While 2024 delivered some notable films, it largely served as a year of recovery for Hollywood. The necessary and justified strikes by the Writers’ Guild and SAG-AFTRA in 2023 brought the industry to a standstill, and as a result, there were major delays in productions and release schedules that lingered well into 2024. Only in the second half of the year did we see the box-office start to bounce back.

While the ripple effects of the strikes and production companies’ fear of financial risks will likely be felt for several more years, there are some exciting and original films on the way in 2025.

There are of course some familiar big-budget franchises, sequels and remakes ready to pull moviegoers back into their local theatres, including – deep breath – Avatar: Fire And Fish, The Naked Gun, Superman, Predator: Badlands, Jurassic World: Rebirth, Snow White, Marvel’s Thunderbolts, Now You See Me 3; Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning and Wicked: For Good. But there are also a host of intelligent dramas and independent films coming our way, including Celine Song’s Materialists, Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, and Tim Fehlbaum’s gripping thriller September 5.

With a wide range of films to be released this year, here are our picks to look out for in 2025 – mostly original works with some controversial and thought-provoking choices thrown in, because if you don’t like a film, you can sometimes like ranting about it.

Mickey17

Delayed repeatedly due to the strikes, and then missing a proposed release last year, Mickey 17 is finally making its way to our screens in 2025. Since the runaway success of Bong Joon Ho’s Oscar-winning black comedy thriller Parasite, which combined brilliant performances with searing social commentary, fans have been eagerly awaiting the next film from the South Korean director.

Mickey 17 is an atmospheric sci-fi effort, starring Robert Pattinson as a “disposable employee”, who is sent on a mission to colonise a world made of ice. However, when his body dies, he is given a new one with all his memories still in place. The creepy-sounding story also stars the inimitable Toni Collette, Beef’s Steven Tuen, Mark Ruffalo and Naomi Ackie.

28 Years Later

The teaser for this highly anticipated release became the most watched horror trailer of 2024, with over 60 million views. It’s also the second most viewed horror trailer of all time, behind 2019’s It: Chapter Two – not bad given that it’s the third instalment to a franchise that started over two decades ago.

The original starred Cillian Murphy as a bike courier who woke from a coma to discover a world overrun with a contagious rage virus, and Danny Boyle’s masterful film quickly became one of the most influential horror films of all time. A follow-up was released in 2007 and was again set in the early days of the virus, but the third film focuses on the world nearly three decades after the outbreak.

The story examines how society has reacted, including the development of cult-like factions, communities with designated roles and extreme survival tactics. Although it’s been confirmed Cillian Murphy sadly won’t be returning this time out, there’s still a brilliant cast, including Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ralph Fiennes and Jack O’Connell.

This year’s release is just the beginning, because 28 Years Later Part II: The Bone Temple, will also be released in 2026.

28 Years Later

A Real Pain

After writing and directing his feature debut When You Finish Saving The World in 2022, Jesse Eisenberg’s second film is a beautifully tender, personal and nuanced dramedy starring Eisenberg and Succession star Kieran Culkin. The duo play cousins who go to Europe to visit a concentration camp, as well as the former home of their recently passed Polish grandmother, who escaped the Holocaust and built a life for herself in America.

Eisenberg’s David is a tightly wound, rule-following family man, while Culkin plays Benji, a charming-but-volatile motormouth idler, who was close with his grandmother and has been struggling since her death. As the two travel through Poland, they grapple with their different approaches to emotion, pain and expression, while also trying to grasp and respect the immense horror of the Holocaust.

While philosophical and existential questions come up, there’s a real intimacy and humour to the cousins’ interactions with each other, as well as with the other members of their tour group, including flinty divorcee Jennifer Grey and eager tour guide Will Sharpe.

The Bride!

What more could you ask for in 2025 than a sci-fi monster musical with a feminist twist? Director Maggie Gyllenhaal reunites with with Irish actress Jessie Buckley, who starred in Gyllenhaal’s debut The Lost Daughter. Set in Chicago in the 1930s, the story focuses on a lonely Frankenstein’s monster (Christian Bale), who seeks the aid of Dr. Euphronius in creating a companion for himself. The two reinvigorate a murdered young woman and the Bride is born.

However, she’s beyond what either of them intended, igniting a combustible romance, as well as attracting the attention of the police, and kickstarting a wild and radical social movement. Drawing inspiration from James Whale’s 1935 film Bride Of Frankenstein and Mary Shelley’s original 1818 novel, the film promises a unique take on love, loss, identity and womanhood.

The Bride!

