The Year Ahead in Movies

Germain Lussier is a senior reporter covering entertainment for the io9 section of Gizmodo. He lives in Los Angeles, specializes in film coverage, and is also our lead film critic. You can follow his coverage here, and email story ideas and tips to [email protected].

The top story

The year ahead has lots of what you’d expect in terms of big Hollywood releases. Sequels, reboots, superheroes, etc. But one genre that’s constantly a hit, but often slightly overlooked, is horror–and 2025 is bringing it in terms of horror. There are big-budget monster movies, mid-budget slasher movies, franchises returning, franchises hoping to begin, and even a few major filmmakers dipping their toe in the blood.

Every year horror films are hugely successful and people act like it’s a surprise. Well, 2025 is the year it won’t be a surprise. Among the biggest films coming are Leigh Whannell’s Wolf Man, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride. New movies in the ongoing Predator, Final Destination, Saw, Insidious, Conjuring, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and 28 Days franchises are all on the way too. Highly anticipated sequels to Black Phone, Five Nights at Freddy’s, and M3GAN are coming. And what about filmmakers like Steven Soderbergh with Presence, Ryan Coogler with Sinners, and Edgar Wright with The Running Man joining the fun? And that’s not even everything. Yup, 2025 is gonna get gory.

What we’re waiting for

Besides all those potentially awesome horror movies, 2025 should bring another huge year for superhero movies thanks to Captain America: Brave New World, Superman, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and more. (In fact, that’s such a can of worms we’ll tackle it in another article.) In addition, though, 2025 is bringing many films that seem like products of another generation. Films we really want to love and be excited for, but also have major hesitations about.

So what are we waiting for? To be pleasantly surprised. That’s because, on paper, lots of these are more than questionable. For example, films like Karate Kid: Legends and Tron: Ares. We love those original films but will 2025 audiences go to movie theaters to see them continue? There’s that live-action Snow White remake which feels like it was already released years ago.  Speaking of, does the world need live-action remakes of Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon? Even some of the biggest blockbusters, from the eighth Mission Impossible and seventh Jurassic Park, all feel a little behind the times. We want them all to be good! We hope they are. But, we all know how this usually turns out.

Unconventional wisdom

Most years, genre films like the ones we cover on this site take a back seat to more standard, dramatic fare when award season rolls around. But in recent years, those movies keep popping into those mainstream awards conversations: Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Shape of Water, Dune: Part Two, Black Panther, etc. We feel like this year could be another big one to change that narrative. When filmmakers like del Toro, Coogler, Soderbergh, Danny Boyle, and Bong Joon-ho are all making weird sci-fi or horror movies, you get the sense those movies might break through the awards barrier.

People to follow

James Gunn – Gunn remains one of the last major filmmakers, and now studio executives, out there interacting with fans on a near-daily basis. And, with his Superman movie coming to theaters, as well as many other DC projects coming to fruition, his social media is a must-follow.

Michael Giacchino – The award-winning composer is pretty good at checking his social media and with his work on Fantastic Four getting ready for release, not to mention his transition to a director, it’s always good and fun to see what he’s up to.

Jon M. Chu – He released one of the biggest films of the year with Wicked and he’ll do it again in 2025 with Wicked: For Good. Plus, after those two smashes, you know he can probably do anything he wants next. Maybe he’ll break that down online once it happens.

Jason Blum – If 2025 is the year of horror, you better keep an eye on one of the most prolific horror producers out there. He’s got his hands on many, many of the movies listed above.

Companies to watch

Blumhouse – Again, the sheer amount of big-time horror coming out in 2025 is noteworthy, and one of the companies most directly responsible is Blumhouse, especially since it’s now teamed up with James Wan’s Atomic Monster.

Sony Animation – Sony is one of the more underrated animation houses out there and while 2025 was supposed to be the year of Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, unfortunately that’s no longer happening. But with that in the works, as well as a Ghostbusters film and more, it’s worth keeping an eye on.

Netflix – Because Netflix doesn’t often date or announce many of its biggest films too far in advance, it can be easy to forget the streamer is making some of the biggest movies in the world. Next year will continue that trend with films from the Russo Brothers, del Toro, and others, and you can be sure more announcements are coming.

A longshot bet

In 2024, I predicted one of the many high-profile sequels scheduled for release would get major awards consideration. And that was accurate, thanks to Denis Villeneuve. For 2025, I think that’ll also happen again but you can’t make the same prediction twice. So, for this year’s long shot, I think one or more of the on-paper major blockbusters—a superhero movie, Jurassic Park, Mission Impossible, Pixar, Disney remakes—will do the opposite, and bomb badly.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.