It’s time that I officially leave 2024 in the past on my blog and move ahead to what 2025 has in store for us all. One of the most fun and exciting things to look ahead to in your year is what’s coming out in theaters. What is the year in cinema looking like. So, today I’m going to talk about my personal 10 most anticipated film releases of the year. I will say before I get into it, I’m just going off of what I know is going to be coming out this year, there’s some stuff that has speculation around it but no set in stone release date, and there’s also always a movie or two every year that I have no eyes on and I end up loving it or it gets a lot of buzz. Without further ado though, let’s have some fun and get into it!
Heart Eyes- I will say as well, that I’m doing these in order of their scheduled release date, not necessarily my personal excitement level. Heart Eyes just looks like a fun, somewhat schlocky holiday slasher film and that’s always going to be right up my alley. This one follows a masked, heart-eyed killer stalking and slashing up romantic couples on Valentine’s Day. Should be a fun time and has potential to become a Valentines Day staple for me since that holiday in particular lacks films that are personally up my alley, aside from maybe My Bloody Valentine. The film is directed by Josh Ruben, stars Jordana Brewster, Olivia Holt, and Devon Sawa and releases to theaters February 7th.
The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie- This one just looks like it could be a lot of fun and a nice revival for the Looney Tunes brand after the mishap of their live action movie release. I’m still not entirely sure what happened there, but we were supposed to get a big budget Looney Tunes movie a couple years back and after studio turmoil it ended up just getting scrapped entirely, so it’s nice to see something from the brand still getting released. This one is a sci-fi buddy comedy adventure that follows Daffy Duck and Porky Pig as they team up in an attempt to save the world from an evil alien invasion. Sounds like a silly family comedy with 2 classic characters from many of our childhoods with a fun sci-fi twist, who knows maybe we even see my personal favorite Marvin the Martian make a return. This film is directed by Peter Browngardt and is set to be released on February 28th.
Queen of the Ring- I’m very hyped for this one now and I didn’t even know it was coming out till I was skimming a list of all this year’s releases earlier before finalizing my list for this blog. This story follows the real-life Mildred Burke, a small-town single mother who became a pioneer for women’s professional wrestling in a time where women’s wrestling was banned in most places and went on to be the first million-dollar female athlete ever. There isn’t a whole lot of great pro wrestling entertainment out there aside from the sport itself, and there’s even less women’s pro wrestling entertainment. The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is ‘Glow’ and that show was awesome, but it got cancelled before it ended. I feel like this movie has real potential to be something special to me and many other fans of professional wrestling and I’m hoping it lives up to expectation. This movie is directed by Ash Avildsen, stars Emily Bett Rickards, Josh Lucas, and Tyler Posey, and is set to be released on March 7th.
Warfare- I’ve been on a bit of a war movie kick as of late. I’ve always got something out of this style of films, but lately I’ve been watching war shows and rewatching old war movies again. It’s a genre of entertainment that is eye opening and gut wrenching, but at the same time absolutely captivating. To the majority of us who haven’t been in the heart of warfare we can only speculate how we would react in a situation like that and can only watch films that reenact how something like that may look or feel. This is the true story of a real-life Navy SEAL’s experience in Iraq. The plot reads, Navy SEALs overwatch the movement of U.S. forces through insurgent territory in Iraq in 2006. Seeing as how this is co written and directed by an actual SEAL and based off of his personal experience, I expect this to be a pretty raw and grimy depiction of war, and I think it could end up being something pretty special in the war genre overall. This movie is written & directed by Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland, stars Joseph Quinn, Cosmo Jarvis, and Noah Centineo, and is set to be released on April 11th.
Clown in a Cornfield- There isn’t too much information released on this movie yet, but I’ve read and kept up with the book series, so I had to include it on the list. If done right, I feel like this could be a fun teen mystery slasher film and has potential to even be turned into a series if it finds success, I mean it’s not like the content isn’t already out there and ripe for the picking. The story follows a fading midwestern town in which Frendo the clown, a symbol of bygone success for the townsfolk, reemerges as a terrifying killer clown picking off townsfolk on a path of vengeance. I just hope it’s not dumb or bad, the books were good, the casting looks promising, please just don’t let me down. The film was directed by Eli Craig, stars Kevin Durand, Katie Douglas, and Will Sasso, and is set to be released on May 9th.
Karate Kid: Legends- The latest installment in the Karate Kid saga! I like martial arts films, Bruce Lee is the legend even as cheesy as his movies may be nowadays, but it’s always been the Karate Kid movies that have dominated this genre for me. I grew up watching the Karate Kid movie and was one of the few who actually got some enjoyment from the Jayden Smith Karate Kid spinoff in 2010. I still actually need to see Cobra Kai, but it does look good, and I’ve heard nothing but good things about it. This new movie looks like a lot of fun as well though and I’m hoping it ends up delivering like all the other Karate Kid content we’ve seen up to this point. This film follows a kung fu prodigy who moves to NYC with his mom and enters a karate competition to help a friend in need. Combining the styles of his teacher and the OG Karate Kid, Daniel LaRusso, he merges and creates his own style for the ultimate martial arts showdown. The film was directed by Jonathan Entwistle, stars Jackie Chan, Joshua Jackson, and Ben Wang, and is set to be released May 30th.
