The year ahead in the movies

Germain Lussier is a senior reporter covering entertainment for Gizmodo’s io9 section. He lives in Los Angeles, specializes in film coverage, and is also our lead film critic. You can follow their coverage hereand email story ideas and tips to (email protected).

The top story

The coming year has a lot to look forward to in terms of big Hollywood releases. Sequels, reboots, superheroes, etc. But one genre that is still a hit, but often a bit overlooked, is horror – and 2025 brings it in terms of horror. There are big-budget monster movies, mid-budget slasher movies, returning franchises, franchises hoping to start, and even a few major directors dipping their toes into the blood.

Every year, horror movies are a big hit and people act like a surprise. Well, 2025 is the year that will not be a surprise. Among the biggest films to come are those of Leigh Whannell The wolf manby Guillermo del Toro Frankensteinand by Maggie Gyllenhaal The bride. New movies in progress Predator, Final Destination, Saw, Insidious, Conjuring, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and 28 days Franchises are also on the way. Much awaited sequels of Black Phone, Five Nights at Freddy’s, and M3GAN they come And what about directors like Steven Soderbergh presenceRyan Coogler with Sinnersand Edgar Wright with The running man join the fun? And that’s not all. Yes, 2025 will be bloody.

What we expect

In addition to all those potentially awesome horror movies, 2025 should bring another huge year for superhero movies thanks to Captain America: Brave New World, Superman, Fantastic Four: First Steps, and more. (In fact, this is such a can of worms that we will address it in another article.) In addition, however, 2025 brings many films that seem to be products of another generation. Movies that we really want to love and be excited about, but also have major hesitations about.

So what are we waiting for? To be pleasantly surprised. That’s because, on paper, many of these are more than questionable. For example, movies like Karate Kid: Legends and Throne: Ares. We love those original movies, but will audiences in 2025 go to theaters to see them continue? There is that live-action White snow remake that looks like it was already released years ago. Speaking of which, the world needs a live-action remake Lilo & Stitch and How to train your Dragon? Even some of the biggest blockbusters, from the eight Mission Impossible and seventh Jurassic Parkeveryone feels a little behind the times. We want everyone to be good! We hope they are. But, we all know how this is usually.

Unconventional wisdom

Most years, genre films like the ones we cover on this site take a back seat to more standard, dramatic fare when awards season rolls around. But in recent years, those films continue to pop up in those mainstream awards conversations: Everything everywhere All at once, The Shape of Water, Dune: Part Two, Black Pantheretc. We feel that this year could be another big one to change that narrative. When filmmakers like del Toro, Coogler, Soderbergh, Danny Boyle and Bong Joon-ho are all making weird sci-fi or horror films, you get the feeling that the films could break through the awards barrier.

People to follow

James Gunn – Gunn remains one of the last great filmmakers, and now studio executives, who interact with fans almost every day. And, with his Superman movies coming to theaters, as well as many other DC projects coming to fruition, their social media is a must-follow.

Michael Giacchino – The award-winning composer is good enough to check his social networks and with his work Fantastic four is getting ready for release, not to mention his transition to a director, it’s always good and fun to see what he’s doing.

John M. Chu – He released one of the biggest movies of the year with Bad and will do it again in 2025 with Wicked: For good. Plus, after those two smashes, you know he can probably do whatever he wants next. Maybe it will break online once that happens.

Jason Blum – If 2025 is the year of horror, it is better to look at one of the most prolific horror producers. He has his hands on many, many of the movies listed above.

Company to watch

Blumhouse – Again, the huge amount of big-time horror coming out in 2025 is noteworthy, and one of the companies most directly responsible is Blumhouse, especially since it is now associated with James Wan’s Atomic Monster.

Sony Animation – Sony is one of the most underrated animation houses and while 2025 was supposed to be the year of Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verseunfortunately it doesn’t happen anymore. But with that in the works, and also a Ghostbusters film and more, it’s worth taking a look.

Netflix – Because Netflix does not often date or announce many of its biggest films too far in advance, it can be easy to forget that the streamer makes some of the biggest films in the world. Next year continues this trend with films from the Russo Brothers, del Toro and others, and you can be sure that more announcements are coming.

A long bet

In 2024, I predicted one of the many high-profile sequels slated for release will receive major awards consideration. And it was accurate, thanks to Denis Villeneuve. For 2025, I also think it will happen again, but you can’t make the same prediction twice. So, for the long shot of this year, I think one or more of the big blockbusters on paper – a superhero movie, Jurassic Park, Mission ImpossiblePixar, Disney remakes-they will do the opposite, and they will bomb badly.

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