anderson directs in stop motion. His ninth feature and second animated film, it follows The Grand Budapest Hotel.

How Isle of Dogs ends

Isle of Dogs ends with Atari as mayor and the dogs returned to the city. Spots, alive and leading a tribe of former lab dogs, is Chief's brother; he asks Chief to take his place guarding Atari. Atari and the dogs reach the mainland as the mayor is about to order a gas attack, and Tracy exposes the conspiracy. Atari's haiku moves the mayor to confess and repeal the ban, and he later gives his nephew a kidney. A month later the dogs are cured and rehomed, and Chief serves as Atari's bodyguard.

Post-credits scenes

No. Isle of Dogs has no mid- or post-credits scene.

No. 10 · 2021 · Film

The French Dispatch recap

The French Dispatch (2021) presents the last issue of an American magazine's Paris-style outpost as a set of filmed stories after its editor dies. Arthur Howitzer Jr. (Bill Murray) dies in 1975 in Ennui-sur-Blasé, and his will closes the magazine after one farewell issue. Herbsaint Sazerac (Owen Wilson) tours the town by bicycle. J.K.L. Berensen (Tilda Swinton) tells of Moses Rosenthaler (Benicio del Toro), a jailed murderer who paints his guard Simone (Léa Seydoux) and is made famous by a dealer (Adrien Brody). Lucinda Krementz (Frances McDormand) covers a student uprising and secretly edits the manifesto of its leader Zeffirelli (Timothée Chalamet). Roebuck Wright (Jeffrey Wright) recalls a dinner with the police commissioner that turns into a kidnapping case, solved with the help of the police chef Nescaffier (Stephen Park). Wes Anderson directs from a story he developed with Roman Coppola, Hugo Guinness and Jason Schwartzman. His tenth feature, it follows Isle of Dogs.

How The French Dispatch ends

The French Dispatch ends with the staff writing Howitzer's obituary for the final issue. Rosenthaler's long-awaited work proves to be frescoes on a prison wall, which are later airlifted to a Kansas museum. Zeffirelli dies fixing a pirate radio tower and becomes a symbol of the revolt. Nescaffier saves the commissioner's son with poisoned food, eating some himself, and tells Wright about being a foreigner. The credits dedicate the film to writers and editors, many from The New Yorker, the magazine on which the Dispatch is modelled.

Post-credits scenes

No. The French Dispatch has no post-credits scene; the credits play over the magazine's covers.

No. 11 · 2023 · Film

Asteroid City recap

Asteroid City (2023) follows a widowed war photographer and his children stranded at a desert stargazing convention in 1955 when an alien lands. Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman) has not yet told his son Woodrow (Jake Ryan) and three daughters that their mother has died; his father-in-law Stanley Zak (Tom Hanks) presses him to. Woodrow is one of several teenage prize winners, along with Dinah, daughter of the film star Midge Campbell (Scarlett Johansson), whom Augie begins talking to through their cabin windows. On the first night a spaceship appears and its passenger steals the town's meteorite, so General Grif Gibson (Jeffrey Wright) quarantines everyone. All of this is framed as a stage play, and black-and-white scenes follow its playwright Conrad Earp (Edward Norton), director Schubert Green (Adrien Brody) and a TV host (Bryan Cranston). Wes Anderson directs from a story with Roman Coppola. His eleventh feature, it follows The French Dispatch.

How Asteroid City ends

Asteroid City ends with the quarantine lifted and the Steenbecks driving away. The alien returns the meteorite, the general reimposes the quarantine, and the teenagers use their inventions to lead a revolt. The next morning everyone has left; Stanley lets the girls bury their mother's ashes in town, and Midge has left Augie her address. In the frame story, the actor playing Augie walks offstage mid-show asking what the play means and is told to keep telling the story. The host reports that Earp died in a car crash six months into the run.

Post-credits scenes

No. Asteroid City has no mid- or post-credits scene.

No. 12 · 2023 · Film

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar recap

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023) adapts Roald Dahl's tale of a rich gambler who learns to see through playing cards by training his mind. Henry Sugar (Benedict Cumberbatch) finds a doctor's report about Imdad Khan (Ben Kingsley), a circus performer who could see with his eyes covered after studying with a yogi. Dr. Chatterjee (Dev Patel) recounts Khan's story, and Henry spends three years staring into a candle flame until he can read cards from the back. Roald Dahl himself (Ralph Fiennes) narrates as the author of the tale. Wes Anderson directs the 39-minute short for Netflix, where it was released alongside three other Dahl shorts, The Swan, The Rat Catcher and Poison. It won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. Coming between Asteroid City and The Phoenician Scheme, it stands alone and is Anderson's second Dahl adaptation after Fantastic Mr. Fox.

How The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar ends

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar ends with Henry dying after a lifetime of secret charity. Bored by easy winnings, he throws his first casino haul off a balcony and nearly starts a riot, and a policeman suggests he do some real good instead. He spends two decades winning at casinos around the world in disguise and funding hospitals and orphanages. He dies of a blood clot he could see coming through his skin, and his accountant hires Dahl to tell the story without revealing his real name. The film keeps Dahl's text almost word for word, spoken by the actors.

No. 13 · 2025 · Film

The Phoenician Scheme recap

The Phoenician Scheme (2025) follows a ruthless arms dealer who recruits his estranged daughter, a novice nun, to finish a vast infrastructure project. In 1950, Anatole "Zsa-Zsa" Korda (Benicio del Toro) survives his sixth assassination attempt and turns to his daughter Liesl (Mia Threapleton), whom he has barely known. A consortium of governments drives up the price of materials to bankrupt him, so Korda, Liesl and his Norwegian entomologist assistant Bjørn (Michael Cera) travel to squeeze his partners for more money, using swindles, blackmail and threats. Along the way Korda has visions of a heavenly court judging him, and admits a role in the death of Liesl's mother, killed by his half-brother Nubar (Benedict Cumberbatch). Bjørn proves to be a spy who falls for Liesl. Wes Anderson directs from a story with Roman Coppola. The most recent film here, it follows Asteroid City and Henry Sugar.

How The Phoenician Scheme ends

The Phoenician Scheme ends with Korda broke but reconciled with Liesl, running a small bistro. Nubar refuses to cover the shortfall, so Korda puts his whole fortune into the project and decides to pay his workers. At the investors' presentation, Nubar admits he was behind the attempts on Korda's life and attacks him, and Korda kills him. Korda's brief marriage to his cousin Hilda (Scarlett Johansson) is annulled, Bjørn proposes to Liesl with the returned ring, and father and daughter end the day playing cards.