10. “Materialists”
Following her luminous and acclaimed breakout Sundance drama and Oscar-nominated directorial debit “Past Lives,” filmmaker Celine Song quickly returns with her much-anticipated sophomore follow-up. Starring Pedro Pascal, Chris Evans, and Dakota Johnson, the movie is about the “business of love” and a woman who works as a high-end matchmaker for Manhattan’s elite.
Release Date: TBD, but it’s A24, and at this point, Song is probably big enough to debut at Cannes or Venice.
9. “Father, Mother, Sister, Brother”
Six years after his first foray into the zombie genre with “The Dead Don’t Die,” filmmaker Jim Jarmusch returns with a more-low-key family drama. Starring Cate Blanchett and Adam Driver, the film centers on estranged siblings who reunite after years apart, forced to confront unresolved tensions and reevaluate their strained relationships with their emotionally distant parents. Sarah Greene, Vicky Krieps, Mayim Bialik, Tom Waits, and Charlotte Rampling co-star.
Release Date: TBD; no studio is attached, so presumably, it’ll bow at a festival and presumably Cannes first.
8. “Frankenstein”
Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has been threatening to adapt the classic “Frankenstein” story for ages, and his dream project finally comes alive in 2025. There’s a tremendous cast involved, too: Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein, Jacob Elordi as Frankenstein’s monster, plus Mia Goth, Lars Mikkelsen, David Bradley, Christian Convery, Charles Dance, Felix Kammerer, and Christoph Waltz. Maggie Gyllehaal’s film will likely arrive first, so the release date maneuvering will be interesting.
Release Date: TBD via Netflix.
7. “The Bride!”
It’s the year of dueling Frankenstein-related films. Drawing inspiration from James Whale’s 1935 film “Bride of Frankenstein,” writer/director Maggie Gyllenhaal takes on her most ambitious film to date. And the film has quite a cast: Jessie Buckley as the Bride, Christian Bale as Frankenstein’s monster, plus Penélope Cruz, Peter Sarsgaard, and Annette Bening, with appearances by Jake Gyllenhaal, Julianne Hough, John Magaro, Jeannie Berlin, and more. Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood is composing the music.
Release Date: September 26, via Warner Bros.
6. “Marty Supreme”
Ironically enough, director Josh Safdie is also making a sports drama for A24, and the life of professional table tennis player Marty Reisman inspires this one. Timothée Chalamet stars alongside Gwyneth Paltrow, Tyler, the Creator, Odessa A’zion, Penn Jillette, Kevin O’Leary, Abel Ferrara, and Fran Drescher. The budget is $70 million, surpassing “Civil War” as A24’s highest-costing film.
Release Date: TBD via A24.
5. Untitled Alejandro González Iñárritu Film/“Judy”
With the ‘Mission Impossible’ franchise seemingly coming to an end, at least for its star, Tom Cruise is looking to a different future. Having mostly severed ties with Paramount, the star has steered towards the slightly more auteur-friendly Warner Bros. and its leadership under Mike DeLuca, the producer behind one of Cruise’s last great dramatic roles in “Magnolia.” Cruise wanting to do something drastically different lands him in the hands of five-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu. A black comedy drama, Cruise stars as a man who sees himself as the world’s savior trying to stop the catastrophic events he set into motion. Co-stars include Sandra Hüller, John Goodman, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons, Sophie Wilde, and Riz Ahmed
Release Date: Normally we might punt this into 2026, but it already started shooting in November, so it’s feasible it could arrive by year’s end.
4. “Bugonia”
Some of the best filmmakers in the world are working at an extremely fast clip, and Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos is thankfully one of them. His third film in three years, “Bugonia,” is a remake of the South Korean science fiction comedy “Save the Green Planet!” Lanthimos returns with his muse, Emma Stone, along with Jesse Plemons, Alicia Silverstone, and Stavros Halkias. The comedy centers on conspiracy-obsessed men who kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth.
Release Date: Focus Features has already slotted a November 7, 2025, release date during Oscar season.
3. “Eddington”
Like Jordan Peele before him, it only took filmmaker Ari Aster (“Midsommar”) two films to ascend to the height of auteur. A contemporary Western black comedy reported to be about a couple on a road trip who get trapped amongst the paranoid people of a small New Mexico town, the cast is outstanding and stars Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, Luke Grimes, Austin Butler, Deirdre O’Connell, Micheal Ward, and Clifton Collins Jr.
Release Date: TBD, but surely A24 has to be aiming for Cannes or Venice.
2. “Die My Love”
Eight years after “You Were Never Really Here,” Scottish filmmaker Lynne Ramsay returns with “Die My Love.” Starring the terrific trio of Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson, and LaKeith Stanfield, the film is set in rural America and portrays a woman engulfed by love and madness. However, Ramsay has also suggested it’s a dark comedy. Sissy Spacek and Nick Nolte also appear.
Release Date: TBD, but Cannes seems like a good bet if it’s ready, and with JLaw involved, perhaps a studio will pounce on it for Oscar season.
1. Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Film (“The Battle of Baktan Cross”?)
While not officially titled as such, it seems pretty clear that Paul Thomas Anderson’s next big movie is called “The Battle of Baktan Cross.” A crime drama thriller reportedly loosely based on Thomas Pynchon’s “Vineland,” Anderson finally teams up with Leonardo DiCaprio, whom he almost cast in “Boogie Nights.” They vowed to work together one day, and it finally came to pass with a budget that was reportedly as high as $115 million. Co-starring in the movie are Regina Hall, Sean Penn, Alana Haim, Teyana Taylor, Wood Harris, Benicio del Toro, the rapper Junglepussy, and Chase Infiniti.
Release Date: August 8, 2025, via Warner Bros.
More Honorable Mentions on the next page
