PTA’s ‘One Battle After Another’ Polarizes in Vegas

No, I haven’t forgotten that Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle after Another” test screened in Vegas on Tuesday. I’ve gotten plenty of emails asking how the screening went.

Honestly, I was just waiting for more reactions to come in since what I’ve been hearing so far are clear signs of a polarizing film. Good luck to Warner Bros in marketing this one. One attendee emailed me saying, “indescribable film. Messy, but purposely so?”

I spoke to a handful of attendees and the reactions coming out of the Vegas screening have been wildly all over the place. I spoke to another attendee, disappointed by the film, who overheard the person seated next to them muttering after the end credits, “what the hell was that?” Whether that was meant as complimentary to the film is not known.

A big ‘ol WTF kind of film is music to my ears, but not the type of reaction you want to hear as a studio head who just invested $140M into this project — here’s looking at you Pam Abdy and Michael De Luca. What do to to with this film which PTA had pitched to Warners his “most commercial” outing, and one filled with “the biggest stunts“ of his career.

I wouldn’t even look at the Letterboxd ratings, which have never been much of an indication of anything, even if there are some worrisome scores on there coming in from the Vegas screening. I remember very well when “Phantom Thread” test reactions were mixed, and the film turned out to be an acclaimed and Oscar-nominated film.

Much like last month’s reactions, an attendee compared the film to Jonathan Demme’s “Something Wild.” PTA attempts to blend numerous genres in the film — comedy, action, thriller, romance, horror— and it’s a “high-wire act” that left some of the crowd scratching their heads at what they had just witnessed.

Of note, PTA was in attendance, and so were a handful of Warner Bros PR people. Given that the film is getting regularly test screened, and I’m hearing of another one already set up for next month, I imagine they’re still trying to figure out how to market this one.

We’re also wondering if that August 8 release date will change, if it doesn’t then the smartest thing to do would be to debut the film at Cannes where critics will no doubt greet PTA with open arms. Otherwise, this one could also premiere at the Venice Film Festival and come out in late fall. Another least likely scenario, but one Puck’s Matt Belloni recently reported, is that the film gets “punted” to 2026.