Best new films of 2025: 25 movies to look forward to
There's a whole host of big new releases set to arrive in the next 12 months.
Another year is upon us, and it's already shaping up to be another terrific one for new film releases – with all sorts of major movies set to hit UK cinemas across 2025.
That begins in January with a host of award hopefuls opening here following their earlier theatrical rollouts in the US, with Nickel Boys and The Brutalist just two of the superb films you can expect to see in cinemas before the month is out.
And beyond that there are all sorts of major blockbusters set to arrive throughout the year, from the first film in James Gunn's hotly anticipated DCU and the addition of the Fantastic Four to the MCU to exciting auteur-led films including the latest from Parasite director Bong Joon-ho and a new Paul Thomas Anderson movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
Do bear in mind that we've kept this list to films that already have confirmed UK release dates – and there will be plenty more added to the schedule in due course that are expected to debut at festivals before arriving in cinemas later in the year, with Wes Anderson, Kathryn Bigelow and Darren Aronofsky among the big-name directors with films in the pipeline.
Of course, no list could hope to be completely definitive and we've left out a number of new franchise flicks including various horror sequels such as Saw XI, Megan 2.0 and Five Night's at Freddy's, as well as Disney live-action remakes Snow White and Lilo & Stitch and an assortment of other franchise films.
And as ever, one of the great things about cinema is that we can guarantee all sorts of under-the-radar films will come from nowhere to surprise us throughout the year – so perhaps some of the real highlights of the coming months are completely unknown to us at this stage.
But for now, read on for 25 films that we're especially excited about in 2025..
Nickel Boys
UK release date: Friday 3rd January 2025
The first dramatic feature film from director RaMell Ross – who was previously acclaimed for his 2018 documentary Hale County This Morning, This Evening – is a stunning and audacious adaptation of Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize winning novel about a brutal reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida.
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A Complete Unknown
UK release date: Friday 17th January 2025
Timothée Chalamet stars as legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan in this biopic from James Mangold, which focuses primarily on his controversial transition from acoustic to electric music in the mid-'60s and sees the Dune star provide his own vocals for many iconic Dylan tracks.
The Brutalist
UK release date: Friday 24th January 2025
This three-and-a-half hour epic from writer/director Brady Corbet is expected to be a major player at the upcoming Oscars, and revolves around a towering performance from Adrien Brody as fictional Hungarian-Jewish architect László Tóth, with the film delving into the immigrant experience in the US and artists being forced to compromise.
Hard Truths
UK release date: Friday 31st January 2024
Legendary director Mike Leigh returns to contemporary Britain after a couple of period films, with his latest starring Marianne Jean-Baptiste as a depressed and disillusioned woman prone to angry outbursts. whose relationship with cheerful sister Chantal (Michele Austin) is beginning to deteriorate.
Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy
UK release date: Thursday 13th February 2025
More than eight years after the third film in the series, Renée Zellwegger returns for another outing as Bridget Jones, with One Day and The White Lotus star Leo Woodall joining the cast as her new boyfriend – who happens to be more than two decades younger than her. Hugh Grant is also in line for a return.
The Monkey
UK release date: Friday 21st February 2025
One of the big breakout successes of last year was Osgood Perkins's horror Longlegs – and the director is back with another new film this year. This time it's adaptation of a Stephen King's 1980 short story, following a series of a series of gruesome deaths which start when two twin brothers find their father's old monkey toy in the attic.
Sinners
UK release date: Friday 7th March 2025
Black Panther director Ryan Coogler reteams with Michael B Jordan for this horror flick. Although specific details are being kept under wraps, it's rumoured to be a vampire movie, and we know Jordan has a dual role as twins who leave their troubled lives behind by returning to their hometown, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting for them.
Mickey 17
UK release date: Friday 18th April 2025
Finally arriving after several delays, Bong Joon-ho's first feature since the Oscar-winning Parasite is a sci-fi film based on a novel of the same name by Edward Ashton, with Robert Pattinson leading the cast as a "disposable employee" who is part of a human expedition to colonise a distant ice world.
Thunderbolts*
UK release date: Friday 2nd May
This Marvel entry sees a number of villains and anti-heroes from the established MCU – including Sebastian Stan's Bucky Barnes and Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova – team up to complete missions for the American government, but more specific plot details are still under wraps.
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey
UK release date: Friday 9th 2025 May
There are high hopes for this new film from Columbus and After Yang director Kogonada, not least because of the impressive cast led up by Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell. We don't know much about the plot so far, other than the fact it's being billed as a romantic fantasy, but it's certainly one to watch!
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
UK release date: Wednesday 21st May 2025
Two years after the previous instalment, Tom Cruise is back for what some suspect will be his last outing as Ethan Hunt. The plot will pick up right from where the last one left off, and we can expect all sorts of daring action set pieces as Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie once again pull out all the stops to top their previous efforts.
