Awards season is done. The Oscars and the movies targeted at them are in the rearview mirror, with the focus shifting to Hollywood blockbuster season in the middle of the year and the smart genre plays and arthouse surprises that will punctuate the box-office bets. Even with a list of just 20 possibilities, there’s an eclectic mix to be had.
Disney’s Snow White
Disney’s live-action remakes of their gilded animated classics have reached the studio’s 1937 hit, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It’s a musical fantasy, with Rachel Zegler (West Side Story) as the princess trying to see off Gal Gadot’s cruel stepmother in a reimagined story co-written by Barbie boss Greta Gerwig. As for the dwarves, they’re digitally rendered from motion-captured performances by comic actors. March 20
Flow
Flow won the Oscar for best animated feature at this year’s Academy Awards.
If you haven’t been sure which Latvian animated fantasy adventure without a word of dialogue about a cat trying to survive a post-apocalyptic world to watch, the Oscars have done your research for you. Gints Zilbalodis’ critically acclaimed film won best animated feature, beating out Inside Out 2 and Australia’s Memoir of a Snail. That’s an endorsement worth taking a chance on. March 20
A Minecraft Movie
A true blockbuster, Minecraft is the most popular video game of all time. Do several hundred million players translate into a readymade audience or frustrated critics? Set inside the game – can you say Jumanji? – it’s a CGI-heavy comic adventure with Jack Black and Jason Momoa supplying star power and silliness. There are eight credited writers on the story and screenplay, which is worth a raised eyebrow. April 3
Death of a Unicorn
Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega in the black comedy Death of a Unicorn.
Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega as father and daughter? That’s a family-focused policy I endorse. The Ant-Man and Wednesday leads headline this independent black comedy, where their characters accidentally run over the mythical titular creature, bringing it the retreat of his billionaire boss (Richard E. Grant), where tech culture runs amok. Divine casting: Barry’s Anthony Carrigan plays the privileged family’s butler. April 10
The Correspondent
Richard Roxburgh as journalist Peter Greste in The Correspondent.
In 2013, veteran Australian foreign correspondent Peter Greste stopped covering the story and became one. Reporting on political upheaval from Cairo for Al Jazeera, Greste and two other journalists were arrested by the Egyptian government, charged with falsifying news, and denied bail. Rake’s Richard Roxburgh plays Greste, with Kriv Stenders (Red Dog) directing, in a real-life tale of political machinations and personal survival. April 17
Sinners
After Creed and Black Panther anything American filmmaker Ryan Coogler wants to make is fine by me. A horror film set in the segregated American South during the 1930s involving vampires, among other supernatural beings? Bring it on. Coogler’s recurring star, Michael B. Jordan, pulls double duty as twins, Smoke and Stack, whose return to their rural home quickly acquires life and death stakes. April 17
Thunderbolts*
Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), and Red Guardian/Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour) in Thunderbolts*.
Marvel’s superhero business got a dose of comic adrenalin from Deadpool & Wolverine’s $2 billion take, but the jury is still out on whether the comic book genre has been revived. This team-up action adventure is the 36th Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, bringing together a raft of supporting characters from previous films: Florence Pugh’s Yelena, Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes, and David Harbour’s Red Guardian. Do they add up to a hit? May 1
Monsieur Aznavour
Tahar Rahim’s memorable portrayal of serial killer Charles Sobhraj in Netflix’s The Serpent.Credit: Roland Neveu
The lives and songs of iconic French singers are cinema catnip. Marion Cotillard won an Academy Award for playing Edith Piaf in 2007’s La Vie En Rose, and now the gifted French actor Tahar Rahim (A Prophet, The Serpent) plays the late Charles Aznavour in a musical biopic that’s already been a hit in France. The son of Armenian immigrants, Aznavour sold 180 million records in a career spanning seven decades. May 8
Mission Impossible – The Final Reckoning
I’m not convinced this is Tom Cruise’s final go-round as super-spy Ethan Hunt, but I’m certain that after the muted response to 2023’s Dead Reckoning, the star and writer/director Christopher MacQuarrie will pull out every stop for this action extravaganza that pits Hunt and his IMF team against a rogue AI and its ruthless agents. It’s apparently one of the most expensive films ever made – expect a lot. May 22
The Phoenician Scheme
