Following part one of our 2025 movie preview, we’re counting down our 50 most-anticipated films of the year.
50. 28 Years Later (Danny Boyle; June 20)
It’s a shame the 28 Later (?) franchise lost its shaky, grainy video-camera aesthetic that defined the mood and feel of the first entry, 28 Days Later. But it’s a godsend that they’ve brought back Alex Garland and Danny Boyle, the original writer-director combo who grabbed our attention with the otherwise beleaguered premise that is a zombie apocalypse. With the promise of their collaboration––which has also led to The Beach and Sunshine––and a feral Ralph Fiennes, there should be a lot to look forward to in discovering how things have developed in this fictional world over the nearly three decades since its outbreak. – Luke H.
49. Heads or Tails? (Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis)
A welcome, last-minute surprise to the 2025 slate is the next film from Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppi, the duo behind the wondrous fable The Tale of King Crab. Heads or Tails?, which has already finished production, stars John C. Reilly as none other than Buffalo Bill, following his real-life journey in 1890 to Naples and Rome, brining his famous “Wild West” show to audiences. The duo displayed transportive, dreamlike imagination with their previous feature; we look forward to seeing them up their scope with Reilly in two. – Jordan R.
48. Rose of Nevada (Mark Jenkin)
After Bait and Enys Men proved to be a pair of the most tactile, distinctive films of the last few years, director Mark Jenkin seems to be stepping up his scope for his latest. Only a few details have revealed the Cornish director finished production this past summer on a film titled Rose of Nevada, which continues The Beast and The End star George MacKay’s auteur streak, joined by Callum Turner. No plot details have arrived yet, but we look forward to seeing Jenkin’s vision on a bigger canvas here. – Jordan R.
47. Frogs (Robin Schavoir and Matthew Schroeder)
Six years since The Plagiarists, Robin Schavoir returns with a day-in-the-life comedy skewering myopias and obsessions plaguing the frightening land of Brooklyn, New York. Nothing’s been unveiled thus far (the above still of Matthew Danger Lippman and Carmen Borla is our first look) so you’re more than forgiven for not knowing the deal. Spending a few days around the set of Frogs, though, everything I read and saw of Schavoir’s script proved gut-busting, buttressed with strong work from leads and supporting alike. As photographed by co-director Matthew Schroeder, Frogs should pose a dynamic riposte to exhausting social mores. – Nick N.
46. Late Fame (Kent Jones)
Kent Jones––capable translator of others’ original scripts? It didn’t seem likely for the arch-auteurist curator and documentarian, but his fiction debut Diane revealed genuine chops and cinematic sense, a voice finally out in world after 40-something years elsewhere in the industry. At least, that film’s reflective, autumnal quality seems a strong tonal match for Samy Burch’s screenplay follow-up to the great May December, which sees a poet (Willem Dafoe) who achieves late-career recognition enter a strange bond with a new admirer (Greta Lee). – David K.
45. I Love Boosters (Boots Riley)
Backed by NEON in financing, production, and distribution, Boots Riley’s sophomore feature, and first since 2017’s breakout Sorry to Bother You, sounds like a riot. Led by Keke Palmer and co-starring Demi Moore, Naomi Ackie, Eiza Gonzalez, Taylour Paige, Poppy Liu, and LaKeith Stanfield, it follows the Velvet Gang, a juvenile group that shoplifts (i.e. boosts) from department stores and has their sights newly set on a renowned designer-brand CEO known for her ruthless nature. If the film is as creative as his first and unpredictable as Riley’s been in his time between projects, it could be one of the year’s most provocative, expectedly unexpected features. – Luke H.
44. The History of Sound (Oliver Hermanus)
It doesn’t seem a film cynically designed for Twitter, thank god; more like one we can oddly see flourishing there, not only for its cast and game queerness, but as a byproduct of its quality. Oliver Hermanus is one of the most-distinguished directors to come from South Africa, and has felt on the verge of real critical recognition for a while now; The History of Sound finds two American WW1 servicemen (it-guys Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor) on a journey to record and collect the sounds, voices, and music of their countrymen. The musical / field-recording aspect of Pawlikowski’s Cold War comes to mind––a good omen. – David K.
43. The Running Man (Edgar Wright; Nov. 1)
Edgar Wright has long maintained that the only movie he’d ever remake is The Running Man, the Schwarzenegger vehicle only scratching the surface of Stephen King’s novel. Now, his dream is coming true with what sounds like his purest action movie to date––casting the charismatic Glen Powell in the lead, however, suggests this won’t be too great a departure from Wright’s typical brand of gut-busting genre comedy. – Alistair R.
