Most Anticipated Movie Titles of 2025: Part I

 

90 FILMS TO WATCH FOR IN 2025
Part One

Director: James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy, The Suicide Squad) - Cast: David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, edi Gathegi, Anthony Carrigan, Nathan Fillion, Isabela Merced, and Skyler Gisondo.

• Lord knows I need another superhero movie I like need a kick in the teeth.  Yet, despite the fact that I've made a habit of talking mad smack about these studio cash cows and how they're desensitizing movie audiences in more than a few different ways, I couldn't help but be held in a state childlike wonder when I watched the trailer for James Gunn's upcoming iteration of DC's infamous "Man of Tomorrow," which dropped a few weeks ago and marks David Corenswet (Pearl) as the now 12th actor to don the red cape and tights for the role.  As the music of John Willaims' original theme began to swell with all of Gunn's bright and dazzling images splashed across the screen, I made a silent confession to myself: "You know, this doesn't look half bad."  Okay fine, I probably watched the trailer about seven times, but so what!  Gunn's approach really does feel like a fresh interpretation of the character that we haven't seen before, and I've suddenly found myself being casually optimistic about a film I had zero interest in only a few months ago.  Who knows, it could be great!  A few test screenings have supposedly declared an early cut of the movie to be "a bit of a mess,' but then again, it's worth noting that both Superman Returns (2006) and Man of Steel (2013) received stellar test screenings before their respected releases while Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) was prematurely predicted to be a massive dud after it tested horribly, and we all know how opposite the results ended up being for all three of those movies.

RELEASE: July 11th.

89. DELIVER ME 

           FROM NOWHERE

Director: Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart, Hostiles) - Cast: Jeremy Allen White, Jeremy Strong, Paul Walter Hauser, Odessa Young, Stephen Graham, Gaby Hoffman, and Marc Maron. 

• I know musical biopics are a dime-a-dozen these days, but seeing as how A Complete Unknown is performing incredibly well with critics and audiences at the moment, perhaps it might be wise not to discount them all too hastily.  Scott Cooper's strongest film to this day is still Crazy Heart (the movie that finally won Jeff Bridges an Oscar for Best Actor in 2010), which is why I can't think of another director who is a better fit to helm a biopic that recounts a pivotal chapter in the life and career of Bruce Springsteen (seriously though, they should re-release Crazy Heart when this movie comes out and do a double-feature.)  Based on the book by Warren Zanes, Deliver Me From Nowhere focuses on how Springsteen crafted his most personal and stripped-down album, Nebraska, and how it emerged just before he became an international phenomenon with Born in the U.S.A.  Springsteen is a national treasure and one of the most iconic voices in music, so his story deserves a big-screen treatment, and I'm looking forward to seeing Jeremy Allen White (of The Bear fame) in the lead role.

RELEASE: TBA.

88. The Rivals of Amziah King

Director: Andrew Patterson (The Vast of Night) - CAST: Matthew McConaughey, Angelina LookingGlass, Kurt Russell, Cole Sprouse, Owen Teague, Scott Shepherd, Rob Morgan, and Tony Revolori.

• Andrew Patterson became a director to watch for in 2019 after his debut feature, The Vast of Night, made a huge splash at Slamdance.  Combining the Spielbergian wonder of Close Encounters of the Third Kind with the ominously strange atmosphere of The Twilight Zone, The Vast of Night was not only a stellar showcase for Andrew Patterson's remarkable directing chops, but for David Rosenblad's fantastic sound design and the riveting performances of its two young breakout stars, Sierra McCormick and Jake Horowitz.  His upcoming crime thriller, The Rivals of Amziah King, sounds like an inventive cross between The Karate Kid, Jeff Nichols' Mud and Julia Hart's Fast Color, which follows a young girl, Kateri (Native American actress Angelina LookingGlass in her debut role), who escapes foster care and reunites with her former foster parent, Amziah King (Matthew McConaughey), whose mentorship and guidance helps her discover and hone "newfound abilities."  After a devastating situation arises, it isn't long before Kateri has to depend on her newly developed skills if she's to ensure her survival and seek justice.

RELEASE: Premieres at SXSW on March 10, with a theatrical release still yet to be announced.

87. AT THE SEA 

DIRECTOR: Kornél Mundruczó (Pieces of a Woman, White God) - CAST: Amy Adams, Murray Bartlett, Brett Goldstein, Chloe East, Dan Levy, Jenny Slate, and Rainn Wilson.

