If you’re still trying to find some positivity in 2025, first, I applaud you, but second, look to the silver screen! The box office has already been heating up, with instant crowd-pleasers like Captain America: Brave New World or some original thrillers, like The Monkey and Companion, offering an increasingly diverse platter of movies for us cinephiles to devour. Yet, will this promising feast sustain our hunger for the next 10 months? I say yes! But, let’s remember — while appreciating film and appreciating the artistic beauty on display before us is wonderful, let’s also be a participant in the world around us, staying aware of the stark reality that is unfolding in our nation and world. Nevertheless, continue enjoying film, and spread happiness. Here are films I won’t be skipping in 2025.
Mickey 17, Bong Joon-Ho
Robert Pattinson in a dark comedy-science fiction book-to-movie adaptation directed by the renowned Oscar-winning Bong Joon Ho? It’s hard to keep my expectations realistic. Especially when supplemented by a killer cast: Toni Collete, Steven Yuen, Mark Ruffalo, and the recent rising star Naomi Ackie. With a release date as unreliable as your freshman-year roommate, it’s finally here; catch Mickey 17 in theaters after March 7th for what promises to be a goofy, feverish, and thoughtful other-world extravaganza.
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, Rian Johnson
Do I need to elaborate, or is seeing the words “Knives Out” enough to get you into a theater seat for another twisty and brain-teasing murder mystery? While the release date is a mystery (sometime in Fall 2025 they say), the cast and appeal are not. We’ll see another dynamic amalgamation of what seems to be a random raffle of actors, this time including Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Kerry Washington, Josh Brolin, and Jeremy Renner. Of course, our Daniel Craig will be returning as our lovable southern detective Benoit Blanc, and I am dying to find out what the murderer does this time.
Avatar: Fire and Ash, James Cameron
You’d think James Cameron would have had enough with water by now. Or blue people. Well, it seems he won’t be tired with either until at least after 2031, when the last installment of the Avatar franchise is set to be released. Either way, his films have engineered themselves into our social fabric and his blockbusters repeatedly go historically huge at the box office — for a good reason! With budgets soaring above the hundreds of millions (and returns in the billions) the on-screen world-building, special effects, and pure ecstasy of vivid imagination is something unparalleled across the film industry. So, join me in the return to Pandora on Dec. 19 and witness the next unfolding into the Avatar universe.
Eddington, Ari Aster
Ari Aster has consistently hit the marks of horror fans with every one of his previous films: Hereditary, Midsommar, and Beau is Afraid. His movies display transgressive and haunting imagery that isn’t just for show, but impressively rooted in terrifying stories of the human experience. So far, Aster has kept a low profile promoting his next flick, even though it boasts stars like Emma Stone, Joaquin Phoenix, and Pedro Pascal. Nevertheless, keep your eye out during summer 2025 for this mysterious noir-Western thriller, of which we know very little about!
So, in 2025, let’s honor the recent Oscar-winning director Sean Baker in his battle-cry to pursue film as a physical medium, and keep going to the theater for the people who make films for the big screen!