2025 is shaping up to be a good year for cinema, with several big-name directors releasing exciting, original movies. As next year’s movie calendar starts to take shape, many fans are looking forward to2025’s big franchise blockbusters, likeSupermanandAvatar: Fire and Ash.However, there are also a lot of original concepts which have just as much potential for certain fans, thanks to the high-profile directors attached.
Directors such as Wes Anderson, Spike Lee and Ryan Coogler are all returning in 2025 after a quiet 2024. Next year also has Bong Joon-ho’s hotly-anticipated follow-up toParasite,and Paul Thomas Anderson is finally collaborating with Leonardo DiCaprio. Overall, next year promises an exciting mix of big franchise movies and smaller standalone projects, with many award-winning directors back in action.
10Wes Anderson - The Phoenician Scheme
Release Date TBA
Wes Anderson had a big year in 2023, with the release of his Roald Dahl-inspired short films on Netflix andAsteroid Citylater that year. He has spent 2024 developing his next movie,The Phoenician Scheme, which is described as an espionage comedy-drama. No release date has been set yet, but filming wrapped back in June, so it seems likely thatThe Phoenician Schemewill come out in the first half of 2025.
Filming wrapped back in June, so it seems likely thatThe Phoenician Schemewill come out in the first half of 2025.
The Phoenician Schemefeatures a large ensemble cast which includes Wes Anderson regulars like Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman, butthere are also a few new faces in the mix, like Riz Ahmed and Michael Cera.Wes Anderson’s moviesall have a distinct visual aesthetic, so fans can expect more of the same fromThe Phoenician Scheme,even though the plot is still being kept under wraps at this stage.
9Steven Soderbergh - Presence & Black Bag
Presence: January 25, Black Bag: March 14
Steven Soderbergh is probably most famous for his heist movies, such asOut of Sight, Logan Luckyand theOcean’sfranchise, but he’s been a prolific director in many genres for decades now. He has two movies being released in 2025, and it isn’t the first year of his career with a packed calendar.Presenceis a horror movie shot from a first-person perspective starring Lucy Liu. It first premiered at Sundance in January 2024, but it’s taken a whole year for the movie to get a theatrical release date.
Shortly after the release ofPresence,Soderbergh’s next movie,Black Bag,will be hitting theaters.Black Bagstars Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender in an espionage plot, with a supporting cast that includes Pierce Brosnan and Regé-Jean Page. While Soderbergh will certainly be fielding questions about thepotentialOcean’s 14,fans have plenty to look forward to in 2025 without thinking about his most popular franchise.
8Ryan Coogler - Sinners
March 7
Since bursting onto the scene with 2013’sFruitvale Station,Ryan Coogler has developed a strong working relationship with Michael B. Jordan. He directed the firstCreedmovie and Jordan’s scene-stealing performance inBlack Panther.He directed the firstBlack Panthersequel, and he has continued working on theCreedfranchise as a producer, butSinnersis based on an original idea.
Thecast ofSinnersfeatures Michael B. Jordan playing two identical twins. The trailer doesn’t reveal too much about the plot, butSinnershas been described as a vampire movie that takes inspiration from Southern folklore, and its period setting is another interesting detail.Coogler hasn’t made a horror movie yet, butSinnersalready looks like an exciting prospectthanks to Jordan’s dual role and the tense atmostphere of the trailer.
7The Russo Brothers - The Electric State
March 14
Anthony and Joseph Russo are most famous for their work in the MCU, including the last twoAvengersmovies. SinceEndgame,they have continued producing and directing movies, most notablyThe Gray Man,which quickly became one of Netflix’s most popular movies of all time. They have reunited with the streaming platform for their next movie,The Electric State,which is based on Simon Stålenhag’s 2018 graphic novel.Filming began in 2022, so fans of the graphic novel have faced a long wait for the adaptation.
The Electric Stateis coming to Netflix in March, and the trailer promises a visual sci-fi spectacle that imagines an alternate version of America in the 1990s. Millie Bobby Brown plays a woman who follows a robot in the hope of finding her long-lost brother, but the pain of the robot uprising still scars the landscape. Thecast ofThe Electric Statealso includes Chris Pratt, Ke Huy Quan and Stanley Tucci, while there are many more big names who will be providing voices for the robot characters.
6Ethan Coen - Honey Don’t!
Ethan Coen’s solo directorial debutDrive-Away Dollsis one of 2024’s underrated gems. It isn’t as tight or as impactful as many of thebest Coen brothers movies,but it offers a good time and plenty of laughs. The Coens are set to reunite for an upcoming horror movie, but Ethan is still continuing his plans to create a"lesbian B-movie trilogy". The second movie in this trilogy is titledHoney Don’t!
