Here it is! The second half of our mammoth preview of films we’re expecting (or hoping) to see hit festivals and cinemas in 2025. Have we missed your most anticipated films? Let us know what you’re excited about on Bluesky.
We were big fans of Danish-Palestinian filmmaker Mahdi Fleifel’s 2012 film A World Not Ours, so we’re very excited to see he’s back with a thrilling tale of displaced Palestinians residing in Athens attempting to secure refugee status in Germany. As hostilities still rage on the west bank, this vital cinematic offering showcases a filmmaker melding political concerns with genre thrills while doing the good work needed to keep conversations about persecution and asylum alive in 2025. David Jenkins
ETA: 14 February
The memory of Michel Hazanavicius’s execrable Redoubtable (a glossy bio of Jean Luc-Godard’s early years with Louis Garrell) still lingers hard, and perhaps even taints our excitement for this new Richard Linklater film about the making of JLG’s Breathless. And yet, seeing some of the early black-and-white set photographs from the film, and the fidelity towards how that era has been documented, makes us feel that Linklater will more likely soar where Hazanavicius crashed and burned. DJ
ETA: To be announced
Patti Cake$ director Geremy Jasper sticks with the musical theme with this rock opera starring Stranger Things and The Whale breakout Sadie Sink, who has a background in musical theatre and is currently starring on Broadway. She’s joined by Kelly Macdonald, Regina Hall, Murray Bartlett and Kelvin Harrison Jr. in this story of a farm girl who travels to a mysterious city in search of a family heirloom. But when she meets her true love, she’s tested even more than she ever imagined. Hannah Strong
ETA: To be announced
The COVID-19 pandemic was five years ago, but like most of us, memories of that challenging time still fester in the mind of modern horror auteur Ari Aster. This has manifested in Eddington, his new horror/western/dark comedy hosting a line-up of hot topic stars such as Pedro Pascal, Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone and Austin Butler. Revolving around a couple stranded in a remote town during the pandemic, prepare to re-experience 2020 hysteria in the style of Hereditary, Midsommar and Beau is Afraid. Barney Nuttall
ETA: To be announced
It’s eight long years since You Were Never Really Here left us reeling, and in the interim several Ramsay projects have been rumoured but ultimately never materialised. We know from experience the Scottish legend likes to take her time, and who are we to rush genius? Luckily we know for sure that her next film is wrapped – production stills of Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson surfaced in late 2024. Her next drama (another literary adaptation) centers on a new mother who starts to lose her grip on reality after the birth of her child. HS
ETA: To be announced
56. Ella McCay (James L. Brooks)
It seems absurd that we haven’t had a James L. Brooks film since 2010’s How Do You Know, but the gods are smiling upon us and the Broadcast News director has returned with this comedy drama, starring Emma Mackey as the titular character, described as “an idealistic young politician who juggles familial issues and a challenging work life while preparing to take over the job of her mentor, the state’s longtime incumbent governor.” Jamie Lee Curtis, Jack Lowden, Woody Harrelson, Rebecca Hall and Ayo Edebiri round out the cast. HS
ETA: To be announced
Cate Blanchett reteams with Jim Jarmusch after last working together on Coffee and Cigarettes all the way back in 2003. Jarmusch described it as ”a funny, sad film”, which focuses on two siblings who reunite with their emotionally distant parents. It sounds very different to his 2019 offbeat zombie comedy The Dead Don’t Die, which got something of a lukewarm reception back at Cannes, but Jarmusch works with Adam Driver for the third time. HS
ETA: To be announced
After being done dirty by Disney with The Marvels, we’re glad to see Nia DaCosta reteaming with Little Woods star Tessa Thompson for an adaptation of Ibsen’s 1812 play Hedda Gebla. Thompson will play the title role, the daughter of a general trapped in a marriage and house she has no interest in. No word yet on how DaCosta will put her spin on Ibsen’s work, which has been adapted various times for the big and small screen, but knowing DaCosta it will be something special. HS
ETA: To be announced
After making Longlegs, marketed as the scariest film of all time, Osgood Perkins has made a sage decision to employ a killer toy monkey in his anticipated follow up. Based on a short story by Stephen King, the film sees Theo James witness a series of gruesome deaths linked to his father’s toy monkey. It may not feature Nicholas Cage dressed like a diseased Marilyn Manson, but an evil, wind-up primate is probably the next best thing. BN
ETA: 21 February
