133 Movies You Must See In 2025

From All Of Us Strangers to Hundreds Of Beavers to The Zone Of Interest, last year was by all metrics a banger of a year for cinema — just check out our 20 Best Movies of 2024 if you need any further reminder. And as your friendly neighbourhood Empire has pored over what the next twelve months has in store on screens both big and small, we've found a lot of movies that you simply must see in 2025. 133 to be exact.

In a year that's set to see James Gunn's DCU take flight with Superman; Ethan Hunt take on quite possibly his last impossible mission; Yelena Belova return to our screens in Dark Av— er, Thunderbolts*; James Cameron whisk us away to Pandora in Avatar: Fire And Ash; Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan scare us up good and proper with Sinners; and new movies fly at us from seasoned auteurs, buzzy new filmmakers, and exciting first-time collaborators in the multiplex and on the sofaplex. In short, if you're a fan of bangers, you'll be well fed (cinematically speaking) in 2025.

So grab a beverage, pull up a pew, and get your Letterboxd/film journal/diary/notes app ready because your watchlist is about to get hella full. Without further ado, here is our guide to your year ahead in cinema. Enjoy!

133 Must-See Movies In 2025 (In Release Order)

January

8th

A Real Pain

Jesse Eisenberg writes, directs, and stars in his second feature as filmmaker – acting alongside Kieran Culkin as bickering Jewish cousins on a European road trip to trace their family history.

10th

Babygirl

Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson strike up a steamy affair in an erotic thriller from Bodies Bodies Bodies director Halina Reijn.

Maria

Angelina Jolie is celebrated opera singer Maria Callas in Pablo Larrain’s latest sort-of-biopic – the third in a triptych that began with Jackie and Spencer.

The Second Act

Oddball auteur Quentin Dupieux returns with a dinner-set comedy, starring Léa Seydoux and Vincent Lindon.

16th

Unstoppable (Prime Video)

Jharrel Jerome stars as Anthony Robles – a man born without a right leg, who went on to become a pro wrestler – in a sports biopic. Also starring Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña, Don Cheadle, and Jennifer Lopez.

17th

Wolf Man

Ha-wooo! After The Invisible Man, Leigh Whannell reinvents another Universal Monster – this time a The Fly-inspired body-horror take on the lycanthropic legend. Christopher Abbott goes full tooth-and-claw, starring alongside Julia Garner.

A Complete Unknown

Timothée Chalamet goes electric in James Mangold’s Bob Dylan biopic – exploring the mumbling maestro’s early rise to fame, his disruption of the New York folk scene, and his controversial decision to plug in. Also starring Elle Fanning and Edward Norton.

William Tell

Da-da-dun, da-da-dun, da-da-dun-dun-DUN. Claes Bang plays the titular Swiss folk hero in Nick Hamm’s historical epic, also featuring Connor Swindells and Jonah Hauer-King.

Here

Forrest Gump reunion alert! Robert Zemeckis’ latest formal experiment sees a locked-off camera capture swathes of history in a single location – including the lives of Tom Hanks and Robin Wright’s married couple.

Back In Action (Netflix)

No Looney Tunes, sadly. But Cameron Diaz returns to the screen for the first time in over a decade, starring alongside Jamie Foxx as former spies turned suburban parents, in a Netflix action-comedy from Horrible Bosses director Seth Gordon.

24th

Flight Risk

Mel Gibson directs Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Dockery, and Topher Grace in a sky-high thriller that sees a US Air Marshall escorting a fugitive to trial, only for their flight to reveal that not everyone may be being entirely honest about who they are — or why they’re there.

Presence

The latest from Hollywood workaholic Steven Soderbergh is a haunted house chiller with a twist — the whole film is shot from the POV of the titular presence, which wreaks havoc upon Lucy Liu and her family’s lives when they dare to move in to its stomping ground. Chris Sullivan and Julia Fox co-star, with David Koepp on script duty.

The Brutalist

Vox Lux director Brady Corbet returns with a three-and-a-half-hour VistaVision epic centred around architect László Tóth (Adrien Brody), who flees post-war Europe in 1947 to chase the American Dream alongside wife Erzsébet (Felicity Jones). Oscar watchers, don’t miss this one.

30th

You’re Cordially Invited (Prime Video)

Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell play the sister of a bride-to-be and the father of another who find themselves plunged into a chaotic situation when they realise their special people’s wedding venue has been double-booked.

31st

Companion

“Find someone made just for you” — so reads the tagline for writer-director Drew Hancock’s unorthodox new love story-cum-psychological thriller. Jack Quaid and Sophie Thatcher star as a hotshot billionaire and the young woman who was, well, made just for him. The brains behind Barbarian are backing this one, so expect a wild ride.

Saturday Night

A who’s who of young stars (Gabriel LaBelle! Rachel Sennott! Cooper Hoffman! Nicholas Braun!) align for Jason Reitman’s real-time biodrama about the chaotic opening night of Saturday Night Live.

