2025 movies: Picking 25 films that intrigue for one reason or another

It’s a challenge to keep a list of noteworthy movies still to come in 2025 to a lean 25.

To make it easier, we’ve stuck to theatrical releases, so apologies to fast-approaching streaming flicks such as Apple TV+ offering “The Gorge” (Feb. 14), starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller, and Netflix’s “The Electric State” (March 14), helmed by past and future “Avengers” directors and Northeast Ohio natives Joe and Anthony Russo.

If you don’t have a specific release date, you’re out, as much as it pains us to omit the Bruce Springsteen biopic “Deliver Me From Nowhere,” starring Jeremy Allen White of “The Bear.” (This is a good time to mention that all of the dates to follow are subject to change.)

And, lastly, a title is mandatory. Yes, we’re looking at you, yet-to-be-named next film from acclaimed auteur Paul Thomas Anderson (Aug. 8), starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Very much looking forward to you, all the same.

So many others didn’t make the cut, including sequels/reboots such as “Karate Kid: Legends” (May 30), bringing together franchise alums Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio and said to be set a few years after the events of the Netflix series “Cobra Kai,” and “The Naked Gun” (Aug. 1), starring … Liam Neeson?

Plus, there surely are yet-to-be-announced films that will make waves this year.

So here is our 25, imperfect as it is, listed roughly in order of our anticipation level but also keeping in mind variety, so, for instance, this year’s Marvel movies are not clumped too closely together.

Wait — what’s that in the sky? It’s a bird? It’s a plane? No, it’s …

1. “Superman” | July 11 >> There’s certainly some Northeast Ohio-related bias in placing this movie at the top of the list — Cleveland was a star of the recently released trailer, after the movie shot in and around The Land for weeks in mid-2024 — but our excitement goes beyond that. We trust in James Gunn, who, after directing the three delightful “Guardians of the Galaxy” flicks, existing within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, was put in creative control of the new DC Universe and is at the helm for its first big-screen adventure. The first movie built around the Man of Steel since, well, 2013’s “Man of Steel,” “Superman” will see a number of heroes and villains share the screen with David Corenswet’s Supes/Clark Kent, including Lex Luther (Nicholas Hoult), Hawkgirl (Cleveland native Isabela Merced) and Green Lantern/Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion). And you can’t have Superman without Lois Lane, and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” star Rachel Brosnahan strikes us as the perfect choice.

2. “Avatar: Fire and Ash” | Dec. 19 >> Like 2009’s “Avatar,” its long-awaited 2022 sequel, “Avatar: The Way of Water,” isn’t all that great of a rewatch. The epics from filmmaker James Cameron do not possess the type of dialogue and character development that make for tasty seconds and thirds, and watching at home, even on a high-end television and with a decent sound system, simply can’t come close to the theatrical experience. Oh, but that first time, sitting in front of the biggest screen you can find, with those 3-D glasses awkwardly slapped on your face, and speakers all around and above you? Nothing compares to the senses-shaking experience of an “Avatar.” An official plotline has yet to be released for “Fire and Ash,” but Cameron has said this third of five planned installments will deal with a new Na’vi clan on the planet Pandora that calls a volcano home. Actors Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang will return for more motion-captured performances.

3. “Wicked: For Good” | Nov. 21 >> We’ll see what kind of magic director Jon M. Chu has left in his musical wand as he tries to top — or, honestly, even match — “Wicked,” last year’s instantly adored first part of his two-part adaptation of the beloved stage musical set in the land of Oz. Of course, Cynthia Erivo, as Elphaba, and Ariana Grande, as Glinda, will be among the terrific cast members returning. We’ve long said the show’s second act, which will serve as the basis for the upcoming film, is weaker than the first, but we’d love to see gravity defied.

4. “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” | May 23 >> OK, we weren’t wild about 2023’s “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One,” but a “M:I” film, with the ageless Tom Cruise as the star and writer-director Christopher McQuarrie at the controls, remains about as safe of a bet as there is for a popcorn-inhaling good time. Previously subtitled “Dead Reckoning Part Two,” this is a direct sequel that, we expect, will pick up where the action stopped last time. Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and pals such as Benji (Simon Pegg), Luther (Ving Rhames) and Grace (Hayley Atwell) will continue to try to stop the dangerous AI known as The Entity, with characters including Alanna (Vanessa Kirby), Gabriel (Esai Morales) and Paris (Pom Klementieff), returning, as well.

