James Cameron has kindly decided to give us a mental-health break from the increasingly dreary Avatar sequence until 2029, leaving Christmas 2026 to the first of Greta Gerwig’s Chronicles of Narnia films and the last of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune sequence.
They have competition from Robert Downey jnr’s return to the Marvelverse as Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday (also in December). The plot is “under wraps,” but expect end-credits hints and nudges from Spider-Man: Brand New Day, in late July.
Other franchise heavy-hitters include The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (November), the live-action remake of Moana (July), The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (April), Toy Story 5 (June) and Scary Movie 6 (June).
And when, you may ask, are we to expect Untitled Fast and Furious sequel? The project that was first stalled during the Hollywood strikes of 2023, and promised for summer 2026, has moved (and moved again). You will have to wait until April 2027 at the earliest to hear Vin Diesel stress the importance of family between car rides. Until then, buckle up for our 50 films to see in the year ahead.
[ The 50 best films of 2025 – a full list in reverse orderOpens in new window ]
Ancestors
The screenwriter David Turpin makes his directorial debut with an odyssey into what it means to be young, beautiful, different and in mortal danger. Éanna Hardwicke, Rupert Everett and Christina Hendricks star in this Irish release. Date to be announced
At the Sea
Kornél Mundruczó, the film-maker behind White God and Pieces of a Woman, directs Amy Adams as a woman who returns to her family’s coastal home after completing rehab and struggles to rebuild her life. Jenny Slate and Rainn Wilson also star. To be announced
Bitter Christmas
Pedro Almodóvar returns with a less-starry, sun-drenched holiday drama blending grief, desire and cinematic reflection. Advertising executive Elsa struggles to cope with her mother’s death during a long December in Lanzarote with a friend. To be announced
The Bride!
Maggie Gyllenhaal reimagines the Frankenstein myth as a musical set in Al Capone’s Chicago. Christian Bale’s Creature gains a resurrected companion played by Jessie Buckley. Due in cinemas on March 6th
Celtic Utopia
Dennis Harvey and Lars Loven take a deep dive into Ireland’s vibrant folk scene with humour, heart and political consciousness. Their documentary probes the music as a reflection of Ireland’s colonial past and as a force for shaping the future. Punctuated by performances from top Irish artists, including The Mary Wallopers, Poor Creature and Eimear Nic Ionnrachtaigh. To be announced
Chasing Summer
The inventive Josephine Decker, director of the cult faves Shirley and Madeline’s Madeline, returns with a snapshot of a young woman in crisis. After losing both her job and boyfriend, Jamie (Iliza Shlesinger) returns to her Texas hometown, where friends and reminders of past flings add to growing discombobulation. To be announced
The Chronology of Water
Kristen Stewart makes an uncompromising directorial debut with this hard-hitting adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch’s memoir. Imogen Poots plays Lidia, whose path from childhood trauma and alcoholism towards healing is shaped by swimming and writing. February 6th
Dead Man’s Wire
Gus Van Sant returns with a tense retelling of a notorious hostage standoff in 1977. Bill Skarsgard plays Tony Kiritsis, a volatile Indiana man who held his dodgy mortgage broker captive for days, sparking a media frenzy. Dacre Montgomery co-stars alongside Al Pacino in a story echoing the chaotic energy of Dog Day Afternoon. March 20th
The Death of Robin Hood
Writer-director Michael Sarnoski (Pig, A Quiet Place: Day One) casts Hugh Jackman as cinema’s most swashbuckling hero. His merry band includes Jodie Comer, Bill Skarsgard and Murray Bartlett. Production in Northern Ireland concluded in early 2025. To be announced
The Devil Wears Prada 2
Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci return to the much-loved fashion-world franchise to teach us the true meaning of cerulean. May 1st
The Dog Stars
Ridley Scott adapts Peter Heller’s postapocalyptic novel that follows a pilot and a former marine navigating a ravaged world after a deadly virus. Jacob Elordi and Josh Brolin are among the survivors. March 27th
The Drama
Zendaya and Robert Pattinson headline this mysterious Ari Aster-produced romantic comedy for A24 from Kristoffer Borgli. The story follows a couple whose relationship unravels in shocking developments just before their wedding. April 3rd
Dune: Part 3
Denis Villeneuve concludes his bombastic adaptation of Frank Herbert’s saga with an adaptation of the author’s Dune Messiah. Timothée Chalamet returns as Paul Atreides, now an embattled ruler facing new threats, including Robert Pattinson’s shape-shifting antagonist, Scytale. December 18th
The Entertainment System Is Down
Arriving after Force Majeure and Triangle of Sadness, Ruben Östlund’s new aeroplane-set film triangulates a trilogy of holidays-from-hell pictures. Keanu Reeves and Kirsten Dunst star. Expect a Cannes debut. To be announced
The Exit 8