Hard Truths

Social realist auteur Mike Leigh and actor Marianne Jean-Baptiste reunite for the first time in almost three decades to tell the story of Pansy, a foul-tempered matriarch whose shocking outbursts belie a grief-stricken inner life. Jonathan Livingstone, Michele Austin, and newcomer Tuwaine Barrett co-star.

The Colors Within

Anime lovers, eyes up! A Silent Voice director Naoko Yamada is back with a vibrant, musical anime about a girl at a Catholic boarding school who not only has the unique ability to see the colours in the hearts of those around her, but who also decides to help start a band. As you do.

February

5th

Kinda Pregnant (Netflix)

Amy Schumer pretends to be pregnant and accidentally meets the man of her dreams while doing so in Tyler Spindel’s comedy drama.

6th

September 5

Peter Sarsgaard and John Magaro lead the cast of Tim Fehlbaum’s docudrama chronicling the remarkable events of the 1972 Berlin Summer Olympics, which saw an ABC broadcasting team tasked with covering a situation in which Israeli athletes are held hostage by a terrorist group.

7th

Dog Man

When a police officer and his dog are injured in an explosion, the canine’s head is put on the pig’s body and becomes Dog Man, a hero sworn to defend his city from feline felon Petey the Cat. The comic brainchild of Captain Underpants creator Dav Pilkey, this one is somehow not in fact a body-horror, but rather a DreamWorks Animation starring Isla Fisher.

The Seed Of The Sacred Fig

Writer-director Mohammad Rasoulof’s politically charged thriller follows Iman (Missagh Zareh), an investigating judge of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran, as public protests, the death of a young woman, and a missing gun send him spiralling into increasingly destructive paranoia.

Love Hurts

Ke Huy Quan graduates from supporting star to leading man in Jonathan Eusebio’s action-comedy, which centres around a realtor (Quan) whose violent past catches up with him when the return of former partner Rose (Ariana DeBose) brings death and danger back into his life.

The Fire Inside

Ryan Destiny and Brian Tyree Henry spearhead this true-life sports drama that tells the story of Claressa ‘T-Rex’ Shields, a Michigan-born boxer who fought her way out of Flint to become the US’ first Olympic Gold medal winning women’s boxer. Barry Jenkins wrote this one, from DP-turned-director Rachel Morrison.

Becoming Led Zeppelin

Bernard MacMahon’s IMAX bound, feature-length music documentary charts the origins of the band behind ‘Stairway To Heaven’ and ‘Immigrant Song’.

10th

The Last Showgirl

Pamela Anderson appears as never seen before in Gia Coppola’s latest, a character study of a seasoned showgirl facing an existential crisis when her show’s 30-year run is suddenly brought to an end.

11th

The Witcher: Sirens Of The Deep (Netflix)

Netflix’s second Witcher anime movie sees Geralt (Doug Cockle), Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) and Jaskier (Joey Batey) become embroiled in a war between the land and the sea when the White Wolf is hired to investigate a spate of seaside village attacks.

13th

Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy

Renée Zellweger’s beloved Brit Bridget Jones is back back back! With two kids in tow and the death of her beloved Mark Darcy to process, the fourth film in the romcom franchise is gonna be emotional — tissues at the ready, folks.

14th

Captain America: Brave New World

On your left! Four years after The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, Anthony Mackie’s star spangled hero is about to make his big-screen debut in a political thriller from Julius Onah. A political thriller featuring a Harrison Ford shaped Red Hulk, Tim Blake Nelson’s big-bonced Leader, and Giancarlo Esposito as the villainous Sidewinder, that is.

Memoir Of A Snail

16 years after the entrancing oddity Mary And Max, Aussie stop-motion filmmaker Adam Elliot returns with the darkly comic, bittersweet memoir of Grace Pudel (Sarah Snook), a serial hoarder whose tragedy-beset life is punctuated by meetings with weird, wonderful, and transformational figures. This one scooped Best Film at last year’s London Film Festival, so don’t sleep on it.

The Gorge (Apple TV+)

Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller are two highly skilled operatives who bond when tasked with protecting opposite sides of a mysterious gorge. It wouldn’t be a spoiler to say that said gorge is not exactly empty, either…

21st

The Monkey

How do you follow a film like Longlegs? Well, if you’re Osgood Perkins, then with an adaptation of a Stephen King short story about a cursed toy monkey that leaves a trail of blood and death in its wake, naturally. Theo James, Elijah Wood, and Tatiana Maslany are among the stars aping around in Perkins’ latest chiller.

28th

Vicious

The Strangers writer-director Brian Bertino returns with Vicious, a new nightmare that sees Dakota Fanning play a woman who winds up fighting for her life after she slides down a rabbit hole contained inside a stranger’s gift. Whether that is a literal or figurative rabbit hole very much remains to be seen.

Last Breath

Alex Parkinson’s true story inspired latest finds Woody Harrelson and Simu Liu playing deep-sea divers tackling the elements as they attempt to rescue a crew mate trapped hundreds of feet below the ocean’s surface.

