With 2024 drawing to a close, it’s time to look forward to the movies that 2025 has to offer, and plenty of big stars are returning with exciting new projects. Although there have been somegreat movies in 2024, many of the biggest actors missed out. People like Leonardo DiCaprio and Margot Robbie had relatively quiet years, but 2025 could provide some of their most interesting movies yet.
Outside the major franchises, not many movies get a lot of hype so far in advance. One thing that can make movie fans mark a date on their calendars months ahead of time is a high-profile star in the leading role, and 2025 has new projects in store for some of the biggest box-office draws around, like Brad Pitt, Denzel Washington and Emma Stone. While many of these movies remain shrouded in mystery, the casting is enough to make people pay attention.
10Leonardo DiCaprio
The Battle Of Baktan Cross
The Battle of Baktan Crosscould be another landmark moment inLeonardo DiCaprio’s career. People have been waiting to see him collaborate with Paul Thomas Anderson for years, since the director is famous for bringing superb performances out of his actors. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Daniel Day-Lewis, Joaquin Phoenix and even Adam Sandler have delivered outstanding performances in Anderson’s movies.
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Anderson often creates realistic, flawed characters, and DiCaprio could be the ideal actor for his style. Not much is known aboutThe Battle of Baktan Cross,but there have been some rumors that it could be an adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’sVineland.Anderson is the only director who has tackled a big-screen adaptation of Pynchon’s work - withInherent Vice- so a second attempt isn’t out of the question.
9Ke Huy Quan
Love Hurts
After winning an Oscar for his supporting role inEverything Everywhere All at Once,Ke Huy Quan has a starring role lined up for 2025.Love Hurtswill be released in time for Valentine’s Day, and it has the potential to be a good date movie, with a blend of romance, action and humor. The movie seems to make the most out of Quan’s martial arts skills, with some exciting fight scenes on display in the trailer.
The camera movements and the way that Quan’s character improvises with different weapons in theLove Hurtstrailer is reminiscent of theJohn Wickfranchise, butLove Hurtsis much more comedic. This could utilize Quan’s affable charms as well as his action pedigree.The supporting cast includes Ariana DeBose, Daniel Wu and former NFL star Marshawn Lynch, who showed his comedy skills in 2023’sBottoms.
8Anya Taylor-Joy
The Gorge
After a lead role inFuriosa: A Mad Max Sagaand a cameo inDune: Part Twoin 2024, Anya Taylor-Joy is set to star in a different kind of sci-fi movie in 2025. Apple TV+‘sThe Gorgepairs her withWhiplashstar Miles Teller as a pair of snipers hired to guard a mysterious chasm that is said to be the entry to Hell.The trailer suggests that it’s part romance and part supernatural horror.
Releasing on Valentine’s Day,The Gorgeseems like it could be an alternative kind of date movie, one with action and horror to go along with its romantic story. Taylor-Joy’s chemistry with Teller will likely prove pivotal toThe Gorge’s success, since they appear to spend so much of the movie alone together. The trailer shows a brief glimpse of Sigourney Weaver, but her role seems relatively minor.
7Cate Blanchett
Black Bag
There are plenty of bigdirectors with exciting movies coming in 2025, but Steven Soderbergh has two to look forward to. Shortly after releasing his horror moviePresence,Soderbergh will be switching genres for a spy thriller starring Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender calledBlack Bag.FormerJames Bondactor Pierce Brosnan and potential 007 hopeful Regé-Jean Page are among the supporting cast.
Black Bagstars Blanchett and Fassbender as two married spies who are often forced to keep professional secrets from one another. The trailer shows a few glimpses of the nervy action thatBlack Baghas to offer, and it also seems like a great showcase for two great leading performances.Black Bagis coming out in March, butBlanchett has another movie that may come out in 2025. Jim Jarmusch’s comedy-drama anthologyFather, Mother, Sister, Brotherhasn’t set a release date yet.
6Robert De Niro
Alto Knights
Robert De Niro will be back in familiar territory in 2025, starring in another gangster movie. He’s one of the actors most closely associated with the genre after starring in movies likeCasino, GoodfellasandThe Godfather Part II,butAlto Knightsstill represents something new for him. De Niro will have a dual role as both Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, two competing mob bosses in the 1950s.
De Niro will have a dual role as both Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, two competing mob bosses in the 1950s.
With De Niro set to play two of the most notorious gangsters in history,Alto Knightsis already an intriguing movie. What makes it even more exciting is the fact thatGoodfellaswriter Nicholas Pileggi has penned the script. Barry Levinson, who won Best Director for 1988’sRain Man,will be makingAlto Knightshis first movie since 2021’sThe Survivor.With De Niro and Pileggi on board, it could be his best movie in decades.