• It's hard to say if Hungarian auteur, Kornél Mundruczó, will ever deliver something as strange, bold, and cinematically exciting as White God (his 2014 feature which won the Prize Un Certain Regard at Cannes that year), but he's still an interesting talent to watch for.  His upcoming film, At the Sea, seems like it will hew closer (narratively and stylistically) to his 2020 feature, Pieces of a Woman.  It stars Amy Adams as the film's central character, Laura, who returns to her family's beach home following a stint in rehab, focusing on her struggle to readjust to her old life and find a new sense of identity and personhood without the career that helped give her those things.  Although Pieces of a Woman contained gripping and poignantly stirring moments that I appreciated, I felt that its biggest strength was in Vanessa Kirby's raw and heartbreaking performance, and I have a feeling that like with that movie, At the Sea will also pull a lot of its strength from Adams' acting ability.  That's not necessarily a bad thing; Adams is a brilliant and criminally underrated actor who, after six nominations, is still Oscar-less, so any film that gives her the showcase she deserves is welcome.  Still, I hope the movie has something more to offer than just a commanding lead performance.

RELEASE: TBA.

86. THE GORGE

Director: Scott Derrickson (The Black Phone, Sinister) - Cast: Miles Teller, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Sigourney Weaver.

• After the critical acclaim and commercial success of his last film, The Black Phone (which I really liked), I've been looking forward to whatever Scott Derrickson will deliver next, and his upcoming feature, The Gorge, is certainly a tantalizing package that looks like it could bring the heat.  Aided by the talents of its two incredible leads, Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy, and a script by Zach Dean that made the 2020 edition of "The Black List's" best unproduced screenplays, The Gorge is being marketed as a bold and exciting genre mashup that combines elements of romance, sci-fi, horror, and action.  The story revolves around two expert marksmen (Teller and Taylor-Joy) who get assigned to guard the west and east side of a gigantic gorge located deep in a European forest, tasked with ensuring that nothing comes out.  In spite of a strict command to also not communicate with one another, the two develop a courtship and find in each other an unlikely soul mate.  But when disaster hits and one of them is unwillingly plunged into the unknown depths of the wilderness below with the other following soon after, a desperate rescue attempt evolves into a fight for survival that will test the limits of their physical and mental strength and bring them face to face with terrifying secrets at the heart of their mission.  I will admit that Zach Dean's previous writing credits on horrendous turds like Fast X and The Tomorrow War has me nervously checking my faith in this project, however, the fact that his script for this movie made "The Black List" is at least somewhat reassuring, and Anya Taylor-Joy allegedly turned down starring in Robert Eggers' Nosferatu so she could be in this instead.

RELEASE: February 14th.

DIRECTOR: Scott Derrickson - CAST:  Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Ethan Hawke, Jeremy Davies, Miguel Cazarez, and Demián Bichir.

• And speaking of The Black Phone, another film that Scott Derrickson has lined up for 2025 is his anticipated sequel to the 2021 horror smash hit.  The original cast returns with the addition of Oscar-nominee Demián Bichir in a new, undisclosed role.  Plot specifics remain a mystery at the moment, but as I said in the previous entry, I really like the first installment and I'm very curious to see where Derrickson takes the story from where it left off.  According to the director, the upcoming sequel is based on a "wonderful idea" that author Joe Hill (who wrote the original short story the movie is based on) pitched to him if the first movie were to become successful, and that certainly gives me some confidence that this may be one of the rare horror sequels that actually warrants its existence.

RELEASE: October 17.

DIRECTOR: Dan Trachtenberg (Prey, 10 Cloverfield Lane) - CAST: Elle Fanning.

• After the surprise success of his last Predator film, Prey, whose record viewership made it the most watched film to ever premiere on Hulu and turned its lead actress (Amber Midthunder) into a promising new star overnight, Dan Trachtenberg is back this year with TWO (yes, you read that correctly) new Predator films!  The installment that we have the most knowledge about at this time is Predator: Badlands, which will star Elle Fanning as one of two sisters whose divergent missions intersect with the most lethal enemy in the universe.  Considering the success of Prey, 20th Century Studios has thankfully decided to give Badlands a theatrical release as opposed to saddling it with the straight-to-Hulu treatment that the last movie got.  Nothing concrete is known about the other, as-of-yet untitled Predator movie, other than that it will be released sometime before Badlands earlier this year, that it may be animated and will likely premiere straight to Hulu.  I enjoyed Prey and found it to be a solid sci-fi action flick, and I've been impressed with Trachtenberg's technical skills as a director, so I'm excited to see what else he has to bring to this franchise.

RELEASE: Predator: Badlands : November 7.  Untitled Predator Film : TBA.

83. RIP

DIRECTOR: Joe Carnahan (The Grey, Copshop) - CAST: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Sasha Calle, Kyle Chandler, Teyana Taylor, Nestor Carbonell, Lina Esco, and Scott Adkins.

• I really hope that Joe Carnahan can one day again deliver something as strong as The Grey, but as far as his filmography goes, he's a dependable force to be reckoned with when it comes to pulpy, visceral action-thrillers.  He's currently in production right now on RIP, a hot package that was acquired by Netflix last year that reunites Matt Damon and Ben Affleck on screen in their 12th feature film together.  The plot centers around a group of Miami cops who discover a stash of millions in cash, leading to distrust amongst the group as outsiders begin to learn about the seizure, calling into question who they can rely on and who they can't.  Damon was reportedly blown away after reading Carnahan's script, who then passed it along to Affleck.  Netflix is so confident in this one that we'll likely see it before the other two movies that Carnahan has already shot and wrapped production on.