42. The Rivals of Amziah King (Andrew Patterson)
Premiering in 2019 on the festival circuit but released during early days of the pandemic, Andrew Patterson’s The Vast of Night was one of the most impressive indie sci-fi films of recent years and quite a calling card. He’s now leveled-up his scope with The Rivals of Amziah King, which stars Matthew McConaughey and Kurt Russell and follows a girl who loses her mother and reunites with her former foster parent, Amziah, who reveals hidden skills on a path for justice. Production wrapped back in summer of 2023; hopefully it sees the light of day soon. – Jordan R.
41. After the Hunt (Luca Guadagnino)
Luca Guadagnino has taken Steven Soderbergh’s crown as the American film industry’s hardest-working director, and if his own words are to be believed, he’ll soon take claim to directing Julia Roberts’ career-best performance too. Guadagnino has boldly teased After the Hunt as featuring such, her turn at the center of a twisty morality thriller about age gaps and consent. Whether this will be Roberts’ Tár is anyone’s guess, but Guadagnino is in the midst of a hot streak it’d be foolish to bet against. – Alistair R.
40. Untitled Kendrick Lamar/Matt Stone/Trey Parker Film (July 4)
It should come as no surprise that wunderkind Kendrick Lamar’s film debut would be something no one else could think up. Still, it’s baffling that he’s bringing the project to life through the South Park team. Directed by Trey Parker, produced by Parker, Matt Stone, Lamar, and Lamar’s producing partner Dave Free, and written by 24-year South Park writing veteran Vernon Chatman (who also wrote the original Jackass movie), it’s a dark comedy about a Black man who works as a slave reenactor and discovers his white girlfriend’s ancestors owned his in the past. It will be the first live-action film Parker has directed since 1997’s Orgazmo. – Luke H.
39. Moonglow (Isabel Sandoval)
In the six years since her breakout Lingua Franca we’ve anticipated Isabel Sandoval’s next feature, which now looks to be in its final stages of completion. Her romantic, ’60s- and Manila-set noir Moonglow, which the director has described as “in the vein of In a Lonely Place and Casablanca,” combines the gritty world of Philippine crime and politics with lush romanticism, following a jaded female detective who’s masterminded a successful heist and is tasked with finding the culprit. – Jordan R.
38. Where to Land (Hal Hartley)
Few American filmmakers nail the battle between head and heart quite as acutely as Hal Hartley. His absence has been sorely felt, his most recent fiction feature Ned Rifle now a decade old. A Kickstarter campaign for Where to Land launched in late 2019, with Hartley proclaiming his new script, a farce following a rom-com director mistakenly thought to be at death’s door, “the best thing I’ve ever written.” The pandemic halted production, and Hartley published the screenplay in 2021. It’s taken another Kickstarter for the film to get off the ground, but it’s been mostly smooth sailing since. Let’s hope he can stick the landing. – Blake S.
37. Dry Leaf (Alexandre Koberidze)
It’s been three years since Alexandre Koberidze’s What Do We See When We Look at the Sky wowed us at Berlinale, and his latest seems to share one thing with it: a passion for soccer. Dry Leaf is said to follow the trail of a woman who went missing while photographing soccer stadiums in seven different villages across Georgia and her father’s attempts, with the help of an invisible best friend, to find her. – Frank Y.
36. Materialists (Celine Song)
For her sophomore feature, writer-director Celine Song has the difficult task of following up Past Lives, one of the more beautiful films of the 2020s. She’s returning with Materialists, a love-triangle romantic comedy focused on a “match-maker, her ex-boyfriend and a wealthy businessman,” starring Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, and Pedro Pascal. It sounds like lighter fare than Song’s debut, focused just as much on the comedy as the romance, the former not found in spades in Past Lives. Still, Song knows how to strike intimacy and write with resonance. – Mike F.
35. Jupiter (Andrey Zvyagintsev)
With little known about Andrey Zvyagintsev’s new film––centered on a Russian oligarch forced to reckon with his family’s future––the anticipation for Jupiter is borne from consistent strength across Zvyagintsev’s filmography, which has earned him both a screenwriting award and Jury Prize in separate years at Cannes. Since 2000, the Russian realist best-known for 2014’s Leviathan has rarely taken more than a few years between projects, so the drought between 2017’s Loveless and upcoming Jupiter has built quite the appetite amongst Zvyagintsev-heads. – Luke H.
34. Duse (Pietro Marcello)
Returning to the Italian language after his interesting but imperfect French fantasy Scarlet, Marcello joins forces with the ever-regal Valeria Bruni Tedeschi in this biographical film about Eleonora Duse, one of the great stage actresses of her moment in the early 20th century, where she excelled in realist theatre by the likes of Ibsen. We can see Marcello hanging back on the formal play and archival inserts that he’s previously loved while still providing a very modern, lively look at the subject. – David K.