5Margot Robbie
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey
Barbiemade Margot Robbie one of the biggest stars of 2023, but she hasn’t appeared in a movie since. After a quiet 2024, Robbie is ready to return to the big screen by starring alongside Colin Farrell inA Big Bold Beautiful Journey.The romantic fantasy will be the third movie from Kogonada, followingColumbusandAfter Yang.The director first rose to prominence for his popular video essays on different directors and filmmaking techniques.
The story follows two people who meet at a wedding before going on a cross-country road trip guided by some form of magical GPS.
There haven’t been many concrete details revealed aboutA Big Bold Beautiful Journeyso far, butthe movie is based on a script that is available to read online. Seth Reiss’ script earned a spot on the “Black List,” a survey of the most popular screenplays yet to be produced in Hollywood. His story follows two people who meet at a wedding before going on a cross-country road trip guided by some form of magical GPS. Kogonada’s movie could tweak the script, but the core concept will probably remain the same.
F1
Brad Pitt’s only movie in 2024 wasWolfs,his action comedy with George Clooney.F1’s reported budgetwould make it one of the most expensive original movies ever made, so it’s a different prospect altogether. Pitt stars as a retired Formula One driver who is hired to reverse the fortunes of a failing team. This seems similar to his character inMoneyballat first glance, but the trailer seems to suggest that his character actually starts competing again in F1.
F1 will have a big audience of Formula One fans all over the world ready for it, especially since Pitt is joined by almost the entire grid.Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and more drivers will be appearing as themselves, while Javier Bardem and Damson Idris are also in the cast.Top Gun: Maverickdirector Joseph Kosinski will be looking to recreate the same kind of thrilling action from his Tom Cruise movie. If he does, thenF1stands a good chance of being a huge box office hit.
3Emma Stone
Bugonia
After starring inPoor Thingsin 2023 andKinds of Kindnessin 2024, Emma Stone is continuing her creative partnership with Yorgos Lanthimos in 2025 by starring inBugonia.Lanthimos' movies are often classified by the unique, unsettling style that he brings, and some actors are better suited to this than others. Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz and Colin Farrell have all shown that they can operate on his peculiar wavelength, but Stone seems to be his favorite actor.
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There are a few things which have been revealed aboutBugoniaalready, even though the movie isn’t coming out until November.It’s an English-language remake of Jang Joon-hwan’sSave the Green Planet!,with Stone playing a pharmaceutical company CEO who gets kidnapped by a pair of conspiracy theorists.Kinds of Kindnessstar Jesse Plemons has been cast as one of the kidnappers, while Alicia Silverstone will play his mother.
2Lily Gladstone
The Wedding Banquet
After her Oscar-nominated performance in Martin Scorsese’sKillers of the Flower Moon,Lily Gladstone had a relatively quiet 2024. She appeared in the independent movieJazzy,but her most prominent role of the year came in the Hulu true-crime dramaUnder the Bridge.She could be back in the spotlight in 2025 as she stars in Andrew Ahn’s new romantic comedyThe Wedding Banquet.
First reactions should come out of the Sundance Film Festival in January beforeThe Wedding Banquetis released in April.
The Wedding Banquetis a remake of Ang Lee’s 1993 hit of the same name.The story follows a bisexual Taiwanese man living in New York City who enters into a sham marriage with a Chinese woman to fool his parents. Gladstone could be playing a gender-swapped version of the main character, although plot details haven’t been released yet. First reactions should come out of the Sundance Film Festival in January beforeThe Wedding Banquetis released in April.
1Denzel Washington
Highest 2 Lowest
Denzel Washington is one of the most decorated actors of his generation, and he’s already getting shouts for another Oscar nomination thanks to his performance inGladiator II.2025 will see him resume his long-running creative collaboration with Spike Lee, as they team up for a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s police dramaHigh and Low. The title has been changed toHighest 2 Lowest,which reflects the more modern New York City setting that Lee has chosen.
He’s teaming up with Spike Lee for a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s police dramaHigh and Low.
Denzel Washington and Spike Lee’s moviestend to bring the best out of both men, but it’s been almost 20 years since they last worked together on the heist movieInside Man.It will be interesting to see how they interact in this later stage of Washington’s career.It’s unclear which character he will be playing inHighest 2 Lowest,but looking at Kurosawa’s movie suggests that he might be playing a business executive facing a moral dilemma, the same character played by Toshiro Mifune.