March

7th

The Legend Of Ochi

Willem Dafoe. Emily Watson. Finn Wolfhard. A fantasy adventure from A24 that revolves around a mythic creature that looks like Grogu and a Kinkajou had a Gremlin baby. Sold!

Marching Powder

Danny Dyer is set to go full Danny Dyer as he reunites with The Football Factory Nick Love for a drug-fuelled, expletive-filled, violent film with its tongue firmly planted in its cheek — and its nose snorting a line of the naughty snow. Not one for family film night, perhaps.

Mickey 17

Robert Pattinson stars (and stars, and stars again) in Parasite Oscar winner Bong Joon Ho’s wackadoodle new sci-fi joint, an adaptation of Ashton Edward’s book about a man (Pattinson) who signs up to be an expendable on an alien colony. Not the Sly Stallone kind of expendable either, but the kind that undertakes increasingly dangerous missions and gets “copied” every time they die. Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette, and Mark Ruffalo co-star.

Twiggy

Sadie Frost directs this documentary about elfin androgynist supermodel extraordinaire Twiggy. Talking heads include Paul McCartney, Dustin Hoffman, Joanna Lumley, Stella McCartney, and Brooke Shields to name but a few.

14th

Novocaine

Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid) is incapable of feeling any pain, a condition that proves advantageous when he finds himself fighting to free the girl of his dreams (Amber Midthunder) from kidnappers. This one’s the latest cinematic confection from Significant Others directors Dan Berk and Robert Olsen.

Black Bag

It’s a double Soderbergh kind of year, and after the horror shot of Presence, Black Bag promises quite the thriller chaser. Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett star as George and Katherine Woodhouse, spy spouses whose relationship is put to the ultimate test when Katherine finds herself under suspicion of betraying her nation.

Sister Midnight

Radhika Apte is a frustrated newlywed whose feral impulses repeatedly land her in bizarre situations in this Mumbai-set marital comedy-drama.

The Electric State (Netflix)

Simon Stålemhag’s seminal sci-fi graphic novel gets the blockbuster treatment courtesy of The Russo Brothers here, with Chris Pratt and Millie Bobby Brown leading an all-star cast in a post-apocalyptic adventure set in an alternate 1994.

21st

Snow White

Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot are Snow White and the Evil Queen in Disney’s long-awaited latest live-action remake. Greta Gerwig’s writing credit and the promise of newly penned Pasek and Paul songs for the film have our curiosity.

The Alto Knights

Robert De Niro faces his greatest screen foe yet, himself, in Barry Levinson’s new biographical crime drama. Yes, De Niro holds dual roles as both Vito Genovese and Frank Costello in the 50s mob movie, written by Goodfellas scribe Nicholas Pileggi.

Flow

Indie animation maestro Gints Zilbalodis (Away) returns with a silent wonder about a cat trying to find their way home with an ever-growing band of wild friends after a devastating flood lays waste to the world around them.

Ash (Prime Video)

Multidisciplinarian Flying Lotus directs Eiza González and Aaron Paul in a sci-fi horror about a woman who wakes on a strange planet and quickly discovers that her space station’s entire crew has been brutally murdered.

28th

The Woman In The Yard

Danielle Deadwyler leads the line-up of Jaume Collet-Serra’s latest, a psychological horror set in motion when a woman in black (though not the woman in black) who appears on a family’s front lawn to deliver an ominous warning.

La Cocina

A busy Times Square kitchen provides the venue for writer-director Alonso Ruizpalacios’ ensemble deconstruction of the American Dream. Rooney Mara, Raúl Briones, and Oded Fehr are among the cast leading this one.

April

4th

A Minecraft Movie

Mojang’s global phenomenon block builder gets the blockbuster treatment this Easter with a live-action caper starring Jack Black and Jason Momoa. The vibes are very Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle, so a surprise pre-summer banger could be on our hands here.

10th

G20 (Prime Video)

Viola Davis is a president under siege in Patricia Riggen’s political thriller, which sees the G20 summit taken over by terrorists.

11th

The Amateur

John Wick meets Home Alone meets Falling Down in James Hawes’ new revenge thriller, which sees a CIA cartographer (Rami Malek) ditch the desk to go on a violent quest for vengeance when a group of terrorists (presumably not the ones from G20) murder his wife.

Drop

A first date acts as the catalyst for a paranoiac horror-thriller in the newest joint from Freaky and Happy Death Day filmmaker Christopher Landon. Brandon Sklenar and Meghann Fahy star.

The Return

If you can’t wait til Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey in 2026 for some Homeric action, Uberto Pasolini’s new film, which chronicles Odysseus’ (Ralph Fiennes) return to Ithaca after his, er, odyssey has got you covered. Also worth noting that Juliette Binoche co-stars as Penelope.

18th

Sinners

Creed and Black Panther director-star duo Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan are back at it with their latest collaboration, which will see Jordan dual role as twins who return to their hometown only to be confronted with an ominous evil.