RELEASE: TBA.

82. HEDDA 

DIRECTOR: Nia DaCosta (Little Woods, Candyman) - CAST: Tessa Thompson, Tom Bateman, Imogen Poots, Nina Hoss, and Nicholas Pinnock.

• Before getting sucked up by the big studio machine to direct franchise films like The Marvels and remakes like Candyman, Nia DaCosta made a big splash in the indie circuit with her well-received drama, Little Woods, which won her the Nora Ephron Prize for Female Filmmakers at the Tribeca Film Festival where it premiered.  After having to navigate the pressures and demands of directing a big-budget blockbuster and all the negative and toxic backlash from audiences that often comes with it, DaCosta decided to take a break from the larger, more mainstream films with her next project and go back to the kind of intimate, stripped down drama that defined her debut feature.  Her next film is an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's classic play, Hedda Gabler.  The play focuses on the experiences of its title character, Hedda (played in DaCosta's version by Tessa Thompson, working with the director for the third time after starring in Little Woods), who is the daughter of prominent general and is trapped in a loveless marriage; she's also been described by literary experts as a female version of Hamlet.  While Ibsen's work and his characterization of Hedda is considered somewhat flawed, especially by today's more modern standards, it is nonetheless a substantial and historically relevant piece that features one of the first fully developed neurotic female protagonists in literature.  I'm excited to see more from DaCosta, and especially to see how she'll bring Ibsen's work into the 21st century with her unique spin on the material.  I appreciated her remake of Candyman, but I still (in all honesty) have not seen The Marvels yet (as I mostly gave up on those films a long time ago.)  One of the downsides to working within the studio system is that talented and promising artists often have their voices and artistic impulses stifled by the more powerful people in room who are overseeing the project, which is why I still don't really know who DaCosta is yet as a filmmaker and storyteller, even after directing three movies (the only work I feel I can fairly judge her on is Little Woods, which I thought was a solid, affective drama.)  Hopefully, Hedda will be more of a breakthrough for her and gives us a better idea of what to expect from her as an auteur.

RELEASE: TBA.

81. La Tour de Glacé (The Ice Tower) 

DIRECTOR: Lucile Hadžihalilović (Earwig, Evolution) - CAST: Marion Cotillard, Clara Pacini, August Diehl, Gaspar Noé, and Lilas-Rose Gilberti Poisot. 

• I'm a big fan of Lucile Hadžihalilović, a director with a strange and bold vision who conjures fascinating, hyperrealist worlds of beauty and horror, and whose work feels like the lovechild of cinematic influences such as Guillermo Del Toro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet.  She reteams with Marion Cotillard for the first time since their collaboration in Innocence (2004) for her upcoming adult fantasy, The Ice Tower, about a runaway orphan who takes refuge in a film studio where she becomes a moth to the flame that is Cristina (Marion Cotillard), an enigmatic actress starring in a production of Hans Christian Andersen's, The Snow Queen.  It sounds like the perfect vessel for Hadžihalilović's style and storytelling aesthetic, and it should give adult fans of Frozen the kind of dark, grown-up fairytale they never knew they needed out of Andersen's classic story.

RELEASE: Premieres at Berlin on February16, with a theatrical release still yet to be announced.

 80. I Love Boosters 

DIRECTOR: Boots Riley (Sorry to Bother You) - CAST: Keke Palmer, Demi Moore, LaKeith Stanfield, Naomi Ackie, Eiza González, Poppy Liu, Taylor Paige, and Will Poulter.

• Boots Riley became one of the rare musical artists to successfully make the transition from music to making films when he debuted his wildly demented and insanely inventive surrealist black comedy/satire, Sorry to Bother You, at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.  Even despite the reactions from some audiences and critics who found the overall film to be a bit of a mess as far as the execution of his concept and story (of which I would include myself), there is no doubt that Riley has a fresh voice and exciting vision that holds the promise of much better films to come.  It's been over five years since Sorry to Bother You, and the director is finally in production on his sophomore feature, I Love Boosters.  Backed by Neon and featuring an absolutely electric cast, the film follows a group of shoplifters who take aim at a cutthroat fashion maven.  Hell fucking yes!

RELEASE: TBA.

79. The Wedding Banquet

DIRECTOR: Andrew Ahn (Spa Night, Driveways) - CAST: Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie Tran, Bowen Yang, Han Gi-chan, Joan chen, and Youn Yuh-jung.