Elio
UK release date: Friday 13th June 2025
This latest effort from Pixar is about a space fanatic with an active imagination and a huge alien obsession who is mistakenly identified as Earth's ambassador to the rest of the universe when he's accidentally beamed up to the Communiverse and encounters all sorts of weird and wonderful extraterrestrials.
F1
UK release date: Friday 27th June 2025
A lot of money has been spent on this film from Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski, which stars Brad Pitt and has been made in collaboration between Warner Bros and Formula 1's governing body. It follows a fictional racer who is asked to come out of retirement to mentor a promising rookie, years after a nasty crash ended his career.
Jurassic World: Rebirth
UK release date: Wednesday 2nd July 2025
Rogue One and The Creator filmmaker Gareth Edwards is the latest director tasked with rebooting the Jurassic Park franchise, with this new instalment introducing a new ensemble cast led by Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailey and picking up five years after the events of most recent film, Jurassic World: Dominion.
Superman
UK release date: Friday 11th July 2025
The long-awaited first film in James Gunn's rebooted DC Universe will see David Corenswet step into the role of Clark Kent and Superman, with other big names in the cast including Nicholas Hoult as his nemesis Lex Luthor and Rachel Brosnahan as his love interest Lois Lane.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
UK release date: Friday 25th July 2025
Another major new superhero movie – and arguably the most hotly-anticipated of the 2025 MCU releases – this is the third attempt to make a successful big-screen iteration of Marvel's first family, with the cast this time consisting of Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach. WandaVision's Matt Shakman directs.
The Battle of Baktan Cross
UK release date: Friday 8th August 2025
A new Paul Thomas Anderson film is always cause for celebration, and given this one is his biggest-budget effort to date and sees him team up with Leonardo DiCaprio for the first time, consider that excitement doubled. Plot details – and even the official title – have not been confirmed, but rumours have suggested it is loosely inspired by Thomas Pynchon's 1990 novel Vineland.
Downton Abbey 3
UK release date: Friday 12th September 2025
The third and final big screen spin-off from Julian Fellowes's beloved ITV period drama will see many of the Grantham House regulars return, while The Holdovers star Paul Giamatti reprises his role from the 2013 Christmas Special The London Season. The film will also reportedly include a "meaningful tribute" to late star Maggie Smith.
The Bride!
UK release date: Friday 26th September 2025
Maggie Gyllenhaal writes and directs this new monster movie which is inspired by the 1935 classic The Bride of Frankenstein, with Jessie Buckley starring in the title role and Christian Bale playing Frankenstein's Monster. Penélope Cruz, Annette Bening and Maggie's brother Jake Gyllenhaal also appear in the cast.
Michael
UK release date: Friday 3rd October 2025
Antoine Fuqua directs this Michael Jackson biopic, which promises to "humanise but not sanitise" the story of the King of Pop. He will be played in the film by his nephew by Jaafar Jackson, while Colman Domingo, Miles Teller and Laura Harrier are among the other stars.
Bugonia
UK release date: Friday 7th November 2025
The creative partnership between writer and director Yorgos Lanthimos and actor Emma Stone has been one of Hollywood's most exciting developments in recent years, and their fourth collaboration – after The Favourite, Poor Things, and Kinds of Kindness – is a remake of a 2003 South Korean sci-fi comedy titled Save the Green Planet!.
Predator: Badlands
UK release date: Friday 7th November 2025
Director Dan Trachtenberg made the best Predator film in decades with 2022's straight-to-Disney Plus movie Prey, and he's rewarded with another entry in the franchise this year – with Elle Fanning this time playing the lead role. It will be set in a future wasteland, following two sisters as they discover their horrifying past and soon come face-to-face with a Predator.
Wicked: For Good
UK release date: Friday 21st November 2025
Almost a year to the day after the release of the hugely successful first film, fans will be treated to the sequel – which adapts the second act of the hit stage play and wraps up the story of Cynthia Erivo's Elphaba and Ariana Grande's Glinda. The subtitle is taken from the biggest song to feature in Act Two – while composer Stephen Schwartz has also penned some new numbers.
The Running Man
UK release date: Friday 21st November 2025
Edgar Wright returns with his first new film since 2021's Last Night in Soho – and is the second adaptation of Stephen King's 1982 dystopian novel of the same name (which was written under his pseudonym Richard Bachman). Hitman and Twisters star Glen Powell this time plays the role made famous by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the previous adaptation in 1987.
Avatar: Fire and Ash
UK release date: Friday 19th December 2025
We're heading back to Pandora for the third instalment in James Cameron's epic, hugely successful sci-fi franchise. Few exact details have been revealed at this stage, but David Thewlis and Oona Chaplin are joining the existing cast which includes Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña and Kate Winslet.
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Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
