Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Battle of Baktan Cross,” which is rumored to have a budget anywhere between $140M-$175M, wrapped its six-month shoot in early September. It is now very much in the editing stages. The film was given an August 8, 2025 release date, via Warner Bros.
What I’m now hearing is that there are talks to move ‘Baktan Cross’ to either a June or July 2025 date. Apparently, Warners might be looking to replicate the same rollout as Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood,” also starring Leonardo DiCaprio, which premiered at Cannes in May, and was then released on July 26, 2019.
That August release date for ‘Baktan Cross’ didn’t make much sense for such a starry and buzzy film, but the date has so far been kept. A slot might be open for ‘Baktan Cross’ on July 25, 2025; Marvel’s ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ is currently set up for release on that date, but word on the street is that it might not be ready in time and could get pushed to a later date.
Warners currently has a packed summer 2025 schedule with “Flowervale Street” (May 16), “F1” (June 27), and “Superman” (July 11) all ready to go. Does ‘Baktan Cross’ move? It would make sense, and if that’s the case, so would a world premiere at Cannes. Given the hefty pricetag, it being described as PTA’s “most mainstream” film to date, and featuring “the biggest stunts of Anderson’s career,” then I would bet a date change might be coming.
We still don’t have official plot details for ‘Baktan Cross’. It’s all being kept hush-hush, although many signs have been pointing towards this potentially being a modern-day adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s “Vineland”? Who knows.
The film has an ensemble cast that includes DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor and Alana Haim. The score is being composed by PTA regular Johnny Greenwood (Radiohead). It’s all being shot on glorious VistaVision. Michael Bauman is being credited as the DP on the project.
Take it away, “Been You.”
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