33. Black Bag and The Christophers (Steven Soderbergh; March 14 and TBD)
At this point I think it’s safe to say Steven Soderbergh will never slow down. If you have any reservation, look no further than the reality that we could see three films from the Oscar-winning director released this year. His ghost story Presence is coming out in January (after premiering at Sundance a year ago), and right after comes Black Bag, a spy thriller reuniting him with the great David Koepp (writer of 2022’s best film, Kimi) and an ensemble including Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender. But Soderbergh is already moving onto his next project, with casting just announced this month for The Christophers, a dark comedy about the estranged children (Michaela Coel and James Corden) of a once-famous artist (Ian McKellen). That one is written by Soderbergh’s regular collaborator Ed Solomon. – Mitchell B.
32. Stitches (Alice Winocour)
Despite penning some stellar scripts (Mustang chief among them), French writer-director Alice Winocour had a soft start to her directorial career. But 2022’s Revoir Paris signaled a major shift in her prowess. The Virginie Efira- and Benoit Magimel-starring terrorist attack recovery drama digs trenches into the idea of traumatic memory, showcasing Winocour’s keen ability to investigate the heart and mind with the camera. Which makes the subject of her next film––an American filmmaker’s “life-and-death journey, facing challenges and self-discovery” after she arrives in Paris for Fashion Week––seem perfect. Continuing the Parisian acting stint she started with Maria, Angelina Jolie will lead the cast, with support from Louis Garrel and Garance Marillier. – Luke H.
31. Peter Hujar’s Day (Ira Sachs)
Peter Hujar was tangential to so many of the biggest social and art movements in New York of the 1960s and 1970s; it remains surprising that his photography work didn’t find too wide an audience until he died. Ira Sachs’ latest reunites him with Passages star Ben Whishaw to explore, in the filmmaker’s words, “what it is to be an artist among artists in a city where no one was making any money.” Rather than a typical biopic, Peter Hujar’s Day appears to be exploring the relationship between art and commerce––a recurring obsession for any filmmaker. With Whishaw and Rebecca Hall leading the cast, it sounds like a winner. – Alistair R.
30. Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die (Gore Verbinski)
The art-and-commerce-melded mind behind ’90s Nathan Lane staple Mousehunt, the blockbusting Hollywood version of The Ring, acid-tinged animation western Rango, and the first three Pirates of the Caribbean films has been silent since 2016’s fantasy-horror A Cure for Wellness. He’s almost got multiple big-swing projects off the ground in the years since, but eccentric director Gore Verbinski will finally make his return in 2025. Although “saving the world” plots don’t usually point to the most interesting films, the starry project––Sam Rockwell, Juno Temple, Zazie Beetz, Haley Lu Richardson, and Michael Peña––dons a Verbinski-grade funhouse of details that promises something original. The story follows a futuristic man going back in time to recruit patrons at a Los Angeles diner to help him save the world from AI in a single night. – Luke H.
29. The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol (Sylvain Chomet)
It’s been 14 long years since Sylvain Chomet’s Jacques Tati homage The Illusionist. In 2025 he finally returns to film history with an animated biopic of novelist, playwright, and filmmaker Marcel Pagnol. By having an elderly Pagnol reflect on his long career through a conversation with his childhood self, Chomet’s film suggests a return to the type of poignant contemplation that defined The Illusionist and early career highlight The Triplets of Belleville. – Christian G.
28. The Secret Agent (Kleber Mendonça Filho)
After playfully pastiching genre cinema with his 2019 Cannes winner Bacurau, Kleber Mendonça Filho’s return to narrative cinema following his majestic cine-memoir Pictures of Ghosts suggests a far more sincere approach to the thriller genre. Wagner Moura leads the movie, set during the waning years of Brazil’s military dictatorship, as a man whose attempts to escape the corruption of São Paulo and reunite with his son are complicated when he discovers government forces are on his tail. It sounds like Filho’s distinct take on a John le Carré page-turner, and also comes with the promise of “traditional folklore elements.” Consider us excited. – Alistair R.
27. Mother Mary (David Lowery)
Described by the director as “a weird, weird movie,” David Lowery’s Mother Mary suggests the acclaimed auteur working in a more openly campy fashion. Following Anne Hathaway’s pop star Mother Mary and her relationship to Michaela Coel’s fashion designer, the film also features original pop songs by Jack Antonoff and Charli XCX. Lowery has always been a shapeshifting writer-director who’s oscillated between bigger-budget films and indie-level productions. While Peter Pan & Wendy might’ve been a miss, Lowery’s always compelling and Mother Mary suggests his biggest swing yet. – Christian G.
