One Battle After Another has opened to a whopping 97% RT rating ahead of its theatrical release, becoming Paul Thomas Anderson’s highest-rated feature in the review aggregator.
Loosely based on Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland, the movie revolves around Bob, a washed-up revolutionary who lives off the grid with his family, plagued by constant paranoia. Bob is eventually forced to reckon with his past after his self-reliant daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti), goes missing after his evil nemesis resurfaces.
Critics are already calling it one of the favorites to dominate the Academy Awards next year, and given the reception, hopefully, it’ll finally end PTA’s Oscar drought, particularly in the Best Adapted Screenplay category.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another Can Redeem There Will Be Blood’s Oscar Snub
For a filmmaker of PTA’s stature, it’s mindboggling that the director still doesn’t have an Oscar in his cabinet. Although the Magnolia
The two nods were for 2014’s Inherent Vice and one of the best movies of the 2000s, There Will Be Blood, loosely based on Upton Sinclair’s Oil, a notable critique of fossil fuel capitalism. But for all its brilliance, PTA was snubbed of Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Adapted Screenplay wins.
Given how the movie is being received among critics, with some deeming it one of PTA’s best works, which is saying something, hopefully, the Leonardo DiCaprio-led feature will end the director’s ill-fated run in the category.
Can One Battle After Another Continue WB’s Impressive 2025 Streak
While things are looking good for the movie ahead of the awards season, on the commercial front, concerns remain. Considering it’s PTA’s biggest movie by far, reportedly boasting a budget of $175M, (via Variety), it has a huge battle to face at the box office.
With WB delivering an author-driven year worth noting, which has become the first studio to deliver seven consecutive movies that opened to $40M+ at the box office, the question arises? Can One Battle After Another continue the streak?
According to Puck, the movie might follow a roadmap similar to Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, which opened to $23M domestically and concluded its theatrical run with $158M worldwide. Even though this is in contention to become PTA’s highest-grossing movie to date, and will likely surpass There Will Be Blood’s $77M run, WB’s historic streak might conclude with the release of this movie later this month.
Can One Battle After Another end PTA’s Oscar drought?
One Battle After Another hits theatres on September 26 (USA)