2025 Film Preview
2025 promises to be a year of revisiting some popular franchises, reimagining old favorites, and taking chances with original films suited for various proclivities.
2024 was a year that had a decent selection of movies for those with dilettantish tastes, childlike wonder, or hardcore cinephile inclinations. We’re getting past that post-pandemic phase. Despite the numerous offerings that streaming has, people want to return to the theater to see movies on the big screen.
There were some strong indie films in 2024 that drew critical acclaim and became audience favorites, including Sean Baker’s Anora and Osgood Perkins’ Longlegs, which also falls under horror. Horror movies are evergreen, and this year had some stunners. In addition, from A Quiet Place: Day One to Strange Darling to The First Omen, “scream queens” dominated fright flicks. Actresses really showed off their acting chops in 2024’s horror film carousel and helped elevate the horror genre.
2025 promises to be a year of revisiting some popular franchises, reimagining old favorites, and taking chances with original films suited for various proclivities. Let’s start with horror offerings this year.
Horror
On January 17, Leigh Whannell (Insidious, The Invisible Man) sinks his teeth into Wolf Man. The Blumhouse production stars Christopher Abbott, Julia Garner, and Matilda Firth. This is not Abbott and Garner’s first pairing. In 2011 they starred in Sean Durkin’s thriller Martha, Marcy, May, Marlene, which was Garner’s first professional acting gig. Durkin is the man who brought us 2023’s heart-wrenching family sports drama The Iron Claw. Abbott replaced Ryan Gosling as the lead of Wolf Man, with Gosling still serving as one of the producers. Though this is supposed to be a reboot of the 1941 Lon Chaney Jr. classic The Wolf Man, the aesthetics are surprisingly influenced by David Cronenberg’s The Fly. Whannell has said, “What The Fly did that a lot of other practical-effects-driven horror movies from that time did not do was bring the tragedy out of these practical effects. It wasn't a joke in The Fly. It was there to illustrate someone who was dying of an illness.” Whannell has had some amazing effects in his previous films, so it will be interesting to see how he surprises us with this retelling.
Steven Soderbergh jumpstarted his career with Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989) at Sundance and thirty-five years later, he was again a standout there with his latest film Presence. There are very few story territories he hasn’t visited but he’ll be entering the realm of supernatural horror for the first time with his newest release. Starring Lucy Liu, Julia Fox, Chris Sullivan, and Callina Liang, the haunted house thriller only took eleven days to shoot and pairs him with screenwriter David Koepp (Mission: Impossible, Panic Room, The War of the Worlds) again. They did pandemic-related cyber-thriller Kimi together (2022) which starred Zoë Kravitz. When they were originally talking about Presence, Soderbergh says, “we were talking about doing a remake of the 1944 ghost movie The Uninvited. And after coming up with some really fun stuff, we abandoned that over the third act reveal.” After scrapping that notion, they came together over shared ghost story experiences. The Neon release hits theaters nationwide on January 24.
Fresh off Heretic, Sophie Thatcher stars in Companion. Marking Drew Hancock’s directorial debut, the Barbarian tribe produced the film, which includes Zach Cregger, Roy Lee, Raphael Margules, and J.D. Lifshitz. It’s been said that it’s best to go into this film blind, so no plot details will be shared here. The film also stars Harvey Guillén, Jack Quaid, and Rupert Friend. This Warner Bros. film hits theaters on January 31.
Scott Derrickson (Sinister, The Black Phone) continues his reign as one of the “new school” horror maestros with The Gorge. Starring Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga), Miles Teller (Top Gun: Maverick), and Sigourney Weaver. Taking the trained operative genre to a different expanse, Taylor-Joy and Teller’s characters discover they’re guarding a gorge that contains unspeakable evil. Instead of looking down the barrel of a gun, they have to face an unseen supernatural enemy. Comes out on Valentine’s Day on Apple TV+. And if one dose of horror isn’t enough, he also has a follow-up to his 2021 Ethan Hawk starrer The Black Phone coming out at the end of the year. Universal’s The Black Phone 2 will be in cinemas on October 17.
Ryan Coogler’s Sinners is a step away from the usual for him. The Black Panther director’s latest film, which stars Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Delroy Lindo, and Jack O’Connell, is a period piece and survival horror movie. He has a prestigious production crew, including several Oscar winners he’s worked with before. Shot in the Louisiana bayou, Coogler returns to using film, which he did with Fruitvale Station, and works with Jordan again…for the fifth time. They say the third time is a charm, how about the fifth? The Warner Bros. release will be in theaters April 18.