On the one hand, there are lots of filmmakers who are looking back to the classic Universal Monster archive for inspiration, but on the other, when it’s people like Maggie Gyllenhaal, Leigh Whannell and Guillermo del Toro, then it’s really all good. GDT has been posting production images from the 2024 shoot in Edinburgh and has teased his version of Mary Shelley’s lodestone as being a return to the style and intentions of Crimson Peak. Sign. Us. TF. Up. DJ
ETA: To be announced
History will be kind to Chloé Zhao’s Eternals, her eccentric Marvel movie which prized ideas and aesthetics over the usual CG nonsense. Yet it’s still heartening to see that, for her next film, she’s adapting Maggie O’Farrell wildly popular and critically acclaimed historical fiction novel ‘Hamnet’ for her next feature. The story tells of William Shakespeare’s son, who died aged 11, and how the grief experienced by the boy’s parents (played by Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley) ended up being subtly channeled into the work. DJ
ETA: To be announced
Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 kidnap thriller, High and Low, is one of those films that you watch with jaw firmly affixed to the floor. In its storytelling, acting and the way it’s shot, it’s weirdly perfect. Spike Lee doesn’t have great form when it comes to remaking south-east Asian cinema (cf 2013’s Old Boy), but he on a great run at the moment, so we’re fascinated to see what he delivers, especially with Denzel Washington in the role that Toshiro Mifune played so brilliantly in the original. DJ
ETA: To be announced
There’s no place like home, and home for Guy Ritchie is macho action films featuring hard nosed criminals. Henry Cavill and Jake Gyllenhaal are on call as two extraction specialists working to get a senior negotiator to safety, both beefcakes having appeared in recent Ritchie projects. Filmed in the pinnacle locale of the British budget holiday, Tenerife, In the Grey will be all bullets, brawn, and brawling in a fast-paced explosion of epic combat, typical of the cockney gun nut’s style. BN
ETA: To be announced
It seems only natural that action men like Gareth Evans and Tom Hardy would find each other eventually, and they do so with this grim thriller co-starring Timothy Olyphant and Forest Whitaker. Per the logline, Hardy’s bruised detective must fight his way through the seedy criminal underworld of his city to rescue a politician’s son, uncovering a web of corruption in the process. There will almost certainly be blood. Lots of it. HS
ETA: To be announced
Pixar alumni Alexander Wood Erik Benson branch off into their fantastical tale in In Your Dreams, a family-friendly adventure following two children’s search for the mythical Sandman, who they hope will save their parent’s failing marriage. Get your tissues ready, as this tender animation will undoubtedly be a tear-jerker. Craig Robinson, Simu Liu, and breakout star of The Penguin Christin Milioti contribute to this magical adventure born from some of animation’s biggest talents. BN
ETA: To be announced
If brat earned a spot in your Spotify Wrapped list this year, here’s some trivia for you: Charli xcx’s iconic, incessantly memed album artwork was actually inspired by the title credits of Gregg Araki’s 2007 stoner comedy, Smiley Face. It’s a lovely full circle moment of sorts, then, that the pop star is starring in Araki’s upcoming film: an erotic, art world-set thriller in which a young man (Cooper Hoffman, whose screen debut in PTA’s Licorice Pizza wowed us back in 2022) becomes a famous artist’s (Olivia Wilde) sexual muse. It’s also been a whole decade since Araki’s last feature, so it’s safe to say that the anticipation levels for this one are pretty high. Marina Ashoti
ETA: To be announced
Aha! Our very own Alan Partridge (well, Steve Coogan really) is teaming up with a penguin, contributing to the obscure subgenre of men and penguin films. Oscar nominated Full Monty director Peter Cattaneo returns after his domestic choir drama Military Wives with a poignant dramedy about a man’s self discovery in Argentina. Also there’s a penguin. Jonathan Pryce is on hand for an added dose of homeliness while Coogan goes all Dolittle. This is one for the die-hard Mr Popper’s Penguins fans. BN
ETA: 18 April
After co-writing Barbie with his other half Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach has collaborated with Emily Mortimer on his next project, shot in London with a mega cast including George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Eve Hewson, Laura Dern and Jim Broadbent. Plot details are thin on the ground, but considering how great the last Sandler-Baumbach team-up was, we’re keen to see what the next one looks like. HS
ETA: To be announced
One of the soldiers of cinema as a tactile medium, Cornish legend Mark Jenkin quietly shot his follow-up to Enys Men in the summer of 2024, and he brought George McKay along with him for the ride. Little is known about the film at this point, but we will say that we’ve really come around on McKay as a performer, particularly when it comes to his anything-goes attitude and the fact he clearly has a nose for exciting directorial talent. DJ