5. “Sinners” | April 16 >> The tandem of filmmaker Ryan Coogler and actor Michael B. Jordan have made cinematic magic together in “Fruitvale Station” (2013), “Creed” (2015) and “Black Panther” (2018). Why would we expect any less from “Sinners”? This slice of horror will see Jordan portray twin brothers facing an evil waiting for them when they return to their hometown. The supporting cast is headlined by Hailee Steinfeld.

6. “F1” | June 27 >> You don’t have to love auto racing to love movies about it. These films tend to be thrilling, as they all but literally put you behind the wheel. “F1” — starring the ever-dependable Brad Pitt and directed by Joseph Kosinski, who with 2022’s “Top Gun: Maverick” showed he can deliver machinery-powered thrills — looks to do the same. We’ll be right there with Pitt’s Sonny Hayes as he comes out of retirement to stare death in its fast-moving face. The supporting cast includes Kerry Condon and Javier Bardem.

7. “Thunderbolts” | May 2 >> This MCU flick gets preferential treatment over the other at least two coming in 2025 because we have a vague recollection of reading the first issue of Marvel’s “Thunderbolts” comic book (1997), which has a whopper of a twist ending. That story element wouldn’t seem easily transferable to the screen given what we know about some of the characters already, but it’s appealing to see the coming together of previously introduced characters Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes, Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, her colorful father, David Harbour’s Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, Wyatt Russell’s John Walker/U.S. Agent and Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ string-pulling Valentina Allegra de Fontaine for an antiheroes-fueled adventure. Newcomers include Lewis Pullman, as Bob/Sentry, and Olga Kurylenko, as Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster.

8 “Mickey 17” | March 14 >> After some delays, we finally will see director Bong Joon-ho’s follow-up to his Academy Award-winning “Parasite” from 2019. Based on Edward Ashton’s 2022 novel, “Mickey7,” “Mickey 17” is a fun-looking slice of science fiction that sees Robert Pattinson starring as Mickey Barnes. He’s an “expendable,” an employee who’s regenerated after the previous version dies, complete with all the memories. In the story, things go awry as the 17th version of Mickey runs into Mickey 18. (Awkward … .) The appealing supporting cast includes Naomi Ackie, Mark Ruffalo, Steven Yeun and Toni Collette.

9. “Elio” | June 13 >> A film from Disney-owned Pixar Animation Studios is, perhaps, not the surefire proposition it once was, although last year’s “Inside Out 2” is excellent. More relevantly, this entry — in which the namesake character is a stargazing dreamer of a young lad (voiced by Yonas Kibreab) who, after being brought into space by aliens, is mistaken for Earth’s leader — looks adorable. Pixar vets Adrian Molina, Madeline Sharafian and Domee Shi share the directing credits, and notable names in the voice cast include Zoe Saldana and Brad Garrett.

10. “The Alto Knights” | March 21 >> What’s better than Robert De Niro in a mob movie? TWO Robert De Niros in a mob movie. OK, we have our doubts about the film icon playing the dual roles of Italian-American crime bosses Frank Costello and Vito Genovese — one of whom orders a hit on the other — even after seeing the recently released trailer. But, hey, “The Alto Knights” is helmed by legendary director Barry Levinson (“Diner,” “Bugsy”) and penned by Nicholas Pileggi, the writer of two crime movies in which De Niro shines, “Goodfellas” and “Casino,” so there’s every chance this film won’t sleep with the fishes.

11. “Snow White” | March 21 >> Here’s Disney’s next attempt at a live-action remake of one of its animated classics. This musical update of “1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” stars Rachel Zegler as the namesake heroine, and when you need a young actor to lead and sing in your movie, you can do far worse than casting the star of 2021’s “West Side Story” and 2023’s “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.” Plus, “Wonder Woman” star Gal Gadot could be fun as the Evil Queen. While Mark Webb (“Days of Summer,” “The Amazing Spider-Man”) directs, the most notable behind-the-scenes talent may be co-writer Greta Gerwig of well-deserved “Barbie” fame.

