Wes Anderson's next movie will feature animated animals

Wes Anderson, best known to furries as the director of 2009's Fantastic Mr. Fox, will be returning to animating animals for his next movie. The movie will be about dogs; at this point, it hasn't been confirmed whether or not they are actually anthropomorphic dogs, but it's a safe assumption.

Details are scarce at the moment other than the fact the movie will be stop-motion animated, feature dogs and not be an anthology film (a project Anderson had talked about in earlier interviews, but which is not connected to the dog movie). However, actor Jeff Goldblum has unofficially revealed that he will have a role, as well as Edward Norton, Bob Balaban and Bryan Cranston. If this line-up is confirmed, Cranston would be the only actor to not previously work with Anderson. Wes Anderson has spoken about ideas for a possible future animated movie before, but stated that his ideas were, interestingly, "increasingly violent".

Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox was nominated for the 2009 Ursa Major Awards in Anthropomorphic Motion Picture, where it lost to Avatar, as well as the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, where it lost to Up. During its original theatrical release, it was a box office disappointment, making back barely half of its budget at domestic theaters. However, its reputation has grown, especially in animation circles; in Time Out New York's list of the 100 best animated movies, Fantastic Mr. Fox came in 10th overall (while Up, the movie that beat Fantastic Mr. Fox at the Oscars, was 20th), and Anderson was one of the experts polled (and, no, he didn't vote for himself). Fantastic Mr. Fox also became only the second animated movie to join the prestigious Criterion Collection.

Anderson's last movie, The Grand Budapest Hotel, became his first to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, with eight additional nominations, putting it in a tie with eventual Best Picture winner Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) for most nominations of the year. Anderson was personally nominated for Director and Original Screenplay (he had previously been nominated in Original Screenplay for Moonrise Kingdom and The Royal Tennenbaums in addition to the nomination in Best Animated Feature for Fantastic Mr. Fox), and the movie won four Oscars (for Costume Design, Makeup and Hairstyling, Original Score and Production Design), also putting it in a tie with Birdman for most Oscars won.

In addition to directing Fantastic Mr. Fox, Anderson also voiced the part of Weasel; it remains his only credited role as a film actor.