The ham has been eaten, the presents have been unwrapped, the naps have been taken; it’s that blissful moment between Christmas and New Year’s Eve where time takes a back seat.
The soaring mercury has you craving the cool, dark sanctuary of the cinema. But what to see? The buzzy arthouse awards-season hopeful? The thrilling, psychological book adaptation? The one with the big snake?
You’ve done enough thinking this year — here’s our guide to the new movies in cinemas this Boxing Day.
Anaconda
Large parts of Anaconda (2025) were filmed in the lush rainforests of Queenland’s Scenic Rim. (Supplied: Sony Pictures)
Starring: Paul Rudd, Jack Black, Steve Zahn, Thandie Newton
Directed by: Tom Gormican
What’s it about?: You’ve heard of a remake, you’ve heard of a reboot but how about a reboot that contains a remake in it. That’s the kind of meta hijinks going on in the new Anaconda, aping off from the 1997 cult horror classic.
Anaconda (2025) sees Griff (Paul Rudd), a struggling background actor, convince his bestie Doug (Jack Black) to remake 1997’s Anaconda on a shoestring budget. Deep in the Amazon jungle (actually the Gold Coast hinterland!), their prop snake is ruined. No matter, though, because a real six-metre serpent has been tracking the group for a while and is more than happy to give them the gory footage they need.
Perfect for: Getting older teens off their small screen and onto the bigger screen.
Orwell: 2+2=5
Orwell: 2+2=5 follows how the author’s prophetic writing has manifested over the last 80 years. (Getty)
Narrated by: Damian Lewis
Directed by: Raoul Peck
What’s it about?: The internet watched in horror in December as the first trailer for Andy Serkis’s 2025 adaptation George Orwell’s 1945 novella dropped. Serkis’s version Pixarified the political allegory, complete with fart jokes, villains that aren’t corrupt pigs and … sports cars?
Safe to say, there’s no better time to brush up on the author that predicted most of the 2020s than right now. Enter Orwell: 2+2=5, from Oscar-nominated documentarian Raoul Peck (I Am Not Your Negro). Focusing on Animal Farm and 1984, Orwell’s revered look into the depths of an oppressive surveillance state, Peck uses archival footage to investigate how the early 20th century authoritarianism Orwell was reacting to reverberated into many of the conflicts of the 21st century.
Perfect for: Getting a head start on the 2026 political climate
Rental Family
“I think the takeaway is that you’re enough, and you always were,” actor Brendan Fraser says of his latest movie, Rental Family. (Supplied: Searchlight Pictures)
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Takehiro Hira, Mari Yamamoto, Shannon Mahina Gorman
Directed by: Hikari
What’s it about?:
In Rental Family,everyone’s favourite movie star Brendan Fraser is Phillip, a US expat living in Japan and just about ready to give up on his flailing acting career.
Brendan Fraser makes the case for human connection in Rental Family
That is until he scores a gig with a rental family agency as a “token white guy” ready to pretend to be a son, brother, partner or just someone to hang out with. Things get sticky when Phillip is assigned to play the father of 11-year-old Mia to help the tween get into a prestigious middle school.
Director Hikari (Beef), opens up the unique beauty of Tokyo the more Phillip and Mia bond while tackling the tricky ethics of rented companionship in a country dying of loneliness. Set to a breathtaking score from Alex Somers and Siger Rós’s Jónsi, Rental Family relishes in its own unabashed sentimentality and rejects any and all cynicism.
Perfect for: Anyone that needs a little more hope for humanity
Sentimental Value
Sentimental Value reunites Renate Reinsve with director Joachim Trier. (Suppled: Cannes)
Starring: Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Elle Fanning
Directed by: Joachim Trier
What’s it about?: If you’re an awards season fiend then you’ll want to keep a close eye on Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, which has been surrounded by Best Picture buzz since it dropped to a 19-minute standing ovation at Cannes Film Festival.
The dramedy reunites Trier with Renate Reinsve, who won Best Actress at Cannes 2021 for her breakthrough performance in the director’s last feature The Worst Person in the World.
Reinsve stars as Nora, an actor estranged from her famous director father (Stellan Skarsgård), who tries to get back in her good books by offering her a part in his comeback project. But family drama arises when Nora turns the role down only for Dad to pass the gig to an eager Hollywood up-and-comer (Elle Fanning).
Perfect for: Impressing your film-obsessed relative
The Housemaid
Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried battle it out in The Housemaid. (Supplied: STUDIOCANAL Australia)
Starring: Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried, Brandon Sklenar
Directed by: Paul Feig
What’s it about?: Director Paul Feig struck gold in 2018 with A Simple Favour, a pulpy murder mystery based on Darcey Bell’s 2017 novel that embraced its own outrageousness.
The comedy great might have done it again again with The Housemaid, adapted from Frieda McFadden’s 2022 bestseller. In Feig’s version Sydney Sweeney plays Millie, a shy 20-something desperate for work. She catches a break in the form of suburban goddess Nina (Amanda Seyfried), who’s willing to overlook the gaps in Millie’s CV to hire her as a live-in housekeeper.
But as Millie ingratiates herself into Nina’s family, alongside husband Andrew (Brandon Sklenar) and young daughter, the cracks in their white-picket-fence facade start to show.
Perfect for: A cheeky girl’s catch-up squeezed into the last days of the year.
The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants
SpongeBob and co. are still having adventures more than a quarter century after the original television series premiered. (Supplied: Paramount)
Starring: Tom Kenny, Clancy Brown, Rodger Bumpass, Bill Fagerbakke
Directed by: Derek Drymon
What’s it about?: Hey Millennial parents, remember the excitable sponge that soundtracked your after school viewing? He’s back to entertain the next generation of sprogs in what is SpongeBob’s fourth return to the silver screen.
Search for SquarePants sees everyone’s favourite burger-flipper (Tom Kenny) accidentally summon evil pirate The Flying Dutchman who whisks SpongeBob off to the Underworld. Sensing their friend and his starry companion (Bill Fagerbakke) are in danger, Mr Krabs (Clancy Brown), Squidward (Rodger Bumpass) and Gary the Snail set sail to save their friends.
This set of Bikini Bottom mates might look a little more round than you’re used to due to director Derek Drymon drawing inspiration from kitschy ’60s plastic toys rather than a flat, 2D sponge. The other change is that this SpongeBob movie might actually entertain adults as well? It’s currently the highest-rated SpongeBob movie on both Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, INCLUDING the 2004 original (and that had David Hasselhoff in it).
Perfect for: Keeping a hoard of out-of-school children settled for 90 minutes.