Movie preview 2025: 20 Films We Can’t Wait to See

Be on the lookout for these upcoming standouts from January through December

Tim Appelo,

AARP

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Published December 30, 2024

Captain America: Brave New World 2025 movie poster featuring Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford plays the Red Hulk in the upcoming 'Captain America: Brave New World'.

Alamy/Walt Disney Pictures

From Robert De Niro as two gangsters in Alto Knights to villainous Harrison Ford in Captain America: Brave New World to the returns of Downton Abbey, Bridget Jones and Jurassic Park — plus two Frankenstein movies — there's plenty to put on your must-watch calendar for 2025. Check AARP’s Entertainment page https://www.aarp.org/entertainment/for updates, and mark your calendars with this must-watch guide.

Hard Truths (in theaters Jan. 10)

Marianne Jean-Baptiste, 57 (Secrets and Lies) could get a second Oscar nomination as a tormented woman who takes out her suffering on her husband, son, kindly kid sister, and anyone who gets in her way.

Back in Action (on Netflix Jan. 17)

Jamie Foxx, 57, and Cameron Diaz, 52, play CIA agents who retired to raise a family, but their cover is blown so they’re forced back to espionage. Diaz is actually back after 11 years not making movies.

Flight Risk (in theaters Jan. 24)

Downton Abbey's Michelle Dockery plays an Air Marshall transporting a witness (Topher Grace) across remote Alaska, with a pilot (Mark Wahlberg, 53) who’s actually a hitman. Thanks to the Passion of the Christ sequel he’s shooting and this thriller, director Mel Gibson, 68, could soon exceed $2 billion in grosses.

Love Hurts (in theaters Feb. 7)

2023 Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan, 53, makes his action-hero debut as a mild-mannered hitman-turned-realtor forced to fight his crime lord brother Knuckles (Daniel Wu, 50). John Wick stunt coordinator Jonathan Eusebio, 51, directs.

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (on Peacock Feb. 14)

Widowed mom Bridget (Renee Zellweger, 55) gets pursued by a young hunk (The White Lotus’ Leo Woodall) while getting close with her son’s teacher (Chiwetel Ejiofor) — and encouraged by her ex (Hugh Grant, 64).

Captain America: Brave New World (in theaters Feb. 14)

Captain America (Anthony Mackie) battles President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford, 83), who transforms into the wicked Red Hulk.

My Dead Friend Zoe (in theaters Feb. 28)

In 2025’s most inspiring ghost story, a traumatized Afghanistan War vet (Sonequa Martin-Green) haunted by the wisecracking shade of her fellow soldier Zoe (Natalie Morales). Real-life Air Force vet Morgan Freeman, 87, plays her stern, loving VA group therapy counselor, and Marine Corps vet Ed Harris, 74, plays her stubborn Viet Nam vet granddad, afflicted by incipient Alzheimer’s.

Sinners (in theaters March 7)

In this vampire flick, Michael B. Jordan (Creed, Black Panther) plays two roles, twins who return to their Southern hometown in the 1930s. One of the brothers says, “I ain't ever seen no demons, no ghosts, no magic...’til now!" Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) and Delroy Lindo, 72 (The Good Fight) costar.

The Electric State (on Netflix March 14)

Ke Huy Quan, 54, Stanley Tucci, 64, Jason Alexander, 65, and Giancarlo Esposito, 66, star in a film about a war between AI and humans, with voices of Woody Harrelson, 63, as the robot Mr. Peanut and Brian Cox, 78, as the baseball-pitching machine Popfly.

Black Bag (in theaters March 14)

In a spy thriller by Traffic director Steven Soderbergh, 62, Cate Blanchett, 55, and Michael Fassbender play a couple in the intelligence community. Soderbergh compares the characters to George and Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Alto Knights (in theaters March 21)

Robert De Niro, 81, plays two roles: 1950s mafia boss Frank Costello and rival Vito Genovese, who loathed Costello so much he tried to have him killed. Barry Levinson, 82, directs a script by the current godfather of mob movie writers, Nicholas Pileggi, 91 (Goodfellas, Casino).

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (in theaters May 23)

Tom Cruise, 62, will likely bid farewell to the IMF force in an action epic with Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, 65, and Angela Bassett, 66.

28 Years Later (in theaters June 20)

The third in the post-apocalyptic horror franchise may be the charm, with original director Danny Boyle, 68, and stars Jodie Comer (Killing Eve), Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer), and Ralph Fiennes, 68.

Jurassic World Rebirth (in theaters July 2)

The once-great movies about leapin’ lizards have gotten worse and worse. But with original Jurassic Park writer David Koepp, 61, and new stars Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali, 50, director Gareth Edwards vows it will be a smart drama again, not just a dumb chomp-fest.

Downton Abbey 3 (in theaters Sept. 12)

Director Simon Curtis brings Hugh Bonneville, 61, Elizabeth McGovern, 63, Michelle Dockery, Paul Giamatti, 57 and most of the series regulars back to rebottle that Chez Crawley magic.

The Bride! (in theaters Sept. 26)

Lonesome Frankenstein (Christian Bale, 50) gets a murdered woman reanimated as his mate (Oscar-nominated The Last Daughter star Jessie Buckley) who proves to be an uncontrollable 1930s Chicago revolutionary. Penelope Cruz, 50, and Annette Bening, 66, costar.

Avatar: Fire and Ash (in theaters Dec. 19)

James Cameron, 70, freshens up the third epic film in his SF franchise with Michelle Yeoh, 62, as a scientist and Oona Chaplin as a villain.

Coming sometime in 2025

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (on Netflix)

Daniel Craig, 56, returns as drawling sleuth Benoit Blanc, joined by Glenn Close, 77, Josh Brolin, 56, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, 53, Kerry Washington and Thomas Haden Church, 64.

Frankenstein (in theaters)

Guillermo del Toro, 60, vows to bring out the humanity in his favorite monster, with Oscar Isaac as the Doctor, Jacob Elordi as the Creature, and costars Christoph Waltz, 68, Mia Goth and Charles Dance, 78.

Freakier Friday (in theaters)

In the sequel to the 2003 comedy, Jamie Lee Curtis, 66, and Lindsay Lohan, 38, swap bodies with two teenage girls. 2003 costars Mark Harmon, 73, Stephen Tobolowsky, 73, and Rosalind Chao, 67 join them.

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Tim Appelo covers entertainment and is the film and TV critic for AARP. Previously, he was the entertainment editor at Amazon, video critic at Entertainment Weekly, and a critic and writer for The Hollywood Reporter, People, MTV, The Village Voice and LA Weekly.