From Terrence Malick’s ambitious reenactment of The Life of Christ to new offerings from Paul Thomas Anderson, Spike Lee and Kelly Reichardt, these are the films we can’t wait to see this year.
Mickey 17 (dir. Bong Joon-ho)
Some have expressed doubts that Bong Joon-ho’s eccentric-looking latest—a sci-fi starring Robert Pattinson as a space station worker who is killed and regenerated over and over again—will live up to the legacy of his Best Picture winning Parasite. However, those who are well-versed in the South Korean master’s oeuvre will testify that if there’s a contemporary filmmaker whose process is worth trusting, it’s Bong Joon-ho.
Expected release date: April 18th (USA)
Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning (dir. Christopher McQuarrie)
After eight films, five directors, and death-defying-stunt after death-defying-stunt, so-called “last action hero” Tom Cruise is finally bringing his Mission: Impossible journey to an end. We don’t yet know what fate will meet IMF agent Ethan Hunt, but if one thing can be counted as certain, it’s that Cruise isn’t planning to go out without a bang.
Expected release date: May 21st (UK)
Materialists (dir. Celine Song)
With barely enough time to recover from the quietly devastating final act of her breakthrough 2023 debut Past Lives, South Korean-Canadian filmmaker Celine Song is back with, seemingly, another love triangle intrigue set in New York. Starring Chris Evans, Dakota Johnson and Pedro Pascal, the film follows the relationship between a matchmaker, her ex-boyfriend and a wealthy businessman.
Expected release date: TBC (2025)
Spike Lee
Highest 2 Lowest (dir. Spike Lee)
We’re equal parts nervous and excited for Spike Lee’s latest, a remake of Akira Kurosawa masterpiece High & Low. Though the last attempt Lee made at reinventing a classic (his 2013 remake of Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy) didn’t exactly pan out smoothly, the promise of seeing the director reunite with muse Denzel Washington for an undertaking of this magnitude is too good to pass up.
Expected release date: TBC (Summer 2025)
Timothée Chalamet and Josh Safdie on the set of Marty Supreme
Marty Supreme (dir. Josh Safdie)
Between playing the messiah in Dune Part II and one of the greatest musicians of all time in A Complete Unknown, Timothée Chalamet seems set on cementing himself as the movie star of a generation. The winning streak continues in Josh Safdie’s upcoming Marty Supreme, in which Chalamet stars as a hustler-turned-champion ping pong player rising to the top of his game.
Expected release date: December 25th (USA)
Renate Reinsve in The Worst Person in the World (2021)
Sentimental Value (dir. Joachim Trier)
Not only did Joachim Trier’s 2021 The Worst Person in The World make a star out of its leading lady Renate Reinsve, but it also left us reeling with anticipation on what the Norwegian director will do next. Now we know, with Trier reuniting with Reinsve for a feature that sees two sisters reunite with their absent father in the wake of their mother’s death.
After Yang (2022) dir. Koganada
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (dir. Koganada)
Not much is known about South Korean director Kogonada’s third feature, which sees the video essayist-turned-filmmaker recruit Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell in the lead roles, but his previous films After Yang and Columbus suggest that we’re in store for another intimate, minimalist offering from one of our most thoughtful contemporary filmmakers.
Expected release date: May 9th (USA)
Black Bag (dir. Steven Soderbergh)
2025 will see two of Sex, Lies, and Videotape-director Steven Soderbergh’s films see the light of day. The first—Presence (Neon), is a suburban horror film starring Julia Fox and Lucy Liu, and arrives in cinemas this January. Black Bag—a matrimonial spy thriller starring Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender—will follow soon after in March.
Expected release date: March 14th (UK + USA)
Leonardo DiCaprio shooting The Battle of Baktan Cross (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
The Battle of Baktan Cross (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
PTA’s second Thomas Pynchon adaptation since Inherent Vice (2014), The Battle of Baktan Cross—or TBOBC—is reportedly a contemporary take on Pynchon’s 1990 Vineland, set in the year of Ronald Reagan’s re-election. The all-star cast includes Leonardo DiCaprio (paid $15 million for the role), as well as Regina Hall, Alana Haim, Sean Penn, Teyana Taylor, Wood Harris and Benicio Del Toro.
Expected release date: August 2025 (USA)
The Bride! (dir. Maggie Gyllenhall)
Maggie Gyllenhall’s second feature as a director since The Lost Daughter (an adaptation of a 2006 novel by Elsa Ferrante), The Bride! is also inspired by fiction, namely Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein. With actors Jessie Buckley (as Frankenstein’s bride), Christian Bale (cleverly cast as Frankenstein) and Penelope Cruz, Gyllenhall’s movie promises to bring a female gaze to the hallowed monster narrative.
Expected release date: September 26th (UK + USA)
Kelly Reichardt and Kristen Stewart on the set of Certain Women (2016)
The Mastermind (dir. Kelly Reichardt)
In Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind, lead Josh O’Connor is set to somewhat reprise his work as an illegal hunter of Etruscan treasures in Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera. The film—which is being financed by MUBI and should hopefully be ready for Cannes 2025—centres on an art heist with the Vietnam War and the Women’s Lib Movement as its backdrop.
Expected release date: TBC
The Way of The Wind (dir. Terrence Malick)
Who better to dramatise the story of Jesus Christ than Terrence Malick? Géza Röhrig will star as Malick’s Jesus, in an epic retelling of several episodes and parables in the Life of Christ, as well as a subplot involving Saint Peter’s political involvement. Malick supposedly shot 3000 hours of footage, and has called it his “most important film” to date. It is expected to premiere at Cannes.
Expected release date: TBC