26. American Nails (Abel Ferrara)
Padre Pio was an admirable, oft-fascinating miss; otherwise Abel Ferrara’s in one of the most verdant periods of his incredible career, the Tommaso / Siberia / Zeros and Ones three-peat matching any working director’s “late” era. American Nails seems to fuse his ongoing interests in both ground-level and high-concept material, bringing together Ferrara lifers Willem Dafoe and Asia Argento (thus marking a New Rose Hotel reunion) for a film that retells Euripides’ Hippolytus “in a tale set in the gangster world of primal violence, power and revenge [that] pits Argento against the male-dominated remnants of power and entitlement, in the shadow of the Roman Empire in contemporary Italy.” However that combination of material and milieus goes, I can barely imagine a scenario in which it’s boring. – Nick N.
25. A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (Kogonada; May 9)
After the hidden critical successes that were Columbus and After Yang, video-essayist-turned-filmmaker Kogonada emerges with his biggest feature to-date. Hopefully it doesn’t come bearing the commercial tendencies that Kogonada stands so firmly against. With Margot Robbie, a returning Colin Farrell, and supporting performances from Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Jodie Turner-Smith, Hamish Linklater, Billy Magnussen, and Sarah Gadon, the romantic fantasy about two strangers brought together by fate sounds like it will, at the very least, deliver a deeply felt journey the likes of which Kogonada has proven himself a tender evocator. – Luke H.
24. Likely Hong Sangsoo Film (or Two)
A new Hong Sangsoo film every year can join death and taxes as the only constants in life. Hong has released eight films in the past four years, all varying degrees of excellent. Hong’s extraordinary innovation has been eliminating the two most time-consuming aspects of filmmaking: writing scripts and raising financing. We can be almost certain that Hong will premiere a new work at a major European festival, presumably Berlin. His last film By the Stream showed that he hasn’t lost his ability to surprise; with 11 speaking parts and a two-hour runtime, it is almost an epic in Hong’s ascetic late period. Hong remains a vital filmmaker and regularly demonstrates that greatness can be achieved even with a crew of one and the budget of a home movie. – Ankit K.
23. Dracula Park (Radu Jude)
Dracula was an Irish author writing about a Transylvanian monster; its best-known adaptations have come via Germans and Americans. There has been no authentically Romanian take on Transylvania’s most infamous son until now, and it’s safe to assume Radu Jude will take a sledgehammer to the Count’s cultural legacy in his highly anticipated Dracula Park. Don’t expect anything too faithful to Bram Stoker; do expect another angry commentary on how late capitalism is ravaging Romania. – Alistair R.
22. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (Christopher McQuarrie; May 25)
Is Tom Cruise our nation’s greatest living treasure? He has a strong case when you take into account his willingness to die for his art alongside his use of A-list status to take on a major studios in the interest of protecting the theatrical experience. The joy Cruise gets from making movies is so palpable it’s impossible for it not to transfer to audiences. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One was a bit of a disappointment: the heights of Fallout were so high that Dead Reckoning, while very good, couldn’t quite match. It still had a fair share of knockout set pieces and jaw-dropping stunts: while the motocross jump off a cliff received lots of attention (for good reason), I prefer the turbo-charged European coupe drifting around a courtyard fountain over and over (a very silent-film gag), or the Lost World-esque hanging train car sequence. The Final Reckoning‘s trailer foretells the end for Cruise’s time as Ethan Hunt, lending emotional heft to a franchise that’s gifted so many thrilling moments these past three decades (as well as a killer nu-metal soundtrack in MI:2). – Caleb H.
21. Sontag (Kirsten Johnston)
Described by Kristen Stewart, the film’s only associated actor, as a “hybrid documentary, research project, experiment, film-within-a-film type thing,” documentarian Kirsten Johnson’s Susan Sontag biopic is shaping up to be, well, shapeless––in great ways. The work of the writer, philosopher, critic, and activist-intellectual is brimming with vast, compelling cinematic language and ideas, ripe ground for someone with such a mastery over docufiction as Johnson, who’s responsible for Cameraperson and Dick Johnson Is Dead. – Luke H.
20. Ella McCay (James L. Brooks)
A James L. Brooks film in 2024? Your shock is as great as ours. The 84-year-old writer, producer, director, and tastemaker is responsible for some of TV and film’s greatest achievements, from co-creating The Simpsons, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Taxi to directing Broadcast News, As Good as It Gets, and Terms of Endearment. After 15 years, he’s behind the camera once more. Emma Mackey will play the titular Ella McCay, an idealistic politician preparing to take over her mentor’s position while managing a difficult work-life balance, and leading an overflowing cast filled out by Rebecca Hall, Jamie Lee Curtis, Albert Brooks, Woody Harrelson, Ayo Edebiri, and Kumail Nanjiani. I mean, who doesn’t want to work with James L. Brooks? Who even knew it was still an option? – Luke H.