The Penguin Lessons

Steve Coogan adopts a penguin against the backdrop of Argentinian political tumult in Peter Cattaneo’s adaptation of the Tom Michell book. Stan & Ollie and Philomena scribe Jeff Pope has written this one, so expect laughs and tears aplenty.

25th

The Salt Path

Jason Isaacs (Hello!) and Gillian Anderson star in this cinematic retelling of the astonishing true story of a couple who lost their home, were dealt a terminal illness diagnosis, and decided to respond to their woes with a year-long coastal trek. It’s based on Raynor Winn’s own personal memoir of her and her husband’s extraordinary journey.

Until Dawn

Shazam! director David F. Sandberg and IT writer Gary Dauberman have teamed up to bring Sony’s PlayStation survival horror to the big screen. Peter Stormare leads the line-up for the movie as creepy shrink Dr. Alan J. Hill and, if the game is anything to go by, expect some scary, supernatural, and seriously chilly happenings in Sandberg’s ski lodge set adaptation.

The Accountant 2

Ben Affleck returns as the titular number (and bone) crunching CPA Christian Wolff in director Gavin O’Connor and screenwriter Bill Dubuque’s long-gestating sequel. The follow-up finds Wolff teaming up with his estranged brother Brax (Jon Bernthal) to catch a killer.

May

2nd

Thunderbolts*

Florence Pugh, David Harbour, and Sebastian Stan lead the starry line-up of Jake Schreier’s MCU misfit team-up movie — ostensibly Marvel’s answer to The Suicide Squad. Keep a close eye on Lewis Pullman’s Bill in particular, and on what exactly the deal is with that asterisk in the title. Dark Avengers, anyone? Hmm…

Mother’s Pride

Game Of Thrones’ Mark Addy and Better Man monkey mo-cap star Jonno Davies lead a British comedy about a failing pub, its denizens, and a daring effort to win at the Great British Beer Awards. It’s a Nick Moorcroft movie, and it sounds like the most Moorcroftian movie imaginable at that.

Parthenope

Naples born auteur Paolo Sorrentino is back this year with a coming-of-age fantasy drama about Parthenope (Celeste Dalla Porta), a young woman whose mysteriousness is the talk of her namesake town. Interestingly, Gary Oldman co-stars.

9th

A Big Bold Beautiful Journey

After Yang filmmaker Kogonada reunites with Colin Farrell — and welcomes aboard Margot Robbie — with his newest feature, which tells the imaginative tale of two strangers bound on (and by) a big bold beautiful journey they share. Hey, that explains the title!

16th

Final Destination: Bloodlines

The latest film franchise to get the requel/reboot treatment, Final Destination returns in 2025 for more icky dealings with Death. This is set to mark one of the final appearances of the late, great Tony Todd, who reprises his recurring series role as William Bludworth in the film.

21st

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning

Could it be that Ethan Hunt has finally, actually, properly, seriously reached the end of the line with the IMF? We’ll find out when Christopher McQuarrie’s Tom Cruise led, ominously titled The Final Reckoning helicopters, submarines, runs, jumps, and flies onto our screens this summer.

23rd

Lilo & Stitch

After charming the socks off us all with Oscar nominated stop-motion caper Marcel The Shell With Shoes On, Dean Fleischer Camp is bringing another cute lil’ guy — namely Experiment 626, aka Stitch — to our screens as he unleashes his own live-action take on Disney’s iconic 2002 animation.

30th

Karate Kid: Legends

Three generations of Karate Kid collide in Jonathan Entwistle’s upcoming martial arts movie, which brings OG Karate Kid Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio), 00s Mr. Miyagi figure Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), and newcomer Ben Wang together to (crane) kick some ass.

June

6th

Ballerina

Ana De Armas is set to bring a whole new meaning to the term bullet ballet in the latest John Wick spin-off, a revenge thriller set between the events of the third and fourth Wick movies that centres around an elite assassin (De Armas) trained at the prestigious Ruska Roma organisation. Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Anjelica Huston, and the late Lance Reddick are all set to feature alongside franchise newcomer Norman Reedus.

13th

Elio

Pixar trio Adrian Molina (Coco), Inside Out 2 Senior Creative Madeline Sharafian, and Turning Red director Domee Shi have joined forces to create a quite literally out of this world sci-fi adventure in which a young, UFO obsessed boy unwittingly finds himself on an epic cosmic misadventure.

How To Train Your Dragon

DreamWorks’ beloved boy-and-his-dragon movie makes the leap from animation to live-action courtesy of original director Dean DeBlois, with Mason Thames, Nico Parker, and Gerard Butler leading a starry cast in this retelling of the story of a young Viking who forms a most unlikely friendship.

20th

28 Years Later

The Rage lives on in Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s long-gestating 28 Days Later sequel, the first in a planned trilogy. Ralph Fiennes, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Jodie Comer spearhead the new survival horror, which explores how humanity has — and hasn’t — adapted to life with the Rage virus almost three decades after the events of the original movie.

27th

M3GAN 2.0

Everybody’s favourite dancing murderbot bestie returns in Gerard Johnstone’s darkly comic horror sequel, the first in a series of planned expansions to the new MCU (M3GAN Cinematic Universe, that is.)