Wes Anderson’s idiosyncratic ways are set to continue with this Europe-set tale, which reportedly documents a (possibly 20th-century) mogul, his family, and his business empire. Benicio del Toro plays the wealthy Zsa-zsa Korda, while the supporting cast is typically gold-plated: Scarlet Johansson, Tom Hanks, Benedict Cumberbatch, Willem Dafoe, Riza Ahmed and – as legally required – Bill Murray. Plus a dozen more. June 5
How To Train Your Dragon
There is huge goodwill for this live-action adaptation of Cressida Cowell’s fantasy adventure series of children’s books and the previous trilogy of animated movies; my nostalgic teenagers are going on opening day. Set in an ancient Viking realm where humans and dragons are implacable foes, this is a coming-of-age story of unlikely friendship and sky-high risks. Gerard Butler re-creates his voice role as the Viking village chief. June 12
28 Years Later
Well, the trailer alone is terrifying. Director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland return to the post-apocalyptic Britain they created with 2002’s 28 Days Later, where zombie-like creatures – they run! – have destroyed society. Set among survivors who must leave their island fortress, the new cast includes Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer, and Ralph Fiennes. Seriously, that trailer … June 19
Elio
This year is the 30th anniversary of Pixar Animation studio’s first release, the beloved Toy Story, and they could do with a non-sequel hit. The title character in this science-fiction adventure is an 11-year-old boy who is brought to an interplanetary council of aliens, where he is mistakenly identified as Earth’s leader. The shy child has to make unlikely friends, forge alliances, and figure out his place in the universe. June 19
Jurassic World Rebirth
After three dinosaurs-running-wild movies fronted by Chris Pratt, The Jurassic World series jumps forward five years and reboots with Scarlett Johansson taking on the lead role, supported by Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailey. The plot, where humans seeking answers venture onto a dinosaur island, sounds very familiar, but there’s a genuinely inventive director in charge: Godzilla and Rogue One’s Gareth Edwards. July 3
Superman
The DC comic book movies have mostly been a mess (thanks, Zack Snyder), so this is a fresh start reinventing the most iconic cape in the company’s history. Guardians of the Galaxy writer/director James Gunn has complete control, with David Corenswet as the baby from Krypton who becomes Clark Kent on Earth. Rachel Brosnahan is Lois Lane, Nicholas Hoult’s criminal mastermind, Lex Luthor. Can Gunn make the mythic matter? July 10
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Corporate purchases mean Marvel acquired oversight of the Fantastic Four and X-Men comic book characters. The former, which bombed last time out in 2015, gets rebooted with this origin story set in a retro-futuristic 1960s where a team of astronauts turned superheroes must protect the planet from an intergalactic adversary. The lead quartet is exemplary: Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and The Bear’s Ebon Moss-Bachrach. July 24
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One Battle After Another
Paul Thomas Anderson is one of America’s finest independent filmmakers: Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, Phantom Thread … But for his next feature, he has by far the largest budget of his career and the Hollywood star to match it in Leonardo DiCaprio (plus Sean Penn and Regina Hall). Details are sparse – it may be based on a Thomas Pynchon novel – but this is one of the true mysteries of the 2025 release schedule. August 7
The Bride!
Actor-turned-filmmaker Maggie Gyllenhaal rightfully made a huge splash with her 2021 directorial debut, The Lost Daughter, and for her follow-up, she’s chosen to scale up into the classic horror mythology of Frankenstein. The setting is unknown, but Christian Bale plays the scientist’s monster, Jessie Buckley, his bride. Gyllenhaal’s brother, Jake, will also make an appearance. September 25
The Running Man
After Baby Driver and Last Night in Soho, British director Edgar Wright searches for some pulp friction in this remake of the bloody 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger B-movie about a dystopian America whose favourite game show sees hunters try to kill human quarry. Ascendant star Glen Powell gets to do the running, with Colman Domingo as the show’s host and Josh Brolin as the nefarious producer pulling the strings. How gory will Wright get? November 6
Wicked: For Good
Do they have another song as undeniable as Defying Gravity? The conclusion to Wicked brings back all the elements from last November’s Broadway adaptation box-office success, including Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, and director John M Chu. Turmoil in Oz will see Elphaba and Glinda turn from friends to adversaries, but it’s the musical’s songbook – which reportedly features several new tunes – that will get the most scrutiny. November 20
What movie are you most looking forward to? Tell us in the comments below.
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