19. Untitled Kathryn Bigelow Thriller
Operating in her most familiar thematic zone, Oscar-winning writer-director Kathryn Bigelow returns to feature filmmaking for the first time since 2017’s Detroit with a White House-set thriller in which the President’s on-site cabinet must respond to an impending ballistic missile strike on the United States. With an all-star cast topped by Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Jared Harris, Greta Lee, Moses Ingram, Tracy Letts, and Jason Clarke––plus Bigelow’s sixth sense for unpacking modern American warfare philosophies and the connective tissue of political turmoil (see: Zero Dark Thirty and The Hurt Locker)––the still-untitled thriller should arrive with a presence. – Luke H.
18. Eddington (Ari Aster)
Prior to becoming an industry pariah for dropping out of Todd Haynes’ gay romance with very little notice (in another timeline, that film’s topping this list), Joaquin Phoenix reunited with Ari Aster to play a sheriff in this all-star genre western. As with Beau is Afraid, which was rumored to be titled Disappointment Blvd. for years before concrete details emerged, little is known about his latest effort, but Internet sleuths seem to believe this is a return to conventional horror territory for the filmmaker. We’re particularly intrigued by the rumor Eddington will be his take on the zombie movie. – Alistair R.
17. Avatar: Fire and Ash (James Cameron; Dec. 19)
The 13-year gap between Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water left me actively awed by how skilled James Cameron is in the art of staging action—I had simply forgotten. Like Christopher Nolan––whose recent Interstellar IMAX re-release made me realize this––Cameron recognizes that a certain type of cinema (the blockbuster, built-for-theatrical kind) isn’t doing itself any favors by engaging in subtlety. Instead, simple-to-parse narratives involving archetypal characters allow spectacle to take center stage. So let me preempt any tweets in December: no one is going to Avatar: Fire and Ash (or any Cameron movie) for the dialogue. We don’t care that it’s corny. We’re here for an emotionally involving thrill ride, and Cameron’s proven throughout his career that there isn’t anyone better. It’s worth noting that masters of their craft will simply be better in new arenas. The CGI in Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers still outshines many movies from the recent era, and VFX from 2009’s Avatar blew young moviegoers’ minds upon its 2022 remastered re-release. So with Avatar: Fire and Ash, expect visual wizardry on an advanced level that should make the comic book slop and “live-action” remakes cower in shame at their conscious lack of quality-control. – Caleb H.
16. Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier)
2025 seems to be the year of NEON reuniting with their 2021 Cannes darlings––they’ve got North American rights to both Julia Ducournau’s Alpha and Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value. This marks a Worst Person reunion: he’s teaming up again with the luminous Renate Reinsve for this portrait of an Oslo who clash when stage actress Nora has to deal with her eccentric and charismatic father, film director Gustav (Stellen Skarsgård), who suddenly reenters her life and, to make amends, offers her the lead in his next film. Sentimental Value is co-written by Trier’s regular collaborator Eskil Vogt and co-stars Elle Fanning and Cory Michael Smith, who has been on quite the run lately. — Mitchell B.
15. Mickey 17 (Bong Joon Ho; April 18)
Bong Joon Ho blew the international film scene open with Parasite, winning Cannes’ coveted Palme d’Or, sweeping the Oscars with unprecedented popular and critical acclaim, and causing a genuine stir at the box office. Cinephiles and mundane moviegoers alike have spent several years awaiting what Bong might fashion next. Now it’s only a short matter of time until we find out. Despite some release setbacks (from late 2023 to January 2024 to April 2024), the film––an English-language project about a man named Mickey (played by Robert Pattinson) living 17+ disposable lives––seems an utterly bizarre, Bong-toned dramedy minted for the cinematically curious. Whether it can explode onto the scene like Parasite or not remains to be seen, but that’s a pretty historic, unrealistic bar for anyone to be held to. – Luke H.
14. Paper Tiger (James Gray)
Word has it James Gray’s latest is a tense, gritty story about two brothers pursuing the American dream––seemingly another portrait of America that excavates its dark undercurrents of corruption and violence. It’ll reteam him with Armageddon Time stars Jeremy Strong and Anne Hathaway, while Adam Driver takes co-lead. With production beginning at the start of 2025, here’s hoping it could arrive before the end of the year. – Soham G.