F1

Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, and Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski are feeling the need for speed with this F1-backed, full throttle sports drama about a retired Formula One driver and a young gun who team up to take their racing game to the next level. Fun fact: This was shot at actual F1 events around the world, and at full speed!

July

2nd

Jurassic World Rebirth

After the events of Jurassic World Dominion, the beloved dino franchise returns — this time with Gareth Edwards at the helm and Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, Ed Skrein, Rupert Friend, and more leading the series into its next age.

4th

Untitled Trey Parker Movie

South Park co-creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker have teamed up with rapper Kendrick Lamar on a secretive new live-action comedy. We know nothing about the project beyond who’s making it, but that’s plenty enough to start getting hyped.

11th

Superman

A new era for DC’s Man of Steel begins with James Gunn’s first DCU movie, which will see David Corenswet’s Superman face off against Nicholas Hoult’s Luthor. Come for Kal-El, stay for Krypto The Superdog being cinema’s new goodest boi.

18th

I Know What You Did Last Summer

We know what we’re doing this summer: watching the new I Know What You Did Last Summer from Do Revenge’s Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, that’s what. Madelyn Cline and Jonah Hauer King lead the line-up of fresh faces coming into the slasher franchise’s fray, while OGs Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. are back for more paranoiac bloodletting.

25th

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Matt Shakman brings Marvel’s First Family into the MCU this summer as Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach step into the 60s — and into the supersuits of The Fantastic Four. They’ll do battle with Ralph Ineson’s Galactus and Julia Garner’s Silver Surfer in the Multiverse Saga movie.

August

1st

The Bad Guys 2

Sam Rockwell’s Mr. Wolf and co return as newly rehabilitated Good Guys in DreamWorks’ follow-up to their surprise hit animated heist flick. This time out they’re taking on one last job with a band of all-women criminals, The Bad Girls.

Beneath The Storm

Phoebe Dynevor and Djimon Hounsou face hurricanes, sharks, and all manner of danger, both natural and otherwise in Tommy Wirkola’s (Dead Snow) disaster movie-cum-creature feature.

8th

The Naked Gun

The classic ZAZ cop comedy franchise gets the legacy sequel treatment courtesy of Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping writer-director — and one third of The Lonely Island — Akiva Schaffer, with Liam Neeson continuing Leslie Nielsen’s legacy as Frank Drebin Jr. and Pamela Anderson appearing as his would-be belle, Beth.

Freakier Friday

22 years after they first switched bodies in 2003’s Gen Z favourite Freaky Friday, Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis are back back back for more biological bonkersness as growing families pave the way for even more madness than last time around.

15th

Nobody 2

Indonesian action master Timo Tjahjanto takes up the directorial hotseat as Bob Odenkirk’s killer dad Hutch Mansell returns for more bone breaking badassery. This time out he’ll be squaring off against Sharon Stone’s big bad Lendina.

Mercy

Chris Pratt is a detective forced to prove his innocence after being accused of a heinous crime in Timur Bekmambetov’s sci-fi thriller. Also aboard for this one are Rebecca Ferguson, Annabelle Wallis, and Kylie Rogers.

29th

Thread: An Insidious Tale

This Is Us’ Mandy Moore and The Big Sick star Kumail Nanjiani play a couple who try to travel back in time to prevent their daughter’s tragic death in the latest film in the Insidious cinematic universe.

September

5th

The Conjuring: Last Rites

Couple goals paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) take on one last case in the “final” Conjuring film, helmed by Michael Chaves (The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It).

12th

Downton Abbey 3

Joely Richardson, Alessandro Nivola, Simon Russell Beale, and Arty Froushan enter the Downton fray for the third movie to come from Julian Fellowes’ lavish ITV period drama. If Julian’s taking title suggestions, Aristocratic Avengers: Endgame *is* available.

19th

Him

Few are the number of sports horror movies out there (Jason does have a hockey mask at least), but Marlon Wayans and Julia Fox will be helping remedy that in a chiller about a promising young American footballer who goes to train under an ageing quarterback at an isolated compound.

26th

Saw XI

After Saw X proved there’s still life in the old torture porn franchise yet, series veteran Kevin Greutert returns with the 11th instalment in the ongoing chronicles of the Jigsaw Killer and his decidedly unfriendly games.

The Bride!

Actor-turned-director Maggie Gyllenhaal takes the Bride of Frankenstein to 1930s Chicago with her latest movie, whose impressive ensemble includes Christian Bale, Jake Gyllenhaal, Penélope Cruz, and, in the titular role, Jessie Buckley.

October

3rd

Michael

The King of Pop, Michael Jackson, is the latest music icon to get the biopic treatment as Antoine Fuqua turns the spotlight on the controversial megastar. MJ’s own nephew, Jaafar Jackson, stars, with Colman Domingo, Miles Teller, and Laura Harrier among the actors helping bring his story to our screens.

