2024 is coming to an end, and just like my Spotify Wrapped, the movies released this year were bangers—even though some surprise sneaks ended up in my top watches (Deadpool and Wolverine, anyone?). Now, let’s take a look at what 2025 has in store.
First, let’s kick off with some of the highly anticipated blockbusters I’m just… not that excited for. But they’re so big that I feel I have to mention them.
SNOW WHITE: March 21, 2025
Is it just me, or does this movie feel like it’s been out for years? Announced in 2016 and delayed by The Pandemic That Shall Not Be Named, it’s finally here. Casting controversies aside (Gal Gadot can’t act), the superior Snow-White adaptation remains Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), and I don’t think we need another remake, reboot, or sequel.
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: June 13, 2025
How to Train Your Dragon hit our screens 14 years ago, and now we’re getting a live-action version. Not only does this feel like a nostalgia cash grab, but it also diminishes the value of animated films as a medium for storytelling that can stand on its own.
SUPERMAN: July 11, 2025
Yes, clutch your pearls, I’m not at all excited for Superman. I enjoy James Gunn’s work for DC (loved Suicide Squad in 2021), but how many reboots can one studio produce? Technically, this will be the first entry in the new rebooted DCU—not the disappointingly inconsistent DCEU—but it’s still Warner Bros. at the helm. David Corenswet looks promising as the titular hero (you might have caught him in Twisters), where he served up more of a Homelander-lite performance. I will be watching, of course; just not with raised expectations.
And now, here are the movies I’m willing to pay the ridiculous taxi fare to Rebero for:
MICKEY 17: April 18, 2025
Film Twitter survived on just one frame of this movie, knowing only the actor (Robert Pattinson) and director (Bong Joon-ho), and nothing else for months. The trailer finally dropped, revealing a dark comedy about a man giving his body up to a corporation to be cloned and abused in the effort to colonize the ice planet Nilfheim. The premise is engaging, the cast is stacked (Mark Ruffalo, Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette), and my ticket is already metaphorically bought. Please, Canal Olympia, screen this!
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: FINAL RECKONING: May 21, 2025
When I watched Dead Reckoning with my father, he turned to me as the credits rolled and asked, “Where’s the rest?” The movie sets up perfectly for an intense, high-octane part 2, and based on the new trailer, Final Reckoning is shaping up to be a great conclusion to the iconic Tom Cruise-led franchise. Needless to say, my dad and I will definitely be sat come May 21st.
FANTASTIC 4: FIRST STEPS: July 25, 2025
Though some, not me, but some, might call Marvel’s last releases disappointing, Fantastic 4: First Steps is poised to rally the masses like the golden days of the MCU. The iconic Marvel First Family stars Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby and Joseph Quinn as siblings Susan and Johnny Storm, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing. Add in their retro-futuristic 1960s-inspired costumes, and I’m already hooked. Sure, it’s yet another reboot, but this one feels fresh, and I, for one, can’t wait to see how it unfolds.
PREDATOR: BADLANDS: November 7, 2025
Prey (2022) is hands down one of the best action-survival films I’ve seen in years, and it’s downright criminal that it wasn’t released in theaters. The simple premise—an individual from a pre-industrial era taking on a hyper-advanced alien—has so much storytelling potential. Picture this: a disgraced samurai battling a Predator with a katana to save his village. Who wouldn’t pay good money for that? While Badlands shifts the action to the future, Elle Fanning leads the cast, and Dan Trachtenberg returns as director. This franchise thrives when it dares to break away from its formula, and I’m confident this will be another thrilling installment.
AVATAR 3: FIRE AND ASH: December 19, 2025
You’ve probably heard all the jokes by now about James Cameron’s Avatar being a copy of Avatar: The Last Airbender, and the fact that the antagonists in this film are literally the Fire Nation only feeds that theory. But let’s be real: these movies are visual spectacles that deserve to be seen on the big screen, so I shall.
THE BATTLE OF BAKTAN CROSS: TBD, 2025
Fun fact: I discovered this movie while researching for this article, and now I can’t stop wishing it were already out. Details are sparse, but here’s what we know: it’s a crime drama thriller written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, and it reportedly shares the same vibes as Killers of the Flower Moon.
The cast includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, and Benicio del Toro. That lineup alone guarantees I’ll be first in line when it hits theaters.
SINNERS: March 7, 2025
Written and directed by Ryan Coogler, Michael B. Jordan plays a vampire hunter. Need I say more?
FRANKENSTEIN: 2025
What a year for gothic horror. Oscar Isaac stars as Victor Frankenstein, and Jacob Elordi is his horrifying monster. Directed by Guillermo Del Toro, this promises to be both delightfully scary and darkly beautiful—think Crimson Peak meets The Shape of Water, with a little Pan’s Labyrinth sprinkled in. Quick show of hands: who was traumatized for life by the hand-eye abomination in Pan’s Labyrinth?
Honorable Mentions
WAKE UP DEAD MEN
Put Daniel Craig in his diva outfits with a ridiculous accent, and you’ve got me for 25 sequels.
THUNDERBOLTS: May 2, 2025
For the sake of all the Bucky Barnes fanfiction I stayed up late reading.
THE SMASHING MACHINE: 2025
I saw one still of this movie, with Dwayne Johnson looking completely unrecognizable. It’s a biopic of wrestler Mark Kerr, and I’m here for whatever answers it might give to the question: *Can the Rock pull off anything? *