13. Highest 2 Lowest (Spike Lee)
Remaking one of Akira Kurosawa’s high achievements is the epitome of big swing. Which is, I think, exactly the level of task Spike Lee should set for himself; playing it safe is how we get American Utopia. And a New York-set kidnapping thriller finally reuniting him with Denzel Washington and, per Lee, giving its main role to ASAP Rocky––with Jeffrey Wright, Dean Winters, and (sure) Ice Spice rounding out the cast––is just the energy mainstream movies have been lacking far too long. Needless to say the source material is strong; a longtime Kurosawa admirer behind the camera suggests all worries about retreading material are hilariously off-base. – Nick N.
12. The Smashing Machine (Benny Safdie)
For Benny Safdie’s solo debut, he’s teaming with star and ex-wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson on The Smashing Machine, a story about real-life wrestler and MMA champion Mark Kerr. It’s a massive play for both Safdie (branching-out sans sibling Josh) and Johnson, who hasn’t been in a dramatic role since 2013’s Pain & Gain (or even Southland Tales from 2006). That isn’t to say Johnson isn’t capable, and Safdie has shown his own chops with The Curse, yet it feels like a major gamble, one that has the power to elevate both director and star––not to mention being Emily Blunt’s first project after the awards run of Oppenheimer. – Mike F.
11. Marty Supreme (Josh Safdie)
So much swagger, gusto, and brio peeling off the screen––this is what Marty Supreme should prove, uniting the sprite-like Timothée Chalamet with Josh Safdie flying solo after the (quite foreseeable, honestly) breakup of his fraternal film partnership. There was a sense and fear of where you could feasibly go after the career and thematic culmination of Uncut Gems: dialing the timeline back a half-century and adapting the story of a real-life ping-pong hustler (whilst one-upping it with an even more colorful, random cast) isn’t the worst idea. – David K.
10. Nouvelle Vague and Blue Moon (Richard Linklater)
Few American filmmakers embody cinephilia more credibly than Richard Linklater, whose passion began as a programmer and has continued with decades of advocacy. These dual instincts may find a perfect home in Nouvelle Vague, his account of the French New Wave’s origins couched in Jean-Luc Godard making Breathless. Lest memories of Mank cloud one’s vision, Linklater shot Nouvelle Vague in black-and-white and largely with a cast of lesser-known French performers; so far so good for a daring proposition. Blue Moon has supposedly been a longtime passion for himself and his greatest collaborator, Ethan Hawke, with whom he’s mastered the compressed-time narrative more than once. Though we’ll perhaps never get a fourth Before film, in many ways this is a preferable path for two artists whose love of kin has never flagged. – Nick N.
9. Father, Mother, Sister, Brother (Jim Jarmusch)
To misquote The Tree of Life, “Father, Mother, Sister, Brother, always you wrestle inside me.” And Jarmusch as well, undoubtedly, bringing us another film likely to be funny but with a bit more melancholy than usual, as he explores complex family relations head-on for the first time in an anthology format that’s par for him. Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, and Adam Driver head the New Jersey-, Paris-, and Dublin-shot film, which is jointly photographed by his regular DPs Frederick Elmes and Yorick Le Saux. – David K.
8. Die, My Love (Lynne Ramsay)
Lynne Ramsay’s long-awaited fifth feature finally arrives this year, loosely adapting Ariana Harwicz’s 2017 novel of the same name. A striking ensemble led by Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson is enough to command attention; the film being billed as a darkly comic horror is even more exciting. We Need To Talk About Kevin and You Were Never Really Here are already among the most unnerving films of the new century, so Ramsay going further into such territory––reportedly looking towards Roman Polanski’s Apartment Trilogy for inspiration––should be a recipe for the most unshakeable work of 2025. – Alistair R.
7. The Phoenician Scheme (Wes Anderson)
After last year’s Oscar win for his Roald Dahl short, Wes Anderson is back to making features with The Phoenician Scheme, a spy film including supposed elements of comedy, drama, and thriller. The logline is a clipped rendering of possibilities: “Dark tale of espionage following a strained father-daughter relationship within a family business. Twists revolve around betrayal and morally gray choices.” The director once again united an acclaimed ensemble cast: Benicio del Toro, Michael Cera, Bill Murray, Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Scarlett Johansson are all in the mix, amongst several others. Anderson continues fashioning a style that can only be his own; The Phoenician Scheme shouldn’t prove different. – Mike F.
6. No Other Choice (Park Chan-wook)
Where Decision to Leave consciously avoided the bloody violence and extravagant sex that characterizes much of his work, Park Chan-wook’s adaptation of Donald Westlake’s novel The Ax––previously handled by Costa-Gavras in 2005––looks to recall familiar territory. Though originally announced in 2009, the post-financial-crash appeal of the story continues resonating, with Lee Byung-hun playing a recently fired man aiming to hunt down and kill off those he believes are candidates to take his job. It’s a hell of an elevator pitch, and we wouldn’t be surprised if the resulting film attains a Parasite-level mainstream crossover in the English-speaking world. – Alistair R.