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Honey Don’t!wrapped filming back in May, but no release date has been set yet. Still, there are a few details which have been revealed.Drive-Away Dollsstar Margaret Qualley plays a private investigator, with Chris Evans, Aubrey Plaza and Charlie Day also confirmed to star. The title is a reference to the Carl Perkins song which was famously covered by The Beatles, but it’s unclear how this will factor into the story.
5Bong Joon-ho - Mickey 17
April 18
After Bong Joon-ho won the Oscar for Best Director for 2019’sParasite,he had a global audience waiting to watch whatever came next, but it has taken a long time for another movie to materialize.Mickey 17started filming in 2022, but its release was repeatedly pushed back, and there were even some rumors that it could be scrapped altogether.Mickey 17has finally got a release date, and a trailer has been released too.
Mickey 17is one of the most exciting original movies that 2025 has in store, thanks to Bong Joon-ho’s pedigree and Robert Pattinson’s intriguing role as a man who is copied and reborn when he dies. Thecast ofMickey 17also features Mark Ruffalo, Steven Yeun and Toni Collette, and the trailer promises a hilarious ensemble comedy. The sci-fi black comedy is based on Edward Ashton’s 2022 novelMickey7.
4Paul Thomas Anderson - The Battle Of Baktan Cross
August 8
There have been rumors about Paul Thomas Anderson and Leonardo DiCaprio working together for many years, and 2025 will finally deliver the fruits of their highly-anticipated collaboration. Not much is known aboutThe Battle of Baktan Cross,which was previously referred to asOne Battle After Another,butit’s a crime thriller with a big budget and a cast that includes Regina Hall, Sean Penn and Alana Haim.
It’s been rumored thatThe Battle of Baktan Crosscould be a loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novelVineland.
It’s been rumored thatThe Battle of Baktan Crosscould be a loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novelVineland,a strange crime drama that takes place in the aftermath of Ronald Reagan’s re-election. Anderson previously directedInherent Vice, which remains the only movie adaptation of the enigmatic author’s work, so it wouldn’t be a huge surprise for him to use another Pynchon novel for inspiration.
3Yorgos Lanthimos - Bugonia
November 7
AfterPoor Thingsin 2023 andKinds of Kindnessin 2024, Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone are set to team up once again in 2025 forBugonia.Stone plays Michelle, the CEO of a big pharmaceutical company who gets kidnapped by an unhinged conspiracy theorist who believes she’s an alien intent on destroying the planet. Jesse Plemons plays the conspiracy theorist, while Alicia Silverstone plays his mother.
It’s an English-language remake of Jang Joon-hwan’s 2003 sci-fi comedySave the Green Planet!
AlthoughBugonia’s release date is still a long way off, some story details can be gleaned from the fact that it’s an English-language remake of Jang Joon-hwan’s 2003 sci-fi comedySave the Green Planet!Emma Stone’s character is a man in the South Korean original movie, so it’s likely that Lanthimos has a few more idiosyncratic surprises in store, butit could be a long time until more story details and a trailer are released.
2Edgar Wright - The Running Man
November 21
The Running Mandoesn’t often get discussed alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger’s best movies, but there’s no denying the ludicrous fun that it provides. The dystopian sci-fi actioner is based on a Stephen King novel.Edgar Wright has promised that his remake will be far more faithful to the source material, sinceThe Running Manfocuses more on Schwarzenegger’s strengths than King’s writing.
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Glen Powell is set to star as Ben Richards in Wright’s adaptation, with William H. Macy, Josh Brolin andScott Pilgrim vs. the Worldstar Michael Cera, who is finally teaming up with Wright once again. Powell’s take on the character will obviously be much different to Schwarzenegger’s, since no actor can do exactly what Arnie does. Powell has had a few roles in action movies in recent years, but he isn’t in the Schwarzenegger mold.
1Spike Lee - Highest 2 Lowest
Spike Lee and Denzel Washingtonalways seem to get the best out of one another, and their new movie could be their most ambitious collaboration yet. Although a release date hasn’t been set,Highest 2 Lowestalready has a lot of buzz around it due to the fact that it’s a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 crime classicHigh and Low.Few directors are bold enough to remake Kurosawa’s movies, but the change in the title suggests that Lee will be putting a unique spin onHigh and Low.
Highest 2 Lowestalready has a lot of buzz around it due to the fact that it’s a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 crime classicHigh and Low.
Highest 2 Lowestseems like the latest movie in Apple TV+’s trend of giving prestigious directors a big budgetto work on passion projects, like Joel Coen’sThe Tragedy of Macbeth,Martin Scorsese’sKillers of the Flower Moonand Ridley Scott’sNapoleon.Hopefully, the results will be better than Spike Lee’s last English-language remake of a foreign classic,Oldboy,which endured a barrage of poor reviews.
