Monsters, superheroes, witches and Smurfs!

If 2024 felt like a slightly off year for movies, you’re not alone – between the Hollywood strikes impacting release dates, audiences gravitating towards streaming rather than actual movie theaters, and the so-called superhero fatigue that has affected even the MCU, it’s safe to say that movie fans are looking forward to a better 2025.

And that’s where we come in with our preview of the biggest movies that we’re looking forward to in the new year. There’s the big-screen debut of James Gunn’s new DC Universe in Superman, the return of not one but two classic Universal monsters, a new sci-fi tale courtesy of Parasite director Bong Joon-ho, new works from the likes of Paul Thomas Anderson, Steven Soderbergh, and Edgar Wright, and, yes, the return of the MCU to hopefully full swing with three new movies.

Here are the biggest movies coming in 2025…

Wolf Man

Date: Jan. 17

Director Leigh Whannell nailed his Universal Monster redo The Invisible Man in 2020, and now he’s got a Wolf Man take coming (with Blumhouse producing). Christopher Abbott (Poor Things) stars as a family man who undergoes some, um, changes while trapped in a cabin in the woods with his wife (Ozark’s Julia Garner) and daughter (Matilda Firth). Based on The Invisible Man and what we’ve seen of Wolf Man so far, Whannell seems to understand that the best monster movies are the ones that are really about, well, the monster that lurks inside us.

Star Trek: Section 31 (Paramount+)

Date: Jan. 24

Michelle Yeoh’s character from Star Trek: Discovery has long been in the running to get a spin-off, and it’s finally here in the form of the first Star Trek TV movie ever made. Section 31 sees Yeoh’s Philippa Georgiou teaming up with Starfleet’s top-secret division that handles the dirty jobs that those fancy-pants Federation types like to avoid. It would be great if this film works out and leads to a series of Trek movies that go straight to Paramount+, allowing for the exploration of the more obscure corners of Gene Roddenberry’s universe that a feature film wouldn’t typically permit.

The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep (Netflix)

Date: Feb. 11

Netflix's Witcher franchise continues with another animated movie, Sirens of the Deep, following 2021's Nightmare of the Wolf, this time featuring the voice of Doug Cockle as Geralt of Rivia. With Henry Cavill no longer playing the character in the live-action series, Cockle returns to the role here, having previously voiced Geralt for the video games. Meanwhile, Joey Batey and Anya Chalotra reprise their roles from the show as Jaskier and Yennefer, respectively. Based on the short story “A Little Sacrifice” from The Witcher author Andrzej Sapkowski’s Sword of Destiny, the film sees Geralt pulled into a struggle between humans and merpeople. Sure hope the water doesn’t mess up his hair.

Captain America: Brave New World

Date: Feb. 14

Captain America: Brave New World, the 35th film in the MCU, finally puts the new Captain America, Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson, front and center on the big screen, but he’s not alone. Joining him are Danny Ramirez, back from his small role in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier as Joaquin Torres, a.k.a. the new Falcon, Shira Haas as former Black Widow Ruth Bat-Seraph, Carl Lumbly as Isaiah Bradley, also returning from TFATWS, and Giancarlo Esposito as Marvel villain Sidewinder. And then there’s Harrison Ford, making his Marvel debut as “Thunderbolt” Ross (replacing the late William Hurt in the role). Ross, according to the trailers, is also now president of the United States and the Red Hulk as well, because yeah, this is also kind of a Hulk sequel it seems, with Liv Tyler and Tim Blake Nelson back as Betty Ross and the Leader, respectively (both last seen in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk).

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