5. The Mastermind (Kelly Reichardt)
Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind reportedly concerns an art heist staged with the Vietnam War and America’s burgeoning women’s-liberation movement as its backdrops. Josh O’Connor, hot off the success of Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera and Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers, will star in the MUBI-backed feature with Alana Haim and John Magaro. Going by first hints of plot, this could be Reichardt’s most ambitious film yet. – Soham G.
4. Miroirs No. 3 (Christian Petzold)
If he’s not too busy obsessively rewatching Den Of Thieves: Pantera to complete post-production, the latest from Christian Petzold should be arriving in 2025, likely at the Berlinale where his films are typically the highlight of any given year’s competition. Paula Beer makes her fourth collaboration with Petzold to play a pianist who, after her boyfriend dies next to her in a car crash, simply crawls from the wreckage and wanders into a nearby home. But the family of strangers have ulterior motives. In terms of high-concept pitch alone, this has our attention, but with Petzold and Beer behind the wheel, it will be one of the year’s truly unmissable efforts. – Alistair R.
3. Resurrection (Bi Gan)
One of next year’s most mouth-watering propositions, no question, Bi Gan’s awaited third feature should see him continuing to push cinema forward with his spectacular unbroken shots, now traversing across time and space as a woman (Hou Hsiao-hsein collaborator Shu Qui) brings an android corpse back to life with her stories, meeting him as she dreams while under surgical anesthetic. It may be hard to understand, like Long Day’s Journey Into Night, but is sure to make a kind of sublime, poetic sense. – David K.
2. The Way of the Wind (Terrence Malick)
Landing on this list for the fifth straight year––thereby setting some kind of record, for better and worse––is a film for which excitement’s never once reduced. Malick began shooting The Way of the Wind in 2019 and (per sources) found editing hobbled by the pandemic, but one thinks, assumes, prays in obscure voiceover that time’s finally come for his interpretation of the Christ tale. (I recently heard another, rather credible rumor about its editing process––one crazy enough that I asked the source to clarify and, double-verified, still can’t quite conceptualize.) Is our interest in Malick so strong as to sometimes border on parodic? Sure. Until we’re witness to the thing itself and reminded nobody on earth operates with his scale, intent, or wonder. – Nick N.
1. Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson (Aug. 8)
Nothing is quite so exciting as a new Terrence Malick or Paul Thomas Anderson film, both of which are supposed to arrive in a cinematically decorated 2025. Described by Warner Bros. as an “event film,” the tentatively titled One Battle After Another (or perhaps The Battle of Baktan Cross) finally unites Anderson and longtime friend Leonardo DiCaprio, who’s hovered over casting announcements since 1997, when he was offered Boogie Nights’ Dirk Diggler and turned it down for Titanic. Unlike PTA’s last few films, which have received limited distribution at best, Battle is already slated for a wide release in August that includes an IMAX stretch––rare commercial confidence from Warner Bros. Featuring Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, Shayna McHayle, Chase Infiniti, and past collaborators Alana Haim, Benicio del Toro, and Sean Penn, the (supposed) heist thriller that may or may not be a modern interpretation of Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland should mark a new chapter in PTA’s corpus. – Luke H.
Honorable Mentions
Even with a hundred films to anticipate, there’s many more that pique our interest. Longlegs‘ Oz Perkins is already back with the Stephen King adaptation The Monkey this February. Edward Berger’s Conclave follow-up, the Colin Farell-led The Ballad of a Small Player, will be ready, along with Jonah Hill’s dark comedy Outcome, John Patton Ford’s Glen Powell-led Huntington, and John Carney’s Power Ballad starring Paul Rudd. Along with Pavements getting a 2025 release, Alex Ross Perry’s documentary Videoheaven premieres at Rotterdam.
On the international circuit, we’re looking forward to Alain Gomis’ Dao, Laura Wandel’s In Adam’s Interest, Sebastián Lelio’s The Wave, Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi’s Occupation, Lucile Hadzihalilovic’s La Tour de glace, Arthur Harari’s The Unknown, Michel Franco’s Dreams, Kornel Mundruczo’s At the Sea, Ulrich Köhler’s Gavagai, and Juno Mak’s Sons of the Neon Night. Shu Qi also makes her directorial debut with Girl.
While we featured a handful of Sundance premieres above, we’re also curious about Amalia Ulman’s El Planeta follow-up Magic Farm, Max Walker-Silverman’s A Love Song follow-up Rebuilding with Josh O’Connor, Mary Bronstein’s first film since 2008’s Yeast with If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, and the Barry Jenkins-produced Sorry, Baby.