F1- This movie just feels like it’s going to be a fun summer blockbuster that should be seen on the biggest screen possible. The film follows a Formula One driver who comes out of retirement to mentor and team with a younger driver. The racing scenes for the film were shot on an actual F1 track during the weekend of the British Grand Prix and they constructed their own fake garage and everything, which I found pretty neat and a good layer of realism by the filmmakers. The only other F1 based movie I can think of that I’ve seen is ‘Rush’ and that was my favorite racing movie of all time, I believe. I much prefer the sports style racing movies to the street style racing movies, so I have decently high hopes for this one personally and think it looks like a fun time. This film was directed by Joseph Kosinski, stars Kerry Condon, Brad Pitt, and Javier Bardem, and is set to be released on June 27th.
Superman- This is potentially my most anticipated of the year, but I don’t wanna say that and sound like I’m disparaging the rest of this list. I’m excited to see all these movies in theaters, don’t get me wrong, but I got hype the second I saw this teaser trailer months ago. I’m not the hugest superhero guy, but Superman and Batman are easily my 2 favorite superheroes, and it feels like it’s been a while since we’ve got a good Superman movie and/or series. Man of Steel was good, and Henry Cavill was a great looking Superman, but they ruined that version of the character after 1 film with Batman v Superman and then the whole DCU came crumbling down shortly after. I’m in the minority that actually prefers ‘Superman Returns’ anyways, it’s my favorite Superman film, and this feels from the trailers like a bit of a return to the bright blue and red, golden boy like Superman and I’ve got high hopes they don’t mess it up this time. I mean they even brought the boy Krypto back! I don’t know a whole lot of what this movie is going to entail, the trailers didn’t give too much away, and I like it that way. Don’t spoil anything, just deliver! This film is directed by James Gunn, stars David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, and Nicholas Hoult, and is set to be released on July 11th.
Tron: Ares- The latest in the Tron series and the long overdue follow up to 2010’s Tron: Legacy is finally coming this year! Honestly, I didn’t think we were going to get another Tron movie in general, the previous films didn’t necessarily call for a sequel, but I really enjoyed both ‘Tron’ and ‘Tron: Legacy’ so I’m pretty excited nonetheless! This film follows a highly sophisticated sentient program named Ares as it is sent from the digital world to the real world on a dangerous mission, marking humankind’s first interactions with AI. I hope this movie doesn’t fully lose the world inside the Tron program because the setting of those films was a big part of what sold me on them. Humans being sent to digital worlds and having to compete in challenges to escape and survive is a neat concept, this film feels like it’s flipping that concept on its head and sending the digital character into the real world. This film is scored by NIN (so that’s pretty cool and fitting), directed by Joachim Ronning, stars Jared Leto, Jodie Turner-Smith, and Gillian Anderson, and is set to be released on October 10th.
Avatar: Fire and Ash- The latest installment in James Cameron’s Pandora based epic is set to be released late this year. They are keeping the plot tight under wraps so I can’t really say much for that, but it’ll likely be one to see on the big screen like the other 2 have. I wouldn’t even consider myself the biggest Avatar fan persay, I’m not dressing up as the Na’vi for Halloween or anything like that, but these movies always feel like an event when they do come out and I’m going to guess that this one will be the same. The sprawling worlds, breathtaking visuals, and booming crisp sound is what sells the Avatar films in general. This movie, F1, and Superman are the 3 movies this year that I want to make sure I see in IMAX when I do see them because they feel like the ones that would truly be worth the extra money for the experience on the biggest screen possible. This film is directed by James Cameron, stars Zoe Saldana, Kate Winslet, and Sigourney Weaver, and is set to be released on December 19th.
Honorable mentions/uncertain release schedule:
Thread: An Insidious Tale- The latest in the Insidious series is set to drop potentially later this year. The plot reads, a couple resorts to a spell to travel back in time, hoping to prevent their daughter’s tragic death. The last installment of the Conjuring series with the Warrens is set to be released this year as well, The Conjuring: Last Rites. This movie just felt more original and more like they were going to be doing something with the Insidious concept, whereas The Conjuring: Last Rites feels like they’re doing pretty much the same thing as the other 3 movies in ways. I’m sure I’ll see both though, I honestly prefer the Conjuring series to the Insidious series, but something about that concept for the latest Insidious film just feels interesting and different and that series could use something different.
Anaconda- This looks like a retelling of the 1997 Anaconda film, but with a really quirky and funny twist intentionally added into it. The plot reads, a group of circus performers become stranded in the rainforest after their boat and captain are ate by an anaconda. They cross paths with a poacher hunting the anaconda, who realizes he may have enough bait to finally catch him now. This feels like it could be a straight up horror comedy film, and we don’t get enough of those and certainly not enough good ones, so my hopes are decently high from what I’ve seen and read up on this movie. The casting looks great so that gives me a little hope. The film is directed by Tom Gormican, stars Steve Zahn, Paul Rudd, and Jack Black, and is set to be released currently on Christmas Day.
That is all folks, tell me what some of your most anticipated movies of the year are! You can message me on the Facebook page or leave a comment on this post if you’d like to engage and continue this conversation over film or whatever else and I’ll try to get back to you as I can! Until next time though, be good to one another and let’s hope for a great year of cinema!
