20. “Alpha”
After winning the Palme d’Or for her empathetic body horror “Titane,” French auteur Julia Ducournau returns for “Alpha.” Starring Golshifteh Farahani (“Patterson”) and Tahar Rahim (“A Prophet”), Ducournau has described the film as her most personal work, but plot details have been under wraps. That said, the movie is rumored to be about a teenage girl, the titular alpha, whom her classmates ostracize because a rumor spreads throughout the school that she has been contaminated with a new disease. Could Farahani and Rahim possibly play the girl’s parents? All we have is speculation so far.
Release Date: TBD, but Neon has U.S. distribution, so it should be a surefire bet for Cannes.
19. “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey”
A romantic fantasy directed by acclaimed filmmaker Kogonada (“After Yang”) from a screenplay by Seth Reiss, “Big Bold Beautiful Journey” is said to be an imaginative tale of two strangers, a very peculiar GPS system, and the unbelievable, fantastical journey that connects them into the future and back. The huge cast includes Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie in the lead roles alongside Lily Rabe, Jodie Turner-Smith, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Lucy Thomas, Billy Magnussen, Sarah Gadon, Brandon Perea, Hamish Linklater, and Chloe East, among others.
Release Date: May 9, 2025, via Sony Pictures.
18. “28 Years Later”
The way belated sequel to “28 Weeks Later” director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland reunited 18 years after the fact for the trilogy capper to their rage pandemic virus/zombie film (though a sequel has already been shot, so it’s a tetralogy so far). Cillian Murphy reprises his role from “28 Days Later,“ starring alongside Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer, Ralph Fiennes, Jack O’Connell, Erin Kellyman, and Edvin Ryding.
Release Date: June 20, 2025, via Sony Pictures.
17. “Black Bag”
The always-prolific Steven Soderbergh returns for what will be his second movie of 2025 (“Presence,” his ghost movie, comes out in January; read our review here). His third collaboration in a row with writer David Koepp (“Jurassic Park”) is a spy thriller, and not many details have been shared so far. But arguably, the stellar cast is all that matters, and it features Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender, Regé-Jean Page, Marisa Abela, Naomie Harris, Pierce Brosnan, and Tom Burke.
Release Date: March 14, 2025, via Focus Features.
16. “Nouvelle Vague”
Richard Linklater is another auteur who has been quickening his pace lately. His latest works sound like a love letter to cinema and depict the making of the Jean-Luc Godard classic French New Wave film “Breathless” (1960). Starring Zoey Deutch as Jean Seberg, the rest of the cast is relatively unknown French actors—Aubry Dullin, Guillaume Marbeck, Jean-Jacques Le Vessier—playing then young titans of French cinema like Godard, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jacques Rivette, Jean Cocteau and more. Shot in black and white with a 4:3 aspect ratio.
Release Date: TBD, but can Cannes resist not debuting this film in May?
15. “The Smashing Machine”
The best part of the Safdie Brothers breaking up to direct their own movies is just more films from the Safdie Brothers. Benny Safdie’s first solo directing feature is an American biographical sports drama about former wrestler and mixed martial artist Mark Kerr. The drama stars Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, and not many other well-known actors other than real-life boxers and MMA fighters like Oleksandr Usyk, Bas Rutten, Satoshi Ishii, and more.
Release Date: TBD via A24.
14. “The Phoenician Scheme”
Wes Anderson’s first foray into the espionage genre as a comedy-drama thriller (obviously) centers on a strained father-daughter relationship within a family business filled with betrayal and morally gray choices. Benicio del Toro, Michael Cera, and Mia Threapleton (Kate Winslet’s daughter) are the three leads with a huge supporting cast that includes Bill Murray, Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks, Benedict Cumberbatch, Scarlett Johansson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Rupert Friend, Willem Dafoe, Bryan Cranston, and more.
Release Date: TBD, and no distributor yet, but presumably, this one will debut at Cannes.
13. Untitled Noah Baumbach Film
Oscar-nominated filmmaker Noah Baumbach follows up 2022’s “White Noise” with a coming-of-age for adults comedy-drama reportedly titled “Jay Kelly.” And the cast is rather huge and spectacular: George Clooney and Adam Sandler star in the two lead roles alongside Laura Dern and Billy Crudup, plus Riley Keough, Jim Broadbent, Isla Fisher, Greta Gerwig, Josh Hamilton, Eve Hewson, Patrick Wilson, Alba Rohrwacher and more. Baumbach co-wrote the screenplay with Emily Mortimer, who also has a role.
Release Date: TBD via Netflix, but it feels like another Venice debut.
12. “After the Hunt”
In case you haven’t noticed. Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino moves fast. Releasing two films in 2024 (“Challengers” and “Queer”), the director has already finished shooting his next film. Starring Julia Roberts and Andrew Garfield, it’s a dramatic thriller about a college professor who is forced to grapple with her own secretive past after one of her colleagues is faced with a serious accusation. Chloë Sevigny, Michael Stuhlbarg, Ayo Edebiri co-star.
Release Date: TBD via Amazon MGM, but it sounds like another festival title at Cannes or Venice.
11. Untitled Kathryn Bigelow Thriller
It’s been far too long since we’ve had a film from Oscar-winner Kathryn Bigelow (eight years, to be exact). She finally returns with a real-time thriller centered on White House staffers grappling with an impending missile strike on America and the escalating tensions leading up to it. The film stars Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Anthony Ramos, Greta Lee, Moses Ingram, Jason Clarke, Gabriel Basso, and more.
Release Date: TBD via Netflix, but presumably, they’re looking for another Oscar contender in the fall.