• While most audiences became acquainted with Andrew Ahn through his more mainstream Fire Island (2022), I've been keeping my eye on him ever since his quietly moving American indies, Spa Night (2016) and Driveways (2019), first captured my attention.  His next film is a remake of Ang Lee's 1993 film, The Wedding Banquet, which is about a gay Taiwanese immigrant and landlord who enters into a marriage of convenience with one of his tenants to appease his nagging parents, but soon finds out that he's bitten off more than he can chew when they arrive on an unexpected visit to investigate his new life in Manhattan.  Ahn's new film follows almost the same story, but with a bit of a twist.  In his remake, which he penned with one of the original movie's writers, James Schamus, the gay man (Han Gi-Chan) makes a deal with his lesbian friend/roommate (Kelly Marie Tran): a green-card marriage for him, in exchange for in vitro fertilization treatments for her.  I'm not the biggest fan of remakes, but this one sounds really fun and Ahn is stealthily good at packing emotional wallops that don't feel hackneyed or contrived (plus, I'll honestly watch any movie that has Lily Gladstone and Joan Chen in the same cast.)

RELEASE: The film premieres at Sundance on January 27 before landing in theaters on April 18.

78. Good Luck,

      Have Fun, 

                        Don't Die

DIRECTOR: Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Peal, Rango) - CAST: Sam Rockwell, Haley Lu Richardson, Michael Peña, Zazie Beetz, Juno Temple, Dino Fetscher, and Anna Acton.

• After losing millions of dollars on box office bombs such as The Lone Ranger (which reportedly lost Disney nearly $200 million) and A Cure for Wellness, it seems that Gore Verbinski has finally been let out of "directors jail." Earlier last spring he started production on a new film (his first in nearly 8 years) titled, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die, which follows a man from the future (Sam Rockwell) who travels back to the past to recruit the patrons of a Los Angeles diner to assist him in his quest to save the planet from rogue artificial intelligence.  Listen, I have zero delusions that this has the potential to be anything more than a solid and perfectly enjoyable popcorn flick at best, but boy does it sound like an absolute blast!  Rockwell is always reliable, and he leads a solid cast of other reliable players that could help make this way more of a good time than it has any right to be, and let's not forget either that while Verbinski has taken some heavy swings and missed with his material, his work on the first three Pirates of Caribbean films also proved he was capable of handling big-budget blockbusters with large-scale action and adventure.  He's quite skilled on the more technical side of directing, and it's very possible that his upcoming sci-fi action/adventure ends up serving as a friendly reminder to the bigger studios that his talents aren't something they'll want to dismiss too hastily in the future, especially since their bread and butter these days seems to be the kind of blockbusters that Verbinski shows most promise in. 

RELEASE: TBA.

77. DREAMS  

DIRECTOR: Michel Franco (Memory, Sundown) - Cast: Jessica Chastain, Rupert Friend, and Isaac Hernandez. 

• Mexican auteur, Michel Franco, has not always been particularly kind to his characters.  While he would undoubtably call himself a realist, his cynical, harsh approach can often leave his viewers in the cold, and there's an austerity to his style (however brilliant) that could best be compared to Austrian auteur, Michael Haneke (another brilliant director.)  Perhaps that's why it was so surprising that his last film, Memory, showed a tender side to his writing that had been missing in his previous work.  Harshly steering away from anything that might even vaguely resemble cloying sentimentality, yet still portraying raw feelings and emotions in a moving and humanistic way, Memory is glowing proof of how the art changes as the artist also grows and evolves.  Perhaps we're entering a new chapter in the director's career.  Whatever the case may be though, I'm looking forward to his next film, Dreams, which reunites the director with his Memory leading lady, Jessica Chastain (whose heartbreaking performance in his last film was an indispensable piece to helping make the whole script ring true.)  Set in San Francisco, Dreams centers its drama around a love triangle involving a wealthy socialite (Chastain) and a Mexican ballet dancer (Isaac Hernández), intertwining their contrasting lives and cultures. 

RELEASE: Premieres at Berlin on February 15, with a theatrical release still yet to be announced.

76. The History of Sound

DIRECTOR: Oliver Hermanus (Living) - CAST: Paul Mescal, Josh O'Connor, Molly Price, Alison Bartlett, and Michael Schantz.

• I'd honestly never even heard of Oliver Hermanus until I saw Living (2022), his quietly subdued yet profoundly moving remake of Akira Kurosawa's classic featuring a never-been-better Bill Nighy, but now that I have, I'm eager to check out the rest of his filmography.  That includes his upcoming romantic musical-drama, The History of Sound, which stars Paul Mescal and Josh O'Connor (honestly, no need to say anymore) as two young men who travel throughout rural New England during World War I to record the lives, voices and folk songs of their countrymen.  The movie is based on a short story by Ben Shattuck which Hermanus has described as "flawlessly beautiful," explaining how important it was for him to be involved in the process of adapting it from page to screen.  Having O'Connor and Mescal as star-cross lovers was already enough of a selling point for me, but you add in the film's period setting and core use of folk music as a storytelling device, and you've got the kind of harmonic crowd-pleaser that's destined to enchant critics and audiences alike.

RELEASE: TBA.

75. The Lost Bus

DIRECTOR: Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips, United 93) - CAST: Matthew McConaughey, America Ferrera, Yul Vasquez, Ashlie Atkinson, Spencer Watson, and Danny McCarthy. 