In this Cannes-selected adaptation of the iconic video game, a lone man navigates a looping underpass growing ever more nightmarish. Tense, kinetic and meticulously designed, the film transforms interactive horror into cinematic spectacle. April 3rd
Father Mother Sister Brother
Jim Jarmusch’s portmanteau drama, an unexpected winner of the Golden Lion at Venice, explores familial bonds. Tom Waits’s section is tremendous. An underpowered Irish episode features Cate Blanchett and Charlotte Rampling. A lovely thing nonetheless. To be announced
I Love Boosters
Following on from the wild and brilliant Sorry to Bother You, the rapper turned film-maker Boots Riley skewers the fashion industry and hypercapitalism with a sci-fi satire about a crew of stylish shoplifters, led by Keke Palmer getting revenge on Demi Moore’s chief executive. May 22nd
I Want Your Sex
The great Gregg Araki, the off-centre mind behind films such as Mysterious Skin, returns with a surely provocative erotic thriller. Cooper Hoffman lands his dream job as a sexual muse for Olivia Wilde’s erotic artist. To be announced
I Will Forget Your Name
The team behind the 2018 erotic murder mystery Knife + Heart – director Yann Gonzalez, star Vanessa Paradise, musicians M83 – reunite for a modern take on the Italian giallo horror genre. To be announced
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Rose Byrne won best actor at Berlin International Film Festival for playing a fraught mother in this heart-pounding drama. An ill daughter, home repairs and blurred perception of reality lead to obsessive spirals, dark humour and the most nerve-shredding film since Uncut Gems. February 20th
Is God Is
Aleshea Harris adapts her acclaimed play into a ferocious revenge sequence as twin sisters, played by Kara Young and Mallori Johnson, pursue the father who scarred them. Janelle Monáe and Vivica A Fox also star. May 15th
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
A whimsical, magical-realist coming-of-age animated adaptation of Amélie Nothomb’s novel. Born in a vegetative state to a Belgian family in Japan, Amélie awakens after an earthquake and struggles to understand her surroundings. Guided by her beloved nanny Nishio and grandmother Claude, she learns language, forms bonds and suspects she might be a god. February 13th
The Love That Remains
Hlynur Pálmason follows the sombre, religious misadventures of Godland with this surreal Icelandic dramedy exploring a year in the life of a family navigating parental separation. Watch out for the giant rooster and an errant knight. March 13th
Michael
Antoine Fuqua chronicles Michael Jackson’s rise from child prodigy to global icon with nephew Jaafar Jackson as the king of pop. Colman Domingo and Nia Long play the singer’s parents in a production with estate support. April 24th
The Moment
Charli XCX joins the director Aidan Zamiri for a tongue-in-cheek hybrid mockumentary, tour film and celebrity self-portrait. Blurring performance and persona, the project follows the singer’s welcome rise after Brat, poking fun at the absurdities of pop culture. Expect a certain artist to release a rival mockumentary on the same day. January 30th
Mother Mary
David Lowery, director of A Ghost Story, swerves into psychosexual musical horror. Mary (Anne Hathaway), a pop singer, and Sam (Michaela Coel), a fashion designer, have a torrid affair as Mary seeks a dress for her tour. Hunter Schafer, FKA Twigs and Kaia Gerber round off the voguish cast. April
The Mummy
The Irish director Lee Cronin made a splash at home with The Hole in the Ground and abroad with Evil Dead Rise. Now he takes on the classic Universal monster of the title under the Blumhouse banner. Jack Reynor and LAIA Costa star. April 17th
My Father’s Shadow
Akinola Davies jnr’s drama, the first Nigerian film to premiere in the Cannes official selection, explores family, memory and cultural inheritance. A young man returns to Lagos after his father’s death with his sometimes too observant sons. February 6th
Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew
Greta Gerwig brings her witty house style to Narnia’s origin story. Emma Mackey, Daniel Craig and Meryl Streep lead this prequel to CS Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. November 26th
Nouvelle Vague
Richard Linklater’s homage to the French new wave. Archival re-creations, metatextual commentary, playful dramatisations and a sprawling ensemble cast make for charming cinephile comedy. January 30th
The Odyssey
Christopher Nolan tackles Homer’s epic with Matt Damon as Odysseus and an enormous ensemble cast. Shot entirely on Imax, the film reportedly blends animatronics and large-scale practical effects to conjure mythical beasts and ancient worlds. July 17th
Onslaught
Adam Wingard’s dystopian epic follows a rebellion against a mechanised totalitarian state. Expect the unexpected with the director of The Guest and recent Godzilla movies. Rebecca Hall and Dan Stevens star. To be announced
Orphan
Historical drama from the Oscar-winning Laszlo Nemes. Set in 1957 Budapest, the film follows Andor (Bojtorjan Barabas), a young boy still waiting for his Jewish father’s return and reckoning with his mother’s compromised survival during the second World War. Hungary’s Academy Award submission features images that leave you wondering, How did they do that? To be announced