12. “28 Years Later” | June 20 >> Danny Boyle and Alex Garland, the director and writer, respectively, of the acclaimed 2002 zombie drama “28 Days Later,” return to the franchise after largely sitting out its relatively well-received 2007 sequel, “28 Weeks Later.” (They are counted among that film’s executive producers.) The passage of time brings new leads in Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes for a story that sees a father and son leave the safety of an island for the horrors-filled mainland.

13. “Paddington in Peru” | Feb. 14 >> In 2014, the acclaimed “Paddington” brought author Michael Bond’s beloved bear character to digitally enabled live-action life. Its 2017 sequel, “Paddington 2,” was even more well-reviewed. (Remember when “Paddington 2” a few years ago briefly overtook “Citizen Kane” in Rotten Tomatoes’ ranking?) So it’s not surprising we’re getting this third installment in the franchise, which sees Ben Whishaw back to voice the gentle Paddington along with returning live-action players Hugh Bonneville and Emily Mortimer for this adventure in South America. Paul King, who helmed and co-wrote the first two films, contributed to this entry’s story but yielded the director’s chair to Dougal Wilson, who’s making his feature debut.

14. “Jurassic World Rebirth” | July 2 >> Arriving in mid-2022, when we were still getting used to having big-budget movies back in theaters following the novel coronavirus pandemic, “Jurassic World Dominion” was one of those really good bad movies, a dinosaur-powered adventure that brought together human friends new and old for what no one should have believed was the final “Jurassic” affair. Whatever you think of it, “Dominion” didn’t take itself too seriously. That’s not exactly the tone associated with Gareth Edwards (“Monsters,” “Godzilla”), who directs “Jurassic World Rebirth.” Written by David Koepp, whose “Jurassic” bona fides stretch back to writing 1993’s “Jurassic Park,” with the novel’s author, Michael Crichton, and its 1997 sequel, “The Lost World: Jurassic Park.” This movie’s cast is headed by newcomers Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali, both of whom portray members of a team charged with obtaining some key dino DNA now that the creatures have scattered to remote regions more hospitable to them.

15. “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” | July 24 >> This third attempt at making an “F4” film franchise happen likely will prove to be the charm, as the characters associated with the Marvel superhero team are now under the control of Disney-owned Marvel Studios. We love the major casting choices — the quartet of Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/Human Torch and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing, as well as Julia Garner as the Silver Surfer — and that Matt Shakman, who did such a great job with 2021 MCU Disney+ series “WandaVision,” is directing. The film is said to be set in a retro-futuristic Earth in the 1960s, so our guess is that after they’ve battled the powerful villain Galactus (Ralph Ineson), they’ll travel through the MCU’s multiverse to the Sacred Timeline in time for “Avengers: Doomsday,” set for a May 2026 release.

16. “Michael” | Oct. 3 >> Perhaps you saw the dazzling “MJ The Musical” on tour and it whet your appetite for a further dive into the life and career of the late, great and, certainly, complicated Michael Jackson. Plan to catch this biopic directed by Antoine Fuqua (“Training Day”) and penned by John Logan (“Gladiator”). In it, the King of Pop will be portrayed by his 28-year-old nephew, Jaafar Jackson, son of brother Jermaine.

17. “Zootopia 2” | Nov. 26 >> How has it taken almost a decade for Disney to produce a big-screen sequel to the animated 2016 hit “Zootopia,” which made an elephant-sized haul of more than $1 billion at the global box office? Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman return to voice, respectively, young idealist rabbit cop Judy Hopps and her reluctant sly fox ally, Nick Wilde, who go undercover to crack a case in this romp. Voice work is also turned in by Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”), comic Fortune Feimster and music star Shakira.