ETA: To be announced
Mary Bronstein’s lo-fi directorial debut, Yeast, featured a pre-stardom Greta Gerwig – but that was some 17 years ago, so we’re quite excited to see her next film, which stars Rose Byrne as a woman whose life comes crashing down around her as she contends with her child’s mysterious illness, her absent husband, a missing person, and an increasingly hostile relationship with her therapist. The supporting cast is particularly intriguing, with Conan O’Brien, Daniel Zolghadri, Ivy Wolk and A$ap Rocky listed. HS
ETA: To be announced
Adapted from Adam Mars-Jones’ ‘Box Hill’, Harry Lighton’s debut drama made headlines when it was announced A24 had picked up the US distribution rights. Harry Melling stars as a meek young man who embarks on a BDSM relationship with the charismatic, dangerous leader of a biker gang (played by Alexander Skarsgård) who introduces him to the world of kink. Sign us up! HS
ETA: To be announced
After wrapping up his Oslo trilogy with The Worst Person in the World in 2021, Joachim Trier has teamed up with Renate Reinsve again for his English language debut. Co-written with his creative partner Eskil Vogt, the story concerns two sisters who must deal with their estranged father after the death of their mother. The rest of the cast isn’t too shabby either: Cory Michael Smith, Elle Fanning and Stellan Skarsgård as the difficult dad in question. HS
In the 2022 book Peter Hujar’s Day, author Linda Rosenkrantz asked her pal, the photographer Peter Hujar, to write down everything he did in a single day, and now Ira Sachs has adapted that fascinating conceit into a movie. He collaborates once more with Ben Whishaw, who was so, so great in 2023’s Passages, yet this is less a film that’s “quiet: genius at work” and more a study of the ties between art and capital, and the fact that the vast majority of artists in 1960s and ’70s America were living in a state of near-penurary. The film is set to premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, and will go on to play in Berlin after that. DJ
ETA: To be announced
No-one has mentally recovered from the brilliant Decision to Leave, but Park Chan-wook, in an expectedly brutal fashion, is delivering another thriller to twist viewer’s mind. South Korean cinema stalwart Lee Byung-hun features in this social satire where, in a bid to break through the impossibly competitive employment market, a man devises a plan to eliminate his competition. It’s safe to assume his methods won’t be pleasant. Watching a Park Chan-wook film is always bruising and totally captivating; this approach to the infamously impenetrable South Korean job pool will no doubt be both of those things. BN
ETA: To be announced
Spain’s Albert Serra quietly made one of 2024’s greatest films with his bullfighting documentary Afternoons of Solitude, but due to its violent content, it seems unlikely that it’ll show up in UK cinemas. He’s back on grander fictional terrain with Kristen Stewart on hand to tell a story about the political tensions between the US and Russia and how they’ve evolved since the bombardment of Ukraine. As this is the man who made 2022’s Pacifiction, it seems unlikely this’ll be a cut-and-dried spy thriller in the John le Carré mould. DJ
ETA: To be announced
It’s been a long, strange journey for Bong Joon-ho’s much-anticipated Parasite follow-up to make it to release, during which time we’ve heard all sorts of rumours. Studio power struggles, final cut quibbles – it seems absurd that the toast of 2019 has had to wait five years for his next film to see the light of day, but fingers crossed there isn’t another delay this time. The first trailer had supreme Snowpiercer energy, which is a huge plus for me. Robert Pattinson clones causing chaos in space? Who doesn’t want to see this?! HS
ETA: 18 April
With his first two films, Kaili Blues and Long Day’s Journey into Night, we’re fully on board and have a lifetime pass to the Bi Gan train. (Plus the fact he always seems to namecheck Kung Fu Panda in interviews). This new one has been billed as a “sci-fi drama about woman whose consciousness falls into eternal time”, and we can only say we’re excited and intrigued by what is a very open-ended prospect. His last film was in 3D, so expect some added 4DX action with this one. DJ
ETA: To be announced
There has just been a remake/remaster of the classic game, Silent Hill 2, released to plaudits on the Playstation 5, so this feels like good timing for genre journeyman Christoph Gans deliver a sequel to his 2006 Silent Hill. While the game is considered to be the gold standard of horror games, Gans is definitely not a director who has done much of note in his time, so we’re coming to this one with, at best, cautious optimism. DJ
ETA: To be announced
The Safdie Brothers struck gold when they saw a character actor in Adam Sandler, casting him in their adrenaline hurricane Uncut Gems. Now Benny Safdie has his eyes set on Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, morphing him into aggro UFC champion Mark Kerr in this biopic. Like Sandler in Uncut Gems, all eyes will be on how Johnson’s performance compliments Safdie’s kinetic filmmaking. Biopics are generally regarded as bland nowadays, but this strange pairing of action star and indie auteur could elevate this nonfiction narrative above the rest. BN