The Conjuring: Last Rites is the concluding chapter of The Conjuring series. Ed and Lorraine Warren, seamlessly acted by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, will face off against supernatural forces again. This time the setting is possibly 1986 Pennsylvania. Michael Chaves returns to direct. There is footage of the Warrens on YouTube and some of the videos are pretty chilling. Great primer for this September 5 Universal Pictures release.
Emma Tammi and Scott Cawthon return with Five Nights at Freddy's 2. No plot details are available but imposing animatronic beings will once again be supplied by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. Josh Hutcherson and Matthew Lillard will be back! Blumhouse specializes in horror, but this was their first video game film, and it made out like gangbusters at the box office, grossing $137,275,620 domestically. This Universal Pictures release will pop into theaters on December 5.
Big Budget Wonders
This may be Tom Cruise’s last run as Ethan Hunt. Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, helmed by Christopher McQuarrie, comes out in IMAX and cinemas on May 23. This story continues from the cliffhanger of Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning. Tom Cruise, known for his mega-watt smile and death-defying stunts, first suited up for Mission: Impossible when he was just 33 years old. This last one will come out just a hair before his 63rd birthday on July 3.
Get in gear for F1. The formula racing movie will zoom into theaters on June 27 ahead of streaming on Apple TV+. The Brad Pitt starrer is directed by Top Gun: Maverick’s ace director Joseph Kosinski and co-stars real-life F1 driver Sir Lewis Hamilton. Javier Bardem and Kerry Condon also star. Pitt has been an auto-racing devotee for years and will get to test his skills in the Apple original film and Warner Bros. release.
Jurassic World Rebirth will be out just in time for summer tentpole season. This time it stars Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, Mahershala Ali, and Ed Skrein. Directed by Gareth Edwards and penned by David Koepp, the story takes place five years after Jurassic World Dominion. Edwards loves his monsters and has been a part of the Jurassic franchise as well as the Godzilla franchise. Keep a look out for Nedry’s computer screen, which has an Easter egg. The first Jurassic Park came out in 1993. This is a franchise that has serious legs and will now star two Oscar nominees. The Universal Pictures film is in theaters on July 2.
It’s difficult to live up to the original Superman (1978), which starred Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, and Gene Hackman, but from what the trailer revealed, James Gunn is definitely looking up and taking this film to the limit…technically and visually. Gunn wrote the screenplay and produced this with fellow DC Studios head Peter Safran. Starring David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, and Nicholas Hoult, the film, Superman, comes out in IMAX and theaters on July 11, which has special meaning for James Gunn as it is the birthday of his father, who passed in 2017,
What year of movies would be complete without an entry from James Cameron? Avatar: Fire and Ash is holiday season fare, coming out on December 19. The sequel to the 2022 smash hit Avatar: The Way of the Water stars Kate Winslet, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, David Thewlis, and Sam Worthington. What better way to send a message that you’re serious about environmentalism than by making the whole crew eat a Vegan diet? That’s real dedication. The series is known for its out-of-this-world visuals, so let’s see what VFX heights Cameron takes us to this time.
Under the Radar
New York native Julia Stiles makes her feature directorial debut with the romantic drama Wish You Were Here. She and Renée Carlino adapted the script from Jodi Picoult’s popular novel of the same name. The Lionsgate film stars Isabelle Fuhrman, Mena Massoud, Jimmie Fails, Gabby Kono-Abdy, Jennifer Grey, and Kelsey Grammer and is sure to require Kleenex. It comes out January 17.
Gazer, shot in 16mm, is Ryan J. Sloan’s feature writing and directing debut and is actress Ariella Mastroianni’s feature screenwriting debut. She plays Frankie, a mother who suffers from dyschronometria, a cerebral condition that causes her to lose track of time. To support her family, she goes against her better judgment and takes a job from a woman she barely knows. She should have listened to her instincts. It’s a neo-noir thriller shot on a shoestring budget set in New Jersey that feels like the thrillers of old. The grainy look. The disorienting music. The slow buildup of tension. This was snatched up by Metrograph Pictures at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight and will be released on February 21.
Honorable Mentions: Michael (October 3), Frankenstein (November 7), Predator: Badlands, Ballerina (June 6), Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Sonya Alexander started off her career training to be a talent agent. She eventually realized she was meant to be on the creative end and has been writing ever since. As a freelance writer she’s written screenplays, covered film, television, music and video games and done academic writing. She’s also been a script reader for over twenty years. She's a member of the African American Film Critics Association and currently resides in Los Angeles.