Roofman

Channing Tatum, Juno Temple, and Kirsten Dunst are among the star names assembled by writer-director Derek Cianfrance to tell the batshit true story of infamous rooftop robber Jeffrey Manchester, who struck up an unlikely bond with a Toys’R’Us employee while squatting after heisting  dozens of McDonalds restaurants. We repeat, this is a true story!

10th

Tron: Ares

Joachim Rønning takes us not back to, but back from The Grid in the upcoming third Tron movie. The action this time centres around Jared Leto’s Ares, a highly sophisticated program who heads from the digital world to the real one on a dangerous mission. Expect a banging soundtrack courtesy of Nine Inch Nails.

Animal Friends

Aubrey Plaza and Ryan Reynolds are two animals who become unlikely pals in perhaps the most does-what-it-says-on-the-tin sounding film of 2025. Dan Levy and Jason Momoa co-star.

17th

The Black Phone 2

Ethan Hawke and Mason Thames return in Scott Derrickson’s follow-up to 2021 Stephen King adaptation The Black Phone. Given the events of the first movie, we have no idea how the Grabber is set to return, but we are all in treasure to see what Derrickson’s done now.

Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie

The wildly popular Netflix kids’ series comes to the big screen in an adventure that will see tween Gabby (Laila Lockhart Kraner) on a mission to save her prized dollhouse — and her treasured Gabby Cats.

Good Fortune

After an incident involving a mystical force, a struggling man and his wealthy pal find their lives swapped in writer-director Aziz Ansari’s new comedy joint. And playing said man and wealthy pal? Keanu Reeves and Seth Rogen — the dream team!

24th

Mortal Kombat 2

The video game movie boom continues apace with a sequel to Simon McQuoid’s 2021 beat-em-up adaptation. Shōgun alum Hiroyuki Sanada and Tadanobu Asano are among the cast for this one.

Regretting You

Colleen Hoover’s weepy bestselling melodrama about the strained relationship between a widowed mother and her teenage daughter comes to multiplexes courtesy of The Fault In Our Stars’ Josh Boone. McKenna Grace and Allison Williams form the emotional core of this one as the aforementioned traumatised mum and kid.

November

7th

Bugonia

Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons front Yorgos Lanthimos’ English-language remake of Joon-Hwan Jang's 2003 South Korean sci-fi comedy Save The Green Planet.

The Running Man

Glen Powell is the eponymous wrongly convicted cop thrust into a televised game of life and death in Edgar Wright’s new adaptation of the classic Stephen King book. Colman Domingo, Katy O’Brian, Josh Brolin, and Lee Pace are among the game’s other players and masterminds.

Predator: Badlands

The Predator is front and centre in Prey director Dan Trachtenberg’s second foray into the world of the iconic sci-fi action franchise. If that’s not already eyebrow raising enough, the prospect of multiple Elle Fannings suggest we’re in for another unique twist on the Predator movie formula.

14th

Now You See Me 3

It may not be called Now You See 3 (or indeed Now You 3 Me), but Ruben Fleischer’s magician movie threequel does have Jesse Eisenberg, Daniel Radcliffe, Woody Harrelson, Morgan Freeman, Rosamund Pike, and Ariana Greenblatt getting up to some fresh magic-based hijinks nevertheless. Wizard!

21st

Wicked: For Good

After the ultimate Act One mic drop finale and a year-long intermission, Jon M. Chu’s Wicked Witch of the West origin movie musical comes to a head with Wicked: Part 2– we mean, er, Wicked: For Good. We’re holding space for this one already.

28th

Zootropolis 2

Forgiving another ruefully missed title opportunity (Twotropolis was right there!), Disney’s latest animated sequel will see Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) and Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) back on the beat and tasked with cracking their most perilous case yet.

December

5th

Five Nights At Freddy’s 2

After the box office success of Blumhouse’s first FNAF film, the budding horror game-turned-movie franchise will be looking to deliver more sleepless nights with its sequel. Josh Hutcherson and Matthew Lilllard are both back for more animatronic mayhem in this one.

19th

Avatar: Fire & Ash

James Cameron takes us back to Pandora with the third film in his blockbuster sci-fi saga, set to explore new tribes and cultures in the Avatar universe as the battle between man and Na’vi continues. Tulkun hive, assemble!

25th

Anaconda

Paul Rudd and Jack Black headline The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent director Tom Gormican’s meta-comic new take on 90s creature feature Anaconda.

26th

The Housemaid

Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried star in A Simple Favour director Paul Feig’s new thriller, which follows a struggling woman looking to make a fresh start when she takes up post as the housemaid of a wealthy, elite couple.

The SpongeBob Movie: Search For SquarePants

SpongeBob travels to the depths of the ocean to take on The Flying Dutchman (Mark Hamill) in the fourth film to have come out of the beloved Nickelodeon animated series.

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Wildwood

Kubo And The Two Strings director Travis Knight is back with an all-star stop-motion adaptation of Colin Meloy's Portland based fantasy bestseller. Billed as the American Narnia, this one features the vocal stylings of Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Tremblay, Carey Mulligan, Jake Johnson, Awkwafina, Tom Waits, Mahershala Ali, and many, many more.