ETA: To be announced
As readers of Little White Lies will know, we’re massive fans of the Filipino filmmaker who burst into the public eye with her bold, sensual drama, Lingua Franca, in 2019 (even if it did take a while to make it to UK shores!). She has been tinkering with a quixotic dream project called Tropical Gothic for years, but as the parts for that come together, Sandoval has return to the Philippines to make a noir romance where she plays against type as an industrious, opaquely-motivated detective who develops a relationship with a colleague while trying to solve a case of local corruption. With post-production underway now, we have fingers and toes crossed for a Cannes premiere. DJ
ETA: To be announced
The track record for young superstar actors turning their hand to directing is patchy to say the least, but if – like Kristen Stewart – you’ve worked with the likes of Kelly Reichardt and Olivier Assayas, then at least you’ll have gleaned some technique from the best. Stewart has dabbled in music videos from behind the camera, but this is her full feature debut, comprising an adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch’s 2011 memoir, The Chronology of Water. This could go either way, but we’re very excited to see that the great Thora Birch is one of the main cast members. DJ
ETA: To be announced
I’m a little bit flummoxed at the speed of Kristoffer Borgli’s ascent considering how little I enjoyed his breakout film Sick of Myself, but it seems enough people liked that and his English-language debut Dream Scenario that he’s scored a super-starry leading couple in Zendaya and Robert Pattinson for his next film. They star as a couple days away from matrimony, whose plans are derailed by sudden revelations that change how they see each other. HS
ETA: To be announced
Latvian animation director Gints Zilbalodis works with a stripped back digital palette to tell mostly-silent adventure tales bursting at the seams with allegorical richness. Flow takes as its hero a little black cat who, due to a random global catastrophe, must team up with his animal brethren and concoct simple survival methods as the planet is consumed by the elements. We’ve seen it, it’s rousing and ingenious, so definitely one to mark down as a must-see. DJ
ETA: 21 March (UK)
Starring Lily-Rose Depp, Renate Reinsve and Squid Game star, Hoyeon, this erotically-tinged adaptation of Anne Serre’s 2018 novel from Joe Talbot (maker of the impressive The Last Black Man in San Francisco) has been a little up in the air since its original announcement in 2023. But all signs point to it eventually seeing the light of day in 2025, so look out at a festival near you. DJ
ETA: To be announced
This one is going to send legions of fangirls into a tailspin: Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor star as two American sound recordists during World War One who set out to document the stories of their countrymen and find themselves falling in love in the process. Adapted from a Ben Shattuck novella and directed by the excellent Oliver Hermanus, we foresee a glitzy festival debut ahead. HS
ETA: To be announced
One of the busiest men in filmmaking continues to deliver the goods – after a bumper 2024 we can expect to see his next drama soon, starring Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield and Ayo Adibiri, plus Guadagnino alumni Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloë Sevigny. Shot last summer in North London, it focuses on a college professor whose own secretive past comes to the fore after a colleague deals with a serious accusation. As Luca himself giddily relaid to me this very autumn, there’s “no sex, no desire” in this one. We’ll see about that… HS
ETA: To be announced
David Lowry has an eclectic back catalogue, with his most evocative feature being the dark fantasy The Green Knight which featured intricately crafted costumes. To then see that his next pursuit is a costume drama with Anne Hathaway and breakout Euphoria cast member Hunter Schafer draws the eye. This drama about a relationship between a musician and fashion designer does nothing to narrow Lowry’s varied back catalogue, instead reiterating his exciting genre-hopping ability. BN
ETA: To be announced
Kelly Reichardt and Josh O’Connor seem like a match made in heaven. Add in the words “heist movie set during the Vietnam war co-starring Alana Haim and John Magaro” and we could not be more seated. Other details are thin on the ground, but we know our friends at Mubi are producing and distributing this one, and we’re hoping it turns up on the 2025 festival circuit with a bigger fanfare than her underrated 2022 dramedy Showing Up. HS
ETA: To be announced
