The 15 Most Exciting Movies Coming Out In 2025

2024 was an odd year for blockbuster movies. There was no shortage of great tentpole releases, but even the most anticipated left something to be desired. With both Marvel and DC focusing their energy on the small screen, the superhero genre had virtually no big screen presence. And though sci-fi blockbusters like Dune: Part Two lived up to their hype, other films — like Alien: Romulus and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga — failed to earn the unanimous praise most expected. The year wasn’t a total wash, but it did underwhelm.

Hopefully, 2025 will deliver on the promise of its predecessor. Marvel will be back in a major way, touting three highly-anticipated releases, while DC is set to unveil the first chapter of its new superhero universe. There are also plenty of options for the discerning monster-lover, with new takes on old horror classics and original sci-fi thrillers slated for release. Whatever your inclination, 2025 will have something for everyone. Here are Inverse’s 15 most anticipated movies set to debut in the new year.

Wolf Man

Universal’s first attempt to reboot their classic monster franchise with the so-called Dark Universe may feel like more of a meme than a movie series today, but the second attempt might be the charm. The studio seems to have found a perfect groove with director Leigh Whannell, whose 2020 film, The Invisible Man, successfully brought an old horror story into the present. Five years later, Whannel and Universal aim to do the same with Wolf Man. Julia Garner and Christopher Abbott star in their latest nightmare, which follows a man (Abbott) as he fights a mysterious infection and eventually succumbs to the monster inside. If Whannell has his way, this won’t be the last Universal Monster that gets a modern-day reboot, so let’s hope Wolf Man lives up to the hype of its creepy trailer.

Release date: Jan. 17, 2025

Captain America: Brave New World

After a string of box office disappointments, Marvel Studios wisely used 2024 to breathe and reboot. 2025 marks the franchise’s triumphant return to the big screen in the wake of the record-breaking success of Deadpool & Wolverine. First on the docket is Captain America: Brave New World, the fourth installment of the Marvel saga. Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson takes over the mantle for the first time since The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and his upcoming adventure will continue threads the Disney+ series introduced. Brave New World notably struggled to make it to the finish line, but after multiple reshoots and the introduction of a new villain in Giancarlo Esposito, Marvel has hopefully found a winning formula.

Release date: Feb. 14, 2025

The Gorge

Director Scott Derrickson has embraced horror, sci-fi, and action-hero fare with his past films, and his latest is poised to tackle all of that while also throwing in an additional ingredient: romance. The Gorge feels reminiscent of the spy romances of old, but with a supernatural twist. Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy star as two elite snipers — one American, one from Lithuania — stationed on opposite sides of a gorge and tasked with guarding the world from a lurking evil. Whatever dwells within remains a mystery (aliens, maybe?), so the chemistry between this unlikely pairing is just one of many things to look forward to.

Release date: Feb. 14, 2025

Mickey 17

2024 hasn’t been easy for Bong Joon-ho fans. The director’s latest film, Mickey 17, has faced several hurdles on its way to the big screen, and Warner Bros. can’t seem to land on a concrete release date. For now, we can expect Mickey 17 to hit theaters this March (it recently switched places with another WB film, Sinners), and hopefully, the studio won’t change its mind again. The film stars Robert Pattinson as an “expendable” on an interstellar mining mission — his Mickey has been killed and cloned more times than he can count, but problems arise when two versions of him are printed at the same time. With Mark Ruffalo, Toni Colette, Naomi Ackie, and Steven Yeun rounding out the cast, it’s safe to expect another sci-fi hit from Bong.

Release date: March 7, 2025

Sinners

With Interview with the Vampire, Abigail, and Nosferatu all enjoying major success this year, the vampire resurgence is clearly here to stay. There was a time when Marvel’s Blade reboot might have made a big contribution to the genre, but with that film in indefinite purgatory, it falls to a Marvel alum to help sate our appetites. Black Panther director Ryan Coogler will return to the big screen for the first time since 2022’s Wakanda Forever, reteaming with Michael B. Jordan to deliver “a new vision of horror.” Their latest team-up, Sinners, sees Jordan pulling double duty as twin brothers facing a vampire invasion. With its period setting and eerie vibes, there’s no doubt this will make a riveting addition to the subgenre.

Release date: April 18, 2025

Thunderbolts*

It’s been a minute since any Marvel characters formed a superhero team. We haven’t had a proper team-up film since Avengers: Endgame in 2019, and though we’ll have to wait a few years for the Avengers to reassemble, Marvel’s prepared to give us the next best thing in 2025. Thunderbolts* (yes, the asterisk is part of the title) will bring a new squad to the fore that’s comprised of antiheroes like the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) and former villains like Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and John Walker (Wyatt Russell). Though this group strives to achieve a common goal, they don’t know much about teamwork. Expect plenty of growing pains for the anti-Avengers, especially with Julia Louis-Dreyfus set to return as their new boss, Contessa Valentina Allegro de Fontaine.

Release date: May 2, 2025

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning

The Mission: Impossible franchise is the gift that keeps on giving, especially with leading man Tom Cruise so determined to outdo his past feats. He’s free-climbed the tallest buildings in the world, dangled from crumbling train cars, and sprinted with the will of a man possessed. But his latest adventure in The Final Reckoning, the eighth installment in the saga, will likely be bigger than any that’s come before. Judging by its title, the next Mission: Impossible film could very well be the last. Cruise’s Ethan Hunt will come face-to-face with a truly impossible task: saving the entire world from an AI entity that knows his every move and every weakness. If anyone can save the world (again), it’s Hunt, but his final victory may come at a major cost.