• Paul Greengrass knows how to navigate a disaster film.  From United 93 to Captain Phillips, the director has a long history of experience with the genre that goes all the way back to his 2002 feature, Bloody Sunday (one of his earliest works which famously won the Golden Bear following its Berlin premiere), implementing a use of gritty realism and visceral thrills to help convey a perfect storm of calamity, high drama and terror that's as transporting as it is compelling.  The cataclysm of his upcoming thriller, The Lost Bus, is centered around the events of the 2018 Camp Fire- the deadliest and most destructive wildfire is California history- as it follows the heroic actions of school bus driver, Kevin McKay (Matthew McConaughey), and schoolteacher, Mary Ludwig (America Ferrera), who helped bring 22 students to safety amidst the ensuing chaos.  Greengrass hasn't directed a film since his 2020 western, News of the World, which reunited the director with his Captain Phillips star, Tom Hanks, in a film that was generally well-received by critics; I personally found it to be a decent, but forgettable film in an already weak year for movies that wasn't as successful as the director and star's previous collaboration.  That being said though, on a conceptual level, The Lost Bus already bears the hallmarks of a promising crowd-pleaser from the director and could easily land him the most success he's had since 2012 with Captain Phillips, so I'll be keeping my eye on this one. 

RELEASE: TBA.

DIRECTOR: Jon M. Chu (In the Heights, Crazy Rich Asians) - CAST: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Michelle Yeoh, and Jeff Goldblum.

• Well, Jon M. Chu pulled it off!  Despite skepticism from many folks (of which I confess I even found myself cautiously gravitating towards in the days leading up to its release) who weren't sure if Chu would be able to reanimate the zeitgeist of a beloved and popular musical that first made its Broadway debut over two decades ago, and who were worried that splitting the show's two acts into two separate films would be tediously unnecessary, the first installment of Wicked proved to be a major hit that entertained in spades, appeased fans, and concluded the first half of its story in a way that felt complete and satisfying (take note Dune.)  The movie has gone on to make a killing at the box office and continues to rack up millions even as I type this, becoming one of 2024's biggest studio behemoths.  Cythia Erivo of course dominated in the lead role of Elphaba, and in a surprise turn that caught many off guard, Ariana Grande proved to be one of the most exciting breakout performers of 2024 and has a bright future in movies if she chooses to explore it further (damn is she watchable.)  The film concludes with its second half this November, which will feature brand new songs written exclusively for the film, new characters (anxiously awaiting to see who they announce as Dorothy, who I'm hoping is played Matilda breakout, Alisha Weir), and the exciting, more action-heavy plot twists of Act II that brings its drama full circle.

RELEASE: November 21.

 73. HAVOC 

DIRECTOR: Gareth Evans (The Raid, Apostle) - CAST: Tom Hardy, Forest Whitaker, Timothy Olyphant, Justin Cornwell, and Luis Guzmán.

• When it comes to delivering genre thrills and blistering, bone-crunching action, Welsh breakout, Gareth Evans, knows how to pack the kind of seismic wallop that would make even John Wick wince.  Both Raid films are utterly propulsive pieces of entertainment, and the director even managed to infuse his signature brand of action choreography (heavily influenced by a myriad of various Asian martial arts techniques) with the blood-spattered terror of his religious cult horror feature, Apostle (which is also quite good if you haven't seen it.)  His upcoming film, Havoc, has been in production for quite some time now (since 2021 to be more precise), so much so that I was beginning to lose faith in its potential and thought perhaps Netflix (who is backing the movie) was cautiously debating behind the scenes how to quietly release it while distancing themselves from any possible embarrassment in the press for delivering another misfire.  Thankfully, that doesn't seem to be the case at all.  Despite multiple, extensive reshoots that took place over the last few years, Evans assures that everything that has been done during the film's long gestation has been in the service of making sure the movie is just right and crafting an experience that audiences won't soon forget.  The film features Tom Hardy as a bruised detective who witnesses a drug deal gone awry, sending him down a labyrinthine path that takes him deep into the dark criminal underworld of his city that finds him navigating a twisted web conspiracy and corruption. As the movie nears a potential premiere at SXSW, film publications are already beginning to hype readers for all the thrills and surprises that Evans has in store for them!

RELEASE: April 25.

