IBC is just around the corner and Adobe has made a big announcement for Premiere Pro users:
Adobe has acquired Film Impact
IMHO, this is one of the biggest pieces of news for Premiere editors in quite awhile: Adobe has acquired Film Impact and the Film Impact collection of transitions, effects and tools will be a part of this 25.5 update. This update should begin rolling out around Friday, September 12. Previously, Film Impact was a monthly subscription running between $15 and $30 per month but with Adobe acquisition it appears Film Impact will be a part of everyone’s install and Creative Cloud subscription. That’s “more than 90 new transitions, effects, and animations” and will be a huge update for any Premiere editor. Some of you might already have a Film Impact tool installed as Film Impact has offered a free cross dissolve plug-in for years that is a much, much better alternative to Premiere’s built-in (and default) cross dissolve. Yes you had to download the full Film Impact package to get the free cross dissolve but it showed you just how good these tools were (are).
I think this is big news. The Film Impact tools have always been very well built and some of the best available. They are fast, easy to tweak and the look really good. The controls are also well thought out and you can get great results with minimal results. If you did deep and learn them well you can do a lot with their tools. Having access to the team that build these tools should be a great resource for Adobe. I look forward to see what is to come.
This is the Film Impact effects list as of a recent September 2025 update. Let’s compare this to the list when PPro 25.5 ships.
I’ve used the Film Impact tools for years. It used to be a single purchase license but went subscription a few years ago. While I don’t think most people used the majority of what was in the package, there is more than just flashy transitions as there are tools for text and animation among other things. I’m guessing Adobe wanted more overall “flashy” options build into Premiere Pro, considering their big push into the content creator side of media production (and CapCut always looming in the distance) so this Film Impact acquisition should help with that.
One of my favorite things about the Film Impact effect has always been the Surpise Me button. It randomizes the controls for an effect or transition and can give you some cool effects. It’s fun to play with.
I’m really excited about this Film Impact acquisition and including this for current first subscribers is a nice feature addition. I’ve often found myself avoiding the Film Impact tools when working with other editors because not everyone subscribes to the collection. This should remedy that issue and hopefully prompts some holdouts to update to 25.5.
If you’re a current Film Impact subscriber (as I am) I think we can expect an announcement soon from Film Impact about current customers and our current subscriptions. As of this posting the Film Impact About Us page doesn’t even mention Adobe’s acquisition so stay tuned for an announcement from Film Impact themselves (I would assume).
Also, a snapper timeline
The other big improvement This continued work on the timeline as far as snappiness and response time goes. The less latency you perceive while working in the timeline, the faster you can work, and Adobe has been improving timeline speed overall in the last couple of versions. 25.5 is no exception.
I like that when I pickup and move an audio clip I can now see the waveforms, markers and volume rubber bands as I move it.
And here’s the quick hit bullet points of all the announcements, including some After Effects and Frame.io news:
Premiere Pro: Access to more than 90 new modern effects, transitions and animations at no extra cost, along with live audio waveforms and quality-of-life enhancements
After Effects: New, Quick Offset tool allows you to highlight and shift the positions of multiple keyframes or layers with one simple click-and-drag
Frame.io: New features for more control, including: ability to organize assets with account-level metadata, automate creative workflows with APIs and low-code/no-code connectors, add captions in seconds, and enterprise-grade security for sharing