18. “How to Train Your Dragon” | June 13 >> The beloved 2010 DreamWorks Animation hit “How to Train Your Dragon” gets the live-action-remake treatment with this film written and directed by Dean DeBlois, who served in the same capacities on the original and its sequels. While Mason Thames takes over the role of young Viking hero Hiccup — who befriends a dragon, Toothless, despite the creatures long being the enemies of the Vikings — Gerard Butler, quite appropriately, reprises the role of Hiccup’s gruff-and-stern father, Stoick the Vast.

19. “A Minecraft Movie” | April 4 >> You know that game your kids play that you mostly don’t understand? (No, not “Fortnite.” The one with, like, the blocks or something?) By the looks of the fun trailer, you need not be well-versed in “Minecraft” to enjoy this comedic adventure boasting a cast that includes Jack Black, Jason Momoa, Daniel Brooks and Emma Myers. Jared Hess (“Napoleon Dynamite”) is running this game.

20. “Bugonia” | Nov. 7 >> “Poor Things,” released in late 2023, is such a strong film that anytime its director, Yorgos Lanthimos, and star, Emma Stone, collaborate — as they did again on last year’s relatively interesting “Kinds of Kindness” — the project deserves attention. The pair, who also worked together on the acclaimed 2018 period dark comedy “The Favourite,” are together again with “Bugonia.” Stone’s “Kinds of Kindness” co-star Jesse Plemons shares the screen with her again in this odd-sounding slice of science fiction involving the kidnapping of a powerful CEO. It’s based on “Save the Green Planet!,” a 2003 film from South Korea.

21. “Freakier Friday” | Aug. 8 >> It’s time for another mother-daughter switcheroo, as Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan return as Tess and Anna Coleman, respectively, in this sequel to the 2003 Disney fave “Freaky Friday.” This time, of course, Anna is also an adult, and Tess is, well, an older adult, both of which factors that should make for a reasonably fresh sequel.

22. “Captain America: Brave New World” | Feb. 14 >> This first MCU offering of the year and fourth installment in the “Captain America” franchise sees Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson’s in an adventure after having accepted the mantle of Captain America in the Disney+ series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” — although he hasn’t exactly given up his Falcon wings. He must stop a nefarious global plan while dealing with the fact that newly elected U.S. President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford, taking over for the late William Hurt) is turning into the Red Hulk. The cast also includes Danny Ramirez, as a new Falcon, and Giancarlo Esposito as the villainous Seth Voelker/Sidewinder. Julius Onah (“The Cloverfield Paradox”) directs.

23. “Lilo & Stitch” | May 23 >> Yep, it’s yet another live-action remake of an animated movie, this one another of Disney’s — the 2002 adventure about a girl, Lilo, and her adopted dog-like alien, Stitch. In this update, Maia Kealoha portrays 6-year-old Lilo, while Chris Sanders — who directed the animated film — reprises the voice role of Stitch. We’re excited that the directorial duties are being handled by Dean Fleischer Camp, whose 2021 feature, “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On,” is one of those little but unforgettable movies.

24. “The Bride!” | Sept. 26 >> After making her highly impressive directorial debut with the 2021 drama “The Lost Daughter,” actress Maggie Gyllenhaal is behind the camera again for this monster movie. Also written by Gyllenhall, the film is said to take inspiration from 1935’s “Bride of Frankenstein,” which is based on Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.” One of the lead actresses from “The Lost Daughter,” Jessie Buckley, stars here as Frankenstein’s bride, while Christian Bale — who shared the screen with Gyllenhaal in 2008’s “The Dark Knight — is Frankenstein’s monster.

25. “Ballerina” | June 6 >> Alternatively titled “From the World of John Wick: Ballerina,” this undoubtedly action-packed spinoff stars Ana de Armas in the titular role, with “Wick” franchise veterans Angelica Huston, Ian McShane and the late Lance Reddick making appearances. And, yes, we know from the trailer that Keanu Reeves’ John Wick will pop by — if perhaps not add to the body count. Newcomers to this frequently fatal world include “The Walking Dead” favorite Norman Reedus and Gabriel Byrne. Set between the third and fourth “Wick” movies, this Len Wiseman-directed romp will see de Armas’ deadly dancer out to avenge her father’s death.