72. ANIMAL FARM

DIRECTOR: Andy Serkis (Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle)

• Known for his brilliant motion-capture performances in such films as The Lord of the Rings, King Kong, and the Planet of the Apes franchise, Andy Serkis decided to try his hand at directing  nearly a decade back with Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018), his own dark take on Rudyard Kipling's classic tale that was meant to serve as a stark contrast to Disney's more saccharine, family-friendly, live-action remake helmed by Jon Favreau.  When Favreau's version grossed over $1 billion at the box office, Warner Bros. (who were slated to release Serkis' version) saw the success as an early victory for Disney that indicated audiences were more likely to prefer Disney's safer translation over a darker, more different approach, leading them to postpone the movie's release before eventually selling distribution rights over to Netflix, who premiered the film on their streaming platform nearly two years later!  I really liked Mowgli and appreciated its darker tone, which reminded me of the edgier family fare that was more popular back in the 70s through the 90s.  Hopefully, his upcoming animated retelling of Animal Farm doesn't suffer the same kind of belabored release that stifled his first film.  A voice cast has yet to be announced, but I imagine that (like Mowgli) it will feature an A-list ensemble of performers.  George Orwell's political and allegorical satire is a timeless masterpiece that frankly never gets old, so I'm very excited to see what Serkis does with the material, especially since it's only been adapted twice (once in 1954 and then for television in 1999) and to mixed results on both occasions. 

RELEASE: July 11.

71. Wuthering Heights

DIRECTOR: Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman, Saltburn) - CAST: Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi, Hong Chau, Shazad Latif, and Alison Oliver. 

• Although she's only two films into her career, Emerald Fennell's work has already become something of a pop culture phenomenon, whether by inspiring countless memes that have set the internet ablaze, or the production of scented candles inspired by Jacob Elordi's leftover bathwater.  The new auteur has a maximalist approach that leaves very little to subtlety, an aesthetic that has produced a shared mix of great and not-so-great results in each of her respected works.  Going into the future, I'd love to see some more restraint from her so that there's this good balance of knowing when to go all in, and then when to hold back and let the audience pick up on the details themselves.  That being said, it's clear that she is a talented writer and a director with a very keen, visual eye.  Even if Saltburn was a complete rip-off of The Talented Mr. Ripley, at least it was absolutely striking to look at.  Her next project is set to be the most ambitious film of career so far, which finds her tackling Emily Brontë's gothic masterpiece, Wuthering Heights.  So far, I'm unsure of how I feel about this, and I can't say I'm pleased about the white-washed casting of Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff, who is described as a dark-skinned Romani person and whose race plays a major role in some of the novel's most important themes (then again, perhaps Fennell has a plan, and her adaptation is a looser, more modern reimagining with a few personal twists.)  Despite my reservations though, Brontë's opus is such a timeless and towering work that I'll gladly watch any retelling of it.  I know this is clearly scheduled for release next year, but I've added it to this list based on a rumor that Warner Bros. is considering releasing it earlier for an awards-qualifying run at the end of the year IF they feel confident enough about what they've got on their hands; in other words, if this premieres at Telluride as Saltburn did and does so to glowing enthusiasm, we could easily get this movie by next Christmas.

RELEASE: February 13, 2026.

DIRECTOR: Duke Johnson (Anomalisa) - CAST: André Holland, Gemma Chan, May Calamawy, Olwen Fouéré, Toby Jones, Simon Mcburney, Joe Cole, Tracey Ullman, Tanya Reynolds, Asim Chaudhry, Youssef Kerkour, and Edward Hogg. 

• It's been nearly a decade since Duke Johnson made his feature debut co-directing Anomalisa with Charlie Kaufman.  His upcoming film, The Actor, an adaptation of Donald E. Westlake's thriller novel, Memory, has been in post-production almost two years now!  The story follows a 1950s New York actor (André Holland) who loses his memory after being beaten up and left for dead in a small, mysterious town in Ohio, where he struggles to get back home and reclaim his life and identity.  I haven't read Westlake's novel, but the premise is surely intriguing and Neon (who is distributing) hardly miss with their output.  It's hard to know where I stand though on Johnson's directing abilities since all I have to go off of is a film he co-directed with Kaufman, and I'm not sure if the success of Anomalisa had more to do with the vision of its Oscar-winning writer/director, or if it was equally shared with Johnson (which it may also be.)  My biggest concern at this point is actually why Neon has waited so long to release this movie, which I'm hoping isn't an indictment of the film's quality and just the result of Johnson taking a careful and meticulous approach to the finishing touches he's been putting on his final product.  A recent interview with Holland suggested the film would likely be unveiled soon though, who went on to describe it as a "fantastic" and "truly special movie" that's "unlike anything [he's ever] seen."

RELEASE: March 14.

DIRECTOR: Rian Johnson (Knives Out, Star Wars: The Last Jedi) - CAST: Daniel Craig, Josh O'Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeney, Daryl McCormack, Thomas Haden Church, with Noah Segan and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. 

• Rian Johnson's Knives Out films may (for the most part) be fun, Agatha Christie-lite mysteries, but there's a playful mischief and clever ingenuity about them that is completely the director's own and that makes his movies hard to resist.  That's why I'm fairly confident that I'll be perfectly satisfied with this latest addition to the franchise, which once again boasts an incredible cast and is sure deliver more of what Rian Johnson does best with these films. 

RELEASE: TBA.

 68. Honey Don't! 

DIRECTOR: Ethan Coen (Drive-Away Dolls) - CAST: Margaret Qualley, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Evans, Charlie Day, Billy Eichner, Gabby Beans, and Talia Ryder.