Happy Gilmore 2

Adam Sandler’s perpetually pissed off hockey player-turned-golfing pro is back after almost 30 years away to tee off once again in this hotly anticipated sequel. Christopher McDonald is back as Shooter McGavin, while newcomers to the franchise include Margaret Qualley, Travis Kelce, Bad Bunny, and Benny Safdie.

Fear Street: Prom Queen

Katherine Waterston and Ariana Greenblatt topline the newest Netflix Fear Street joint, based on the book of the same name by R.L. Stine. This one follows a slew of slayings on Shadyside High’s prom night, with five prospective prom queens being picked off one by one.

Frankenstein

Guillermo del Toro’s long-gestating adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Promethean Gothic chiller arrives on Netflix this year, with Jacob Elordi taking on the role of the monster to Oscar Isaac’s Dr. Frankenstein. The stellar supporting line-up boasts the likes of Ralph Ineson, Mia Goth, Christoph Waltz, Charles Dance, Felix Kammerer, and Burn Gorman.

Havoc

Tom Hardy is a bruised detective on a one-man mission to save a politician’s son in the latest action thriller from The Raid director Gareth Evans. Timothy Olyphant and Forest Whitaker also star in the film, which marks Evans’ second Netflix collaboration (2018’s Gothic actioner Apostle being the first.)

The Twits

Natalie Portman and Emilia Clarke are ditching the MCU for the DCU (Dahl Cinematic Universe) in Phil Johnston’s (Zootropolis) animated reimagining of the Roald Dahl classic. They voice all-new characters in the film, which features Johnny Vegas and Margo Martindale as the titular terrible twosome.

Wake Up Dead Man

All you need to know — and all we do know, in fact — heading into Benoit Blanc’s third mystery is the cast list. *Deep breath* Josh O' Connor, Cailee Spaeny, Andrew Scott, Glenn Close, Kerry Washington, Josh Brolin, Thomas Haden Church, Jeremy Renner, Mila Kunis, and, of course, Daniel Craig are all in for the murder mystery threequel, which we still suspect may contain a supernatural element. We shall see…

The Thursday Murder Club

Richard Osman’s bestselling cosy crime book, a murder mystery set in a retirement village, gets the cinematic treatment from director Chris Columbus and producer Steven Spielberg. Pierce Brosnan, Helen Mirren, Sir Ben Kingsley, and Celia Imrie star as the central crime-solving quartet — and seemingly the rest of the British film industry have supporting roles, including David Tennant, Naomi Ackie, and Richard E. Grant.

Marty Supreme

Timothée Chalamet is ping pong legend Marty Reisman in Josh Safdie’s fictionalised film based on the paddle-wielding wizard. Safdie and Uncut Gems co-writer Ronald Bronstein wrote this one together.

Bring Her Back

Aussie horror filmmaking brothers Danny and Michael Philippou are riding the wave of their occult chiller Talk To Me with a new nightmare. Whether this is the rumoured Talk To Me sequel or something else entirely remains to be seen, but Sally Hawkins, Billy Barratt, and Sora Wong are up for a scare either way.

The Smashing Machine

Benny Safdie’s solo directorial debut will see Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson transform into immensely talented (and troubled) MMA fighter Mark Kerr, the former two-time UFC World Heavyweight Champion. Based on revealing doc The Smashing Machine: The Life And Times Of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr, this will mark a radical departure for Johnson from his and co-star Emily Blunt’s last team-up on Jungle Cruise.

Mother Mary

David Lowery directs Anne Hathaway, Hunter Schafer, and Jessica Brown Findlay in a pop music epic about the relationship between a fictitious musician and a famed fashion designer. Keep your ears peeled for original tracks courtesy of music mogul Jack Antonoff and brat queen Charli XCX.

Eddington

Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, Luke Grimes, and Austin Butler lead an all-star cast in Ari Aster’s follow-up to Beau Is Afraid. Described as a blackly comic contemporary American Western, the Hereditary auteur’s long-gestating latest has been over a decade in the planning and making.

Materialists

Writer-director Celine Song is following up Empire’s Best Film of 2023, Past Lives, with another intriguing study of a love triangle in motion. The three points of this one are Chris Evans, Dakota Johnson, and Pedro Pascal. Count. Us. In!

Death Of A Unicorn

Jenna Ortega and Paul Rudd are a father-daughter duo who hit a unicorn with their car and bring its mother’s wrath upon an uber-rich pharmaceutical CEO’s wilderness retreat in Alex Scharfman’s dark fantasy horror-comedy.

Y2K

Jaeden Martell, Rachel Zegler, Julian Dennison, and actual Fred Durst lead the line-up of Brigsby Bear director Kyle Mooney’s latest joint, a sci-fi horror-comedy that dares to imagine a world where all our gravest Y2K fears came true. Behold, the techpocalypse (with added IM notifications and weaponised tamagotchis).

