With 2024 now being more than halfway over, I thought it’d be fun to look ahead a bit, and go over the top ten films I’m most excited for in 2025… So let’s do it:
Honorable Mention: Heat 2
The only reason this is just an honorable mention is because the December 2025 release date is not official (yet), only rumored, and production hasn’t even started. That said, I’m still interested in checking this one out, assuming it still happens. The original Heat is one of my favorites, and the new cast of this one is shaping up to be pretty strong so far, with Adam Driver and Austin Butler taking over for Al Pacino and Val Kilmer, respectively, and Ana de Armas also being involved.
10.A Complete Unknown
I’m a huge fan of director James Mangold, and also respect Bob Dylan as a musician, as well as Timothee Chalamet as an actor. That all being said, this is at the bottom of my list because, at the moment, I’m not really sure if Dylan’s origin is interesting enough to build an entire movie out of. Furthermore, we already saw his whole life story loosely told in I’m Not There. That said, Mangold has proven before that he can pull off musician biopics with Walk the Line, so I’ll go into this one with cautious optimism. EDIT: Turns out this movie got moved up to December 2024, so I guess it doesn’t belong on this list anymore… Just put the Michael Jackson biopic here instead! I’m a big MJ fan anyways (though I feel mixed about turning his life into a movie, for obvious reasons).
9.Thunderbolts*
Before I go any further, let me make one thing clear: Yes, the asterisk (*) in the name is intentional. Don’t ask me why. Marvel head Kevin Feige says it’ll make sense once we see the movie itself, so I’ll take his word for it. While I’ve definitely been feeling Marvel fatigue lately, as many others have, their movie side of things has still managed to do at least the bare minimum to still keep me hooked (can’t say the same for the shows, though). I don’t really care much right now for this particular batch of characters, but maybe they’ll grow on me.
8.Captain America: Brave New World
A lot of what I said about Thunderbolts* applies here. However, this movie ranks slightly higher for a few reasons. For one, I care a bit more about Sam Wilson than I do about the Thunderbolts crew. Furthermore, I’ll go see pretty much anything that manages to book Harrison Ford, of all people. The “spy thriller” tone of this flick is also a nice hook, though we’ve seen that sort of story in Marvel before already, so hopefully this one is able to bring enough “new stuff” to the table, so to speak.
7.Eddington
The only entry in this entire list that isn’t based on anything! I’m a fan of Ari Aster as a director, and the premise of this one sounds interesting (modern-day Western that integrates the 2020 pandemic lockdown into the plot). The cast is also stacked with some of my all-time favorites: Austin Butler, Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, and Pedro Pascal (what isn’t he in these days?!).
6.Jurassic
The rumored title of this one is actually either Jurassic City or Jurassic World: Rebirth, but since neither are confirmed yet, I’ll refer to it as just Jurassic for now. Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali (two more of my all-time favorites) are taking the lead for this one, with Gareth Edwards (Rogue One) directing. It’s apparently gonna be a small-scale, “back to basics” story, which I think can be either a really good thing or really bad thing, depending on how they execute it. Like most people, I consider the original Jurassic Park to be an absolute classic, so I’ll go into any sequel or prequel or whatever with, again, cautious optimism.
5.John Wick Presents: Ballerina
All four John Wick films we’ve gotten so far have been terrific, as far as I’m concerned. This spin-off, which takes place between the third and fourth main films, stars Ana de Armas, but also features Keanu Reeves himself as the secondary protagonist. It’s basically the closest thing we’re gonna get to John Wick 5, for the time being (I’m still not sure if he actually died in the fourth one), so I’ll take it! Plus, Ana de Armas proved in the James Bond film No Time to Die that she can pull off an action role.
4.Mission: Impossible 8
I understand that the previous installment of this franchise, Dead Reckoning, didn’t work for everyone, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit, and felt it ended on an interesting cliffhanger that I’m looking forward to seeing resolved. Like that film, and the one before it, this next flick has had a troubled production. I know Tom Cruise says he wants to keep playing Ethan Hunt until he’s 80, like Harrison Ford did with Indiana Jones, but personally, I think he should just call it quits here. The universe is clearly telling him that it’s time to stop. Regardless of whether this ends up being the end of the series or not, I’m still looking forward to it.
3.Avatar: The Seed Bearer
Firstly, let me clarify that this is just a working title for now (and hopefully it changes, cause it sucks). Secondly, while I wasn’t too big on the original Avatar initially, it grew on me over time, and the sequel The Way of Water impressed me. I’m invested in these characters now, as well as this world, and looking forward to seeing where it all goes. EDIT: I see that the title is now Fire & Ash… Much better!
2.The Fantastic 4
While Marvel fatigue has mostly set in for me, this film has a lot more riding on it. These particular characters have never been done justice on the big screen before, in my opinion. Furthermore, the premise of this specific reboot seems far more interesting than most, since it takes place in an alternate universe that’s somehow the 1960’s but also somehow the far future. I really like “a land outside of time” type settings like that, and I think they should be used more often.
1.Superman
They have to get this right. They have to. The first two Superman films, while great for their time, are a bit too goofy for today’s standards, and Superman Returns tried too hard to emulate that goofiness without updating it, whereas Man of Steel swung the pendulum the complete other way and took itself too seriously. James Gunn has a tricky balancing act to pull off here, but if anyone can do it, it’s him. I have high hopes. I wish the movie was still called Superman: Legacy, but to be fair, there’s technically never been a movie just called Superman (the original film is actually called Superman: The Movie).
…Welp, let’s hope none of these suck!
Peace!
Related: List Repository
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