• Ethan Coen's solo career as a director continues to steam ahead following last year's, Drive-Away Dolls, starring Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan.  The director and his brother, Joel, decided to take a sabbatical from each other a few years back to pursue their own individual artistic interests (their last project together was the western anthology, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, in 2018), and while they have both divulged that they plan to eventually reunite one day for another project, it looks as though they'll continue to operate on their own for the foreseeable future.  While Joel is currently readying his next project to follow-up The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021), Ethan has already wrapped production on his next film, Honey Don't, a dark comedy/detective caper that reunites him with some of his Driver-Away Dolls collaborators (such as his wife and fellow screenwriter/editor/producer, Tricia Cooke, and lead star, Margaret Qualley), which would make sense since Honey Don't is the second film in a planned trilogy of "lesbian B-movies" following the director's last film.  Most of the plot details for the upcoming film are being kept a mystery, except that it's set in Bakersfield, California and focuses on a private investigator (Qualley), a cult leader (Chris Evans), and a "mystery woman" (Aubrey Plaza).  I enjoyed Drive-Away Dolls for what it was, so I'm looking forward to this, but I hope the script is a tad stronger and more exciting this time around.

RELEASE: MAY.

67. Peter Hujar's Day

DIRECTOR: Ira Sachs (Passages, Love is Strange) - CAST: Ben Whishaw and Rebecaa Hall.

• Ira Sachs is a filmmaker of such tremendous humanity, honesty, and wisdom, and it's those qualities in his movies that make him such a truly indispensable filmmaker.  Coming off one of the best films of his career with Passages, Sachs is set to return to Sundance this year with Peter Hujar's Day, which is set within a New York City apartment in 1974 and centers around a recently discovered conversation between photographer, Peter Hujar, and his friend, author Linda Rosenkrantz.  Sachs describes the film as window into New York during that particular time period that explores "what it is to be an artist among artists in a city where no one is making any money."  While the New York in Sachs' film may be 50 years into the past, there's something very topical and current about his premise that feels especially timely in today's era where art is increasingly becoming more and more commercialized, sanitized, and monotonized and artists who can't conform with their work into something more palatable and mainstream are more likely to get dismissed and overlooked.  It also feels like a personal statement from Sachs as well, an indie artist himself whose own films have always struggled with finding distribution and box office success.  Thank goodness that hasn't stopped him from making movies yet!

RELEASE: Premieres at Sundance on January 27 before hitting Berlin in February, with a theatrical release still yet to be announced.

66. WARFARE

DIRECTORs: Alex Garland (Annihilation, Civil War) AND Ray Mendoza - CAST: D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Will Poulter, Cosmo Jarvis, Kit Connor, Finn Bennett, Taylor John-Smith, Michael Gandolfini, Adain Bradley, Noah Centineo, Evan Holtzman, Henry Zaga, Joseph Quinn, and Charles Melton.

• After sending audiences full throttle into the dystopian hellscape of an America that feels frighteningly probable in our own current reality with last year's Civil War, Alex Garland is back this year with another high-octane thriller to transport viewers right into the frenetic chaos and terror of military combat.  Pulled from the memory of Garland's co-writer/director, Ray Mendoza (a former U.S. Navy SEAL who served as a military consultant for Garland on Civil War), Warfare follows in real-time a platoon of Navy SEALs on a mission through insurgent territory during 2006.  Last year, Garland made the sad announcement that he would be retiring form directing after Warfare (in which he claims he was more of a supporting character to Mendoza's story) and focus more on writing.  I imagine that his retirement from directing isn't permanent and that he'll one day pick up where he left off, but in the meantime, it's sad to see him leave from that capacity.  For Garland, Warfare may be his last time calling shots and constructing scenes from behind the camera, but for Mendoza, it's something much more personal.  While told primarily from his perspective, Mendoza also insists that the film represents a collective experience he shared with his platoon members, and it was therefore critical to incorporate as much of their point of view of the events as possible.  I really liked Civil War and found its themes centered around the importance of recognizing our shared humanity as both extremely timely and fascinating.  And while there are no doubt similarities between Civil War and this film, Warfare already feels like something completely its own.  But I think what excites me the most about it is how personal it feels on a conceptual level and what that means for the artist primarily behind it, because if art can serve as a means to exorcise our most personal demons and make peace with them- and I truly believe that it can- then films like Warfare are a reminder of why cinema even exists in the first place and why it matters.

RELEASE: April 11.

DIRECTOR: Joseph Kosinkski (Top Gun: Maverick) - CAST: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Tobias Menzies, Javier Bardem, and Sarah Niles.