Michael

After several delays, a biopic about Michael Jackson, starring the late pop superstar’s nephew, Jaafar Jackson, in the lead role is due for release next autumn. Also starring Nia Long, Laura Harrier, Miles Teller and Colman Domingo, Michael is helmed by Training Day director Antoine Fuqua, who spoke at a San Diego ComicCon about the project in July 2024, saying, “Why I wanted to make it, is Michael. Michael was a big part of my life growing up, a big influence on my career, an incredible artist – but he was a human being, and we’re exploring that. I’m very excited about it.”

Fuqua said the film will feature 30 songs, will have a long runtime, and will address the accusations of child sexual abuse – though a leaked script did prompt criticism that the film tries to discredit the allegations while asserting Jackson’s innocence. This is hardly surprising given that Jackson’s family and estate are heavily involved in the biopic, and early reports claimed that at least one family member of the Jackson family was on set every day.

The film is not going to be unbiased or objective, and will likely spark many conversations about how society treats accusations of abuse when made against powerful people.

Michael Jackson

Frankenstein 

This year, enjoy a double bill of Mary Shelley-inspired works and bask in the glory and horror of creation. After a lifetime of envisioning his own version of Shelley’s classic story, Guillermo del Toro will bring his unique, gothic fantasy stylings to the story of a doctor (Oscar Isaac), who disrupts the natural order by reanimating dead tissue into a new being (Jacob Elordi).

Also starring Mia Goth, Christoph Waltz, and Lars Mikkelson, del Toro brings his lavish artistic imagination to the production design, and much of the film unfolds in the ruins of once-majestic structures, playing with the idea of creation and destruction. The film will be released on Netflix, but will also have a theatrical release for those who want to see the classic sci-fi horror play out on the big screen.

Fréwaka 

Northern Irish academic, writer and director Aislinn Clarke directed the horror The Devil’s Doorway in 2018, which was set in 1960, and told the story of two priests sent by the Vatican to investigate a seemingly miraculous event in an Irish home for ‘fallen women’, only to uncover something much darker. This year she’s taking on an even bigger challenge with Fréwaka, the story of trainee palliative care nurse Shoo (Clare Monnelly), who is sent to a remote village to look after an agoraphobic woman (Bríd Ní Neachtain).

However, Shoo’s past trauma keeps rearing its ugly head, keeping her disoriented from her present. Told in Irish and English and supported by Screen Ireland, the title originates from the Irish word fréamhacha, meaning roots, and will blend atmospheric settings, Irish folklore and psychological horror.

Frewaka

The Blue Road 

The latest documentary from the award-winning Sinead O’Shea focuses on one of the world’s greatest and most charismatic writers, Edna O’Brien. Her books, including The Country Girls, were banned and burned by priests due to their depiction of female desire and sexuality – but that didn’t stop the prolific O’Brien from becoming one of Ireland’s most acclaimed and influential authors.

In both London and New York, meanwhile, she engaged in secret love affairs, threw lavish parties, and amassed and lost a fortune. At the age of 93, in her final year, she opens up her diaries and grants one last interview to O’Shea, reflecting on her remarkable life.

SPECIAL PRICE. The Irish novelist Edna O'Brien pictured in 1970.

Bugonia 

2024 was a mixed year for visionary Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos, whose Poor Things scooped four Oscars, while his anthology film Kinds Of Kindnesses received a more tepid response. But Lanthimos isn’t slowing down, and in 2025, we’ll see his remake of the 2003 South Korean film, Save The Green Planet!

This sci-fi comedy stars Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons and Alicia Silverstone in a tale of two conspiracy theorists who kidnap the CEO of a major pharmaceutical company, convinced she’s an alien hellbent on destroying Earth. With horror director Ari Aster producing as well as Ireland’s own Ed Guiney from Element, Bugonia promises to be a unique, twisted and darkly funny film

Battle Of Baktan Cross

Whenever Paul Thomas Anderson releases a new film, it’s always a major event. Whether your favourite is Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, Licorice Pizza, or any of his other critically acclaimed movies, it’s hard to dispute the director’s impressive track record. It’s even more significant when a filmmaker of his stature unveils their 10th project, which is exactly what Anderson will do in August 2025 with The Battle Of Baktan Cross.

Described as a crime thriller, the film marks Anderson’s biggest budget yet at a reported $115 million, with $20 million of that going to lead star Leonardo DiCaprio. The supporting cast, meanwhile, also includes heavyweights like Regina Hall, Benicio Del Toro, Teyana Taylor and Sean Penn. While some rumours suggest the film could be a loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland, the plot remains under wraps for now.

Nonetheless, anticipation is already at fever pitch for the movie, as audiences look forward to another epic from one of America’s foremost directors