Paper Tiger
James Gray’s crime drama follows two brothers, played by Adam Driver and Miles Teller, happily chasing the American dream until they get mixed up with the Russian mafia. Scarlett Johansson also stars. To be announced
Practical Magic 2
Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman return, after 28 years, as the Owens sisters for another witchy adventure, based on Alice Hoffman’s The Book of Magic. Susanne Bier directs, with Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing also reprising their roles. September 18th
The President’s Cake
In 1990s Iraq, during the reign of Saddam Hussein, nine-year-old Lamia must gather scarce ingredients to bake a mandatory cake for the president’s birthday or face punishment at school. She runs away with her friend Saeed. Granny sets out to find her. To be announced
Project Hail Mary
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, creators of The Lego Movie, direct their first feature since 22 Jump Street. The science-fiction epic, adapted from Andy Weir’s novel, stars Ryan Gosling as an astronaut who wakes up alone on a deep-space vessel with no memory, only to realise he is the last surviving member of a mission to save Earth. Sandra Hüller and Ken Leung are also among the cast. March 20th
Romería
Carla Simón’s gorgeous autobiographical fantasy, set in 2004, follows an orphaned young woman as she travels to Vigo, in northern Spain, to seek information about her biological father, who died from Aids. His family have many secrets. To be announced
Rose of Nevada
The Cornish auteur Mark Jenkin’s latest follows a fishing vessel that drifts back into a harbour 30 years after disappearing. George MacKay and Callum Turner board in search of work but are pulled into a temporal rift, returned to the past and mistaken for the lost crew. The film’s haunting loops and uncanny reappearances echo Mark Fisher’s notions of the eerie and the weird. April 24th
Silent Friend
This enchanting film from the Hungarian auteur Ildiko Enyedi observes Tony Leung Chiu-wai’s lonely academic, Luna Wedler’s trailblazing 19th-century feminist and a lovelorn 1970s student, all from the perspective of an ageing tree. Luna Wedler won best actress at Venice for her turn. To be announced
Sirat
Óliver Laxe’s incredible desert misadventure follows a father and son searching for a missing daughter among nomadic ravers in southern Morocco. Reflective, mystical and punctuated by surprises, the film examines trauma, spirituality and endurance to the huge sounds of Kangding Ray’s pounding score. March 6th
The Social Reckoning
Aaron Sorkin, 16 years after his screenplay for David Fincher’s The Social Network, revisits Facebook, this time focusing on the whistleblower Frances Haugen and her battle to expose the platform’s hidden research. Jeremy Strong plays Mark Zuckerberg; Jeremy Allen White portrays the reporter Jeff Horwitz. Sorkin now directs. October 9th
The Sound of Falling
Deserving winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes 2025, Mascha Schilinski’s epic second feature follows four girls from different historical periods – shortly before the first World War, at the end of the second World War, in East Germany in the 1980s, and in the early 21st century – living in the same huge house. March 6th
Stop! That! Train!
RuPaul leads a drag-powered disaster comedy directed by Adam Shankman. Queens including Ginger Minj, Jujubee and Symone play train stewardesses caught in a chaotic “Stormaganza”. May 29th
The Stranger
With his adaptation of Albert Camus’s existential classic, François Ozon interrogates absurdity, alienation and mortality in ravishing monochrome re-creations of 1940s Algeria. Benjamin Voisin is a revelation in the central role. April 10th
The Testament of Ann Lee
Mona Fastvold, co-writer of Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, directs a knockout historical musical on the grandest of scales. Expect award nominations for Amanda Seyfried’s career-best performance as Ann Lee, the 18th-century founder of the Shaker sect. The tunes and choreography are good, too. February 20th
Tony
Biopic, from A24, chronicling Anthony Bourdain’s life, travels and culinary philosophy. Featuring Dominic Sessa, the breakout star of The Holdovers, and Antonio Banderas. Matt Johnson, director of The Dirties and Blackberry, is at the helm. To be announced
Werwulf
The band is back together. Robert Eggers ventures into medieval horror with Aaron Taylor-Johnson as a fearsome werewolf. Set in a stark 13th-century landscape, the film reunites Lily-Rose Depp and Willem Dafoe. January 1st, 2027
Wizards!
David Michôd’s stoner-comedy chaos follows two dope-smoking beach-bar operators – played by Pete Davidson and Franz Rogowski – who stumble into a stolen bag of money. Orlando Bloom also stars. To be announced
Wuthering Heights
Emerald Fennell’s (apparently) profane, impressionistic take on Emily Brontë’s novel, with Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie as the doomed lovers Heathcliff and Catherine, is already the most talked-about movie of 2026. Detractors have bemoaned the (racially and chronologically) inaccurate casting. Others have required smelling salts to cope with the anachronistic wedding dress. February 13th
All dates are subject to change