While we can’t say we’re anticipating a new Alejandro G. Iñárritu film, we appreciate Tom Cruise’s return to dramatic roles. Speaking of the Cruise universe: here’s hoping Top Gun: Maverick director’s Joseph Kosinski’s F1 has more under the hood than its tepid trailer revealed. Also on the blockbuster side, Gareth Edwards is hopefully returning the Jurassic series to its roots with Jurassic World: Rebirth after the previous trilogy destroyed much goodwill. Dan Trachtenberg has not one but two Predator films, including Predator: Badlands, while Guy Ritchie continues his prolific streak with In the Grey and Fountain of Youth. Of course, as Petzold heads, we have a shared excitement of Den of Thieves 2: Pantera.
Even though David Michôd’s Wizards! seems to be in post-production hell since wrapping in August 2022, we’re curious if A24 will finally premiere it this year. Mimi Cave’s Holland, Michigan, starring Nicole Kidman, also wrapped in mid-2023 and hopefully arrives this year.
Likely 2026 or Beyond
There’s a handful of highly anticipated projects that may arrive next year but we’ll likely have to wait a bit longer. After earning top spots on our best films of 2024 feature, we can’t wait for Jane Schoenbrun’s Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma or Brady Corbet’s horror- and western-inspired feature. Martin Scorsese pushed back production on his forthcoming narrative features, and we imagine that goes the same for his documentary on ancient shipwrecks in the Mediterranean. Pedro Almodóvar said his next feature Bitter Christmas will begin shooting in 2025, but we’d be surprised to see it show up by year’s end. Here’s hoping we’ll see the latest from Dario Argento, Brian De Palma, Johnnie To, and Ang Lee in 2026.
Lucrecia Martel’s Chocobar has been on previous iterations of this feature, but we’ll let her take her time; we haven’t heard a confirmed festival premiere. We also haven’t had recent updates on Olivier Assayas’ The Wizard of the Kremlin, Paul Verhoeven’s Young Sinner, Valeska Grisebach’s The Dreamt Adventurer, João Pedro Rodrigues’ Afonso’s Smile, Alfonso Cuarón’s Billy Please Call Home, the Coens’ reunion, Eliza Hittman’s MOTHERLOVE, Hylnur Pálmason’s On Land and Sea, Reed Morano’s The Memory Police, Sam Raimi’s Send Help, David Chase’s horror feature, or Panos Cosmatos’ Flesh of the Gods.
A 2026 release is looking more likely for Claire Denis’ The Cry of the Guards, Mia Hansen-Løve’s If Love Should Die, Albert Serra’s Out of This World, the Zellners’ Alpha Gang, John Woo’s Sparks musical X Crucior, Leos Carax’s next film with Adam Driver and Léa Seydoux, Andrew Haigh’s Belly of the Beast, Alex Cox’s Repo Man 2: The Wages of Beer, Sian Heder’s Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow, Chloe Okuno’s Brides, and any number of Lily Wachowski projects in the works. Paul Schrader has also discussed shooting his next feature soon, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it targets a 2026 premiere.
David Robert Mitchell’s Flowervale Street recently got pushed to March 2026 and we haven’t heard any updates on They Follow. Conversely, rumors have popped up that Zach Cregger’s Weapons could actually arrive in 2025; we’ll wait and see. We imagine Adrien Brody’s awards run has pushed production back on S. Craig Zahler’s The Bookie and the Bruiser a bit. Ruben Östlund is targeting a 2026 Cannes premiere for The Entertainment System Is Down while Michael Sarnoski is supposed to kick off production on The Death of Robin Hood early next year. Gus Van Sant’s Dead’s Man Wire, Kim Jee Woon’s The Hole, and Tarsem Singh’s The Journeyman were all recently announced, which makes 2026 seem more likely.
On the documentary side, we’re looking forward to D. Smith’s Kokomo City follow-up Blvd, Errol Morris’ CHAOS, and Michael Almereyda and Courtney Stephens’ doc on John C. Lilly, but we’re not sure if they’ll be ready in the next year.
After an unfortunate 2024, we sincerely hope Todd Haynes can get a new project off the ground for 2026 release. The same goes for John Waters’ Liarmouth and Todd Solondz’s Love Child, which has reportedly hit financial hurdles, and here’s hoping Kevin Costner can complete his Western project to end all Westerns. With The Movie Critic no longer on the table, we’ll be curious to see if Quentin Tarantino announces plans for another feature. Lastly, for the love of art, someone please give David Lynch all the money he needs to complete his next project, even if it’s from his own home.
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