Release date: May 23, 2025

28 Years Later

Danny Boyle and Alex Garland shot into the genre hall of fame when they teamed up for 28 Days Later. The film became one of the most influential in the zombie genre, and now the duo is hoping to recreate that magic with a long-gestating sequel. 28 Years Later won’t just reboot the saga with a new cast; it’s also set to kick-start a new trilogy of films. Sony Pictures has a lot of faith in the franchise, as its second and third entries are already well underway. In any other circumstance, the studio might have put the cart before the horse. Given the fervent love for 28 Days Later, though — and the viral success of the first 28 Years trailer — Sony seems to know exactly what the people want.

Release date: June 20, 2025

Superman

The DC Extended Universe is no more; long live the new DC Universe. James Gunn and Peter Safran, the new stewards of DC Studios, have been hard at work rebooting the franchise for a new era — and with Superman, the duo’s vision will officially be unveiled.

The first Superman trailer set the stage for a visual, kinetic spectacle, one that invokes the classic vibes of Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie. The film is also poised to deliver an ensemble adventure, as David Corenswet’s Man of Steel will share the screen with heroes like Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), and Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi). But Gunn’s Superman also has its work cut out for it: The Guardians of the Galaxy director knows how to bring obscure characters into the mainstream, but how will he tackle a major headliner like Superman? Time will tell, but ideally, this film will be just what the new DCU needs.

Release date: July 11, 2025

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

With Superman, DC is finally set to give Marvel a run for its money, but the latter isn’t going down without a fight, especially as it’s poised to finally bring a beloved major super-team into the MCU. Fantastic Four: First Steps marks the third big-screen adaptation of Marvel’s first family, and it may also be the only one with the potential to be any good. Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach will bring the Fantastic Four to life, while director Matt Shakman will push the Marvel Universe to cosmic heights. This could be the franchise’s riskiest project in years, but if it sticks the landing, First Steps will deliver exactly what Marvel fans crave for the Fantastic Four.

Release date: July 25, 2025

The Bride!

Classic movie monsters are back in a major way, and 2025 will only strengthen their resurgence. After Wolf Man comes a new take on The Bride of Frankenstein, directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal and starring Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale. The Bride! follows Bale as Frankenstein’s Monster on a trip to 1930s Chicago in search of a companion. With the help of a mad scientist, the Bride is born, “igniting a combustible romance, the attention of the police and a wild and radical social movement,” according to the film’s official synopsis.

The Bride! is more than just a horror story: It’s also a musical. It could be continuing what this year’s Joker: Folie à Deux started, paving the way for more off-kilter genre mash-ups in the future.

Release date: Sept. 26, 2025

Tron: Ares

Few cyberpunk franchises have as much potential as Tron, but programming that potential into a successful saga has long been a challenge for Disney. The studio attempted to revive the franchise in 2010 with Tron: Legacy, a film that’s better known for its fantastic soundtrack than its middling story. Fifteen years later, though, Disney is ready to try again, and it’s banking on a major twist on a traditional premise.

Rather than bringing an unsuspecting human into the Grid, the “digital frontier” in which the first two Tron films are set, Tron: Ares will bring the sentient programs of the Grid into the real world. Jared Leto stars as Ares, one of the many programs escaping the mainframe. Early footage from D23 saw the character forge a tentative partnership with human programmer Eve Kim (Greta Lee), though the extent of their adventure remains a mystery. Whatever the story entails, it will at least boast another great soundtrack (this time from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross). Let’s just hope it doesn’t overshadow the story like its predecessor did.

Release date: Oct. 10, 2025

The Running Man

The speculative science fiction of the ’70s and ’80s has come to define our modern dystopias. Each is prescient in its own way, but in 2025, a classic thriller by Stephen King will reach new levels of relevancy. The Running Man is set in an alternate reality where convicted criminals fight to survive a cutthroat reality TV show where they compete as “runners” hunted by mercenary “stalkers” for sport. King’s story has been adapted once before, in a 1987 film adaptation starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, but next year, Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright will helm a new adaptation. Top Gun: Maverick’s Glen Powell will star as Ben Richards, promising an unorthodox take on King’s cult classic.

Release date: Nov. 7, 2025

Avatar: Fire And Ash

It took James Cameron over a decade to fully realize the Avatar franchise with its second installment, The Way of Water, but its success paved the way for even more ambitious sequels. Next on the slate is Fire and Ash, which will take the Sully clan into a new region on the far-flung planet of Pandora. Jake (Sam Worthington), Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), and their kids will come face-to-face with a new Na’vi tribe, the Ash People. While the first two Avatar films positioned humans as the villains, the “aggressive, volcanic race” of Na’vi will serve as antagonists here. It’ll make for an interesting departure, but if this saga wants to survive, it has to keep finding new ways to make this story interesting, and introducing some less-than-honorable Na’vi is certainly one way to do it.

Release date: Dec. 19, 2025

Frankenstein

There’s no release date yet for Guillermo del Toro’s latest film, but all eyes are still on Frankenstein. The director is returning to an era that’s always served him well, and tapping a host of actors who seem pitch-perfect for a steampunk monster film. Oscar Isaac stars as Victor Frankenstein, a mad scientist who creates life with reanimated flesh. Jacob Elordi co-stars as Frankenstein’s creation, and while del Toro’s Victorian vision remains comfortably under wraps, it’s safe to assume this new version of the monster will fit right into this year’s gothic revival.

Release date: TBA