30. “Caught Stealing”
Following the Oscar-nominated but highly polarizing “The Whale,” filmmaker Darren Aronofsky returns with something less controversial with a crime thriller starring rising star Austin Butler (“Elvis”). The film centers on a former baseball player (Butler) who finds himself immersed in criminality in 1990s New York. Co-starring in the film are Zoë Kravitz, Regina King, Matt Smith, Liev Schreiber, Bad Bunny Griffin Dunne, Vincent D’Onofrio, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, and more.
Release Date: TBD, via Sony Pictures Releasing.
29. “F1”
Apple fits the expensive bill, hoping Joseph Kosinski will bring a similar “Top Gun Maverick” visceral intensity to a sports action drama. A Formula One team owner (Javier Bardem) contacts a retired pro (Brad Pitt) to mentor a rookie prodigy (Damson Idris) on the Apex Grand Prix team. Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, the film co-stars Kerry Condon, Tobias Menzies, and Sarah Niles, with much of the ‘Maverick’ team, including DP Claudio Miranda returning.
Release Date: June 25, 2025, via Apple Films & Warner Bros.
28. “Anemone”
Legendary actor and three-time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis retires from acting every few years, vowing to never return, and lucky for us he seems to keep breaking his promise. The end of this sabbatical is for “Anemone,” a film that his son Ronan Day-Lewis directs and was written by the two of them. Sean Bean, Samantha Morton, Samuel Bottomley, and Safia Oakley-Green are among the supporting cast and it’s about the personal journeys and generational conflicts between fathers, brothers, and sons.
Release Date: TBD, but Focus Features is all over this presumably for some big festival bow.
27. “The Mastermind”
Is this film, centering on an audacious art heist amidst the backdrop of the Vietnam War, filmmaker Kelly Reichardt’s most audacious and mainstream film? It’s hard to say, but her cast includes one of the most in-demand actors on the planet right now in Josh O’Connor (“Challengers”), alongside John Magaro (“First Cow”) and “Licorice Pizza” star Alana Haim. Gaby Hoffmann, Rhenzy Feliz, Hope Davis, Bill Camp, and Cole Doman co-star.
Release Date: TBD, there’s no distributor, but it’s easy to imagine it premiering during the fall film festival circuit next year.
26. “Roofman”
“Blue Valentine” filmmaker Derek Cianfrance came close to making the “Wolf Man” movie coming out this year, but instead, he’s pivoted to a crime drama thriller centering on an ex-Army Reserves officer and fugitive who hides from the police for months by hiding out in a Toys R’ Us. Channing Tatum and Kristen Dunst star alongside Ben Mendelsohn, Peter Dinklage, Uzo Aduba, Juno Temple, and LaKeith Stanfield.
Release Date: Miramax via Paramount has already penciled in an October 3, 2025 date.
25. “Mickey 17”
Bong Joon-ho (“Parasite”) finally goes mainstream, with a big budget, Warner Bros. backing, and Brad Pitt’s Plan B company producing. An outstanding cast features Robert Pattinson, Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette, Mark Ruffalo, and Holliday Grainger. The sci-fi film centers on an “expendable,” who is a disposable employee on a human expedition sent to colonize an ice world.
Release Date: April 18, 2025, via Warner Bros.
24. “High & Low”/”Highest 2 Lowest”
A “reinterpretation” of Akira Kurosawa’s tense crime thriller “High & Low,” which centered on a CEO who becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur’s son is kidnapped by mistake and held for ransom, Spike Lee’s latest finally reunites him with Denzel Washington nearly 20 years after “Inside Man.” Reportedly titled “Highest 2 Lowest,” the film co-stars Ilfenesh Hadera, Jeffrey Wright, Ice Spice, ASAP Rocky, and Dean Winters.
Release Date: TBD, but rumored to hit in the summer via A24 and Apple.
23. “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery”
The third installment of director Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” trilogy, the plot is unknown, but we can assume another murder mystery featuring the great detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is afoot again. ‘Knives Out’ mysteries are always known for their expansive casts, and this one doesn’t disappoint. The ensemble includes Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack, and Thomas Haden Church.
Release Date: TBD via Netflix, but the fall and a TIFF premiere feel like a good bet.
22. “The Entertainment System Is Down”
Two-time Palme d’Or-winning Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund, known for his social satires, follows up “Triangle Of Sadness” with a comedy about a modern-day horror: an entertainment system that fails during a long transatlantic flight and the passengers are forced to face the terror of being bored without screens or devices. The starry cast features Keanu Reeves, Kirsten Dunst, Joel Edgerton, Daniel Brühl, Nicholas Braun, Samantha Morton, Woody Harrelson and Vincent Lindon.
Release Date: TBD. iI hasn’t been shot yet, but it’s gearing up now, and A24 is distributing.
21. “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning”
Originally supposed to be ‘Part Two,’ to “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning,” the studio changed the title once ‘Reckoning’ landed rather soft at the box office (to be fair, the title isn’t drastically different). Written and directed again by Christopher McQuarrie, Tom Cruise stars once more as Ethan Hunt, trying to track down the assassin Gabriel (Esai Morales) and the evil A.I. force known as The Entity before they destabilize and destroy the world. Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, and Henry Czerny all reprise their roles from the previous films, and it sounds like this is the end of the franchise—at least for now.
Release Date: May 23, 2025, via Paramount.