• Although I haven't cared much for most of his filmography, I gotta hand it to Joseph Kosinski for really hitting his stride with Top Gun: Maverick.  It was a propulsively entertaining film with a tremendous amount of heart, and really demonstrated how directors with a more muscular filmmaking approach and a knack for the more technical aspects of the medium can really harness those strengths and channel them in all the right ways when they have a good script and a game cast.  That's why I'm really hoping that F1, his upcoming Formula One racing film that stars Brad Pitt (who also produces) as a former driver who comes out of retirement to mentor a rookie prodigy to compete for the Apex Grand Prix team, features the perfect blend of breathless action and emotional pulls that made Maverick soar.  Apple, who acquired the project during a major studio bidding war, have spent a massive bundle of money on this picture, which reunites Kosinski with screenwriter Ethan Kruger and producer Jerry Bruckheimer following their successful collaboration on Maverick.  It's clear that Apple has very high hopes for this movie, so here's hoping it has the mileage to go all the way!

RELEASE: June 27.

64. The Drama

DIRECTOR: Kristoffer Borgli (Dream Scenario) - CAST: Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Mamoudou Athie, and Alana Haim.

• After coaxing one of Nicolas Cage's career-best performances in Dream Scenario, Norwegian auteur Kristoffer Borgli reteams with A24 for his upcoming romance headlined by Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, The Drama.  Sources close the project have said that film explores "the blindness of love," which centers on a couple whose relationship is thrown into disarray when one of them discovers a startling revelation about the other just days before their wedding day.  I really appreciated the wild plot and bold ideas that Borgli delivered in Dream Scenario, so I'm looking forward to this, and Zendaya and Pattinson headlining is just the cherry on top. 

RELEASE: TBA.

63. Bring Her Back

DIRECTOR: Danny and Michael Philippou aka RackaRacka (Talk to Me) - CAST: Sally Hawkins, Billy Barratt, Jonah Wren Phillips, Sally-Anne Upton, Stephen Phillips, Sora Wong, and Liam Damons.

• Having delivered one of the most confident and singular debuts of the last decade with their terrifyingly nightmarish breakout, Talk to Me, I am overwhelmingly excited to see what comes next from Danny and Michael Philippou.  The South Australian duo (who together go by the name RackaRacka on their YouTube channel) went from internet sensations to international stardom after their freshman feature scored big at Sundance.  The pressure will be huge on their sophomore effort, Bring Her Back, to deliver on the promise of their debut hit, but having Sally Hawkins in the lead role (who doesn't agree to star in just anything) gives me reassuring faith that they are both up to the challenge.  The plot is said to focus on a brother and sister pair who uncover a horrifying ritual at the secluded home of their new foster mother (Hawkins). 

  RELEASE: May 30.

62. Play Dirty

DIRECTOR: Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Nice Guys) - CAST: Mark Wahlberg, LaKeith Stanfield, Rosa Salazar, Dermot Mulroney, Tony Shalhoub, Keegan-Michael Key, Nat Wolff, Chukwudi Iwuji, and Thomas Jane.

• Following a seven-year hiatus after the chaotic debacle that was The Predator- a production plagued by controversies and overreaching studios interference that resulted in reshoots and rewrites of all manner- Shane Black has finally gathered the courage to come back and make another film.  Listen, the less we talk about his Predator movie, the better.  Black is still a talented director and a screenwriter with an enduring legacy in cinema, and I'm glad to finally get another film from him.  Originally headlined by Robert Downey Jr., who had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts (you can thank the bastards at Marvel and their fat stacks of cash who always have to ruin everything), Play Dirty now stars Mark Wahlberg (I suppose there are worse trades) as a professional craftsman and thief who gets a shot at a major heist where he must outsmart a South American dictator, the New York mob, and the world's richest man.  Sounds absolutely insane and I love it already!

RELEASE: TBA.

 61. GOLDEN 

DIRECTOR: Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Science of Sleep) - CAST: Kelvin Harrison Jr., Halle Bailey, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Brian Tyree Henry, Quinta Brunson, Janelle Monáe, Jaboukie Young-White, Tim Meadows, Anderson .Paak, Missy Elliott, and André 3000.

• Michel Gondry's career post-Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind has really struggled to generate for him the kind of enthusiasm he received for his Oscar-winning film.  It seems that his best work is when he's adapting somebody else's material or when the creative(s) he's working alongside has the talent and vision that he can help hone and finesse with his more technical gifts behind the camera.  Perhaps working with musical genius Pharell Williams may be exactly the kind of creative yin he needs to his yang.  Their upcoming coming-of-age musical, Golden, is produced by Williams and is loosely inspired by his childhood and upbringing in Virginia Beach.  Naturally, the film also features original songs and music from the Grammy award-winning artist as well.  I love a good musical, and the collaboration of artists here has me very intrigued, but the key to a truly great musical (I feel) lies in the music, and I think Williams is more than up to the task of delivering that!  The film's opening set for the beginning of May is definitely a sign of confidence on Universal's part and given the current success of Wicked (which they also produced), I'm more than inclined to trust that they know what it is they're doing.

RELEASE: The movie was originally scheduled to be released in theaters on May 9 but has since been shelved by Universal as of February 7 (UPDATED).

CLICK HERE For entries 60-31.