Warfare

Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza share writer-director duties to tell the true story of Mendoza’s experiences serving as a Navy Seal during the Iraq War. A powerhouse line-up of rising stars including Joseph Quinn, Cosmo Jarvis, Will Poulter, Noah Centineo, Kit Connor, and Charles Melton are all aboard for this one.

Opus

Ayo Edebiri is a young journalist who visits the isolated compound of a reclusive pop legend (played by John Malkovich) in the feature debut of writer-director Mark Anthony Green. This one’s billed as a horror, so don’t let the Edebiri element fool you, friends.

Hell Of A Summer

Actors Billy Bryk and Finn Wolfhard head behind the camera as co-writers and directors of a horror-comedy made in homage to summer camp slashers and masked movie killers. Bryk and Wolfhard will crop up on screen too, supporting lead Fred Hechinger.

The Life Of Chuck

Mike Flanagan tries a different flavour of Stephen King adaptation with this, a cinematic take on King’s life-affirming chronicle of extraordinary, ordinary man Charles ‘Chuck’ Krantz (Tom Hiddleston).

Shelby Oaks

YouTuber Chris Stuckmann realises his filmmaking ambitions with a found footage horror about a woman’s desperate search for her long-lost sister amid the realisation that their shared imaginary childhood demon may in fact be real.

Sentimental Value

Elle Fanning, Renate Reinsve, and Stellan Skarsgård spearhead The Worst Person In The World director Joachim Trier’s latest, which follows Nora (Reinsve) and her sister Agnes (Fanning) as they grieve their mother’s death while adjusting to the reappearance of their father Gustav (Skarsgård) in their lives.

Splitsville

A proposed divorce and the boundaries of an open marriage spell trouble for Adria Arjona, Dakota Johnson, Kyle Marvin, and Michael Angelo Covino — and laughs aplenty for us — in The Climb director Covino’s sophomore feature.

The Wedding Banquet

Andrew Ahn directs SNL star Bowen Yang, Kelly Marie Tran, Lily Gladstone, and Joan Chen in a remake of Ang Lee’s 1993 comedy in which a young man marries his bestie (Tran) to get a green card, only for her grandmother (Youn Yuh-jung) to decide to throw a lavish wedding ceremony for the faux pair.

Alpha

Golshifteh Farahani and Tahar Rahim are the parents of an 11-year-old girl who finds herself subject to rumours that she’s contracted a mysterious new disease in the newest movie from Titane auteur Julia Ducournau.

Golden

Michel Gondry and Pharrell Williams have joined forces to celebrate Black joy with a musical expedition into the world of late 70s Virginia Beach, a coming-of-age movie starring Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Halle Bailey that’s set to take viewers back to a time — and a place — where creativity and inspiration was in the air. Da'vine Joy Randolph, Brian Tyree Henry, Quinta Brunson, Janelle Monáe, Anderson. Paak, and Missy Elliott all co-star.

The Battle of Baktan Cross

Details are scarce regarding Paul Thomas Anderson’s secretive new film, shot on 35mm and set for IMAX release. All you need to know at this point though is that Leonardo DiCaprio and Regina Hall are reportedly set to lead, with Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Wood Harris, and PTA's Licorice Pizza muse Alana Haim all filling out an impressive ensemble. Sold!

Die, My Love

Lynne Ramsay’s long-awaited follow-up to You Were Never Really Here is due to hit our screens this year. It’s a dark comedy/horror based on Ariana Harwicz’s 2017 novel about a mother’s struggles with postpartum depression. Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson, and Nick Nolte may win the award for most exciting leading trio of 2025 already.

The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol

The Triplets Of Belleville animation auteur Sylvain Chomet returns in 2025 with a 90s set celebration of the eponymous French writer, filmmaker, and playwright.

Father, Mother, Sister, Brother

Cate Blanchett. Adam Driver. Tom Waits. Vicky Krieps. Charlotte Rampling. Jim Jarmusch. ‘Nuff said. (But also, it’s a triptych about estranged siblings who reunite and find themselves confronting the impact of their emotionally distant parents on their lives. Father is set in Northeast America, Mother in Dublin, and Sister Brother in Paris in case you wanted to know.)

Untitled Noah Baumbach Movie

Laura Dern, George Clooney, Emily Mortimer, Billy Crudup, Riley Keough, and Jim Broadbent all star in Noah Baumbach’s fourth feature for Netflix. Regular Baumbach collaborator Linus Sandgren shot the film in New York and London, while Mortimer doubled up as co-writer as well as star on the film, whose plot specifics remain firmly under wraps at present.

The Phoenician Scheme

Wes Anderson’s in-the-can espionage comedy confection should hit our screens sometime in 2025, despite not currently having distribution secured. And with a cast boasting *deep breath* Benicio del Toro, Benedict Cumberbatch, Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Rupert Friend, Willem Dafoe, Brian Cranston, Michael Cera, Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks, and Charlotte Gainsbourg, there’d have to be something seriously amiss for the symmetry appreciating auteur not to secure a release for this one.