Wes Anderson's Isle of Dogs to open 2018 Berlin Film Festival

Wes Anderson's Isle of Dogs is to be the first-ever animated movie to open the Berlin Film Festival next year (18).

The feature is set in a dystopian future version of Japan in which dogs have been exiled to an island to avoid the spread of 'canine flu', and features the vocals of stars such as Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Bryan Cranston, Scarlett Johansson and Greta Gerwig.

It will be the fourth film of Anderson's to be in competition at the event, following on from The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and The Grand Budapest Hotel, which scooped the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize after it opened the 2014 event.

However, Isle of Dogs will mark the first time the festival, also known as Berlinale, has chosen an animated project to kick off events.

"I'm most delighted that Wes Anderson will kick off the Berlinale Competition again," the event's director Dieter Kosslick said in a statement released on Monday (04Dec17). "Isle of Dogs will be the first animated film to open the festival, a film that will capture audiences' hearts with its Wes Anderson charm."

The festival's official Twitter page also shared the news, along with a still from the movie showing a line-up of computer generated dogs and a 12-year-old boy named Atari Kobayashi (Koyu Rankin), who flies onto the island to find his missing pooch.

"We are incredibly pleased to share that the world premiere of Wes Anderson's animated feature @isleofdogsmovie will open the 68th #berlinale!" the picture caption reads.

The 2018 Berlin Film Festival begins on 15 February and runs until 25 February. Isle of Dogs is due to hit cinemas in March 2018, before being released in other countries around the globe from April.