It’s become an annual tradition to put Terence Malick’s Jesus biopic on our annual preview list and we will keep doing so until it turns up. The title has changed from The Way of the Wind, Hungarian actor Géza Röhrig is playing the big JC himself, and Mark Rylance has mentioned he’s playing various versions of Satan. All of Jesus’s disciples are expected to feature, including Matthias Schoenarts as Saint Peter and Aiden Turner as Saint Andrew. Ben Kingsley, Douglas Booth and Franz Rogowski are on the rumoured cast list too, but it’s important to remember anyone can end up missing the final cut when it comes to Malick. Just as long as he didn’t can this guy. We now have some more plot details courtesy of Röhrig, as detailed by The Film Stage, who report that the film concerns “Peter wanting Jesus to become politically involved in stopping Roman oppression and Jesus not believing he should.” HS
ETA: To be announced
Since season three of The Bear was a bit of a damp squib, audiences’ hunger for a culinary pot-boiler remains unsated. Alonso Ruizpalacios’ appears to serve the desired hot plate of stress in La Cocina, a drama set in a chaotic Times Square kitchen with Raúl Briones and Rooney Mara. Shot in monochrome, there’s more than just adrenaline on offer as we see the kitchen staff strive for that ol’ chestnut The American Dream. It certainly pleased festival juries, taking an armful of awards last year. BN
ETA: 28 March (UK)
Keep your eyes on Sundance 2025 if you want to see the early word on this remake of Ang Lee’s scintillating 1993 film of the same name, though we must say that director Andrew Ahn has a mountain to climb if he wants to trump the classic original. The story, about a young Chinese man coming out to his parents at his green card wedding, stars Bowen Yang in the lead and has the great Lily Gladstone on hand for supporting detail. DJ
ETA: To be announced
This may be the only franchise which deserves countless iterations. While Glass Onion saw Rian Johnson take Daniel Craig’s Kentucky-fried detective Benoit Blanc to a sunny Greek island, this time the master sleuth will be in a darker, gothic locale. The cast is stacked as per, including but not limited to Cailee Spaeny, Josh Brolin, Andrew Scott, Josh O’Connor and Glenn Close, and Blanc has been given a rugged makeover befitting the film’s creepier vibe. The characters are in place, traps are set, and audiences are eager to unpack another murderous mystery. BN
ETA: To be announced
There was a brief sneak peek at Laika’s next project during their recent BFI exhibition, but the animation studio are famously tight-lipped about what they’re working on. Nevertheless, a new Laika film is definitely worth getting excited about, especially when it’s got a cast including Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Awkafina and Tom Waits. Youngster Peyton Elizabeth Lee plays the main character Prue McKeel, who sets off on a perilous journey into the forests outside Portland in search of her kidnapped brother. HS
ETA: To be announced
Cinematic discourse is usually dominated by brash action blockbusters or scream-inducing horror films. So when a tender romance about the fragility of relationships and life makes a lot of noise, you know you have something special. Celine Song’s Oscar nominated debut feature Past Lives made waves upon release, so the pressure is on for her second film. But with Hollywood heavyweights Pedro Pascal, Chris Evans and Dakota Johnson on set, Song looks prepared to deliver another heartbreaking exploration of love and loss. We are seated and buckled in. BN
ETA: To be announced
We’ve left this one to the end, but in terms of excitement levels, this is one that Team LWLies are going to place all the chips on. Mia Hansen-Løve is one of the best in the business, and though her stock in trade is sensitive, philosophical, quietly radical French character studies, she’s turning her camera towards renowned English feminist Mary Wollstonecraft for the upcoming If Love Should Die. It has been classed in the trade papers as a “biopic”, but we’re sure Hansen-Løve will do something exciting with that moribund form. DJ
ETA: To be announced
The Safdie Bros might have parted creative ways after Uncut Gems, but they’ve certainly not stopped working. While Benny has The Smashing Machine coming up, older brother Josh has the much-hyped Marty Supreme, which sees him work with Safdie fanboy Timothée Chalamet from a script co-written by Safdie and long-time collaborator Ronald Bronstein. It’s a period piece about a 1950s table tennis pro, but a Josh Safdie period piece is hardly likely to be a Merchant Ivory Affair. Gwyneth Paltrow, Tyler the Creator and Odessa A’zion co-star. HS
ETA: To be announced
Amalia Ulman’s debut feature El Planeta was a highlight of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, so it’s exciting to learn her sophomore feature is on the way, with a cast including Chloë Sevigny, Simon Rex, Alex Wolff and Amalia herself. Per Sundance, where the film will premiere, “A media crew mistakenly ends up in the wrong country while trying to profile a musician. As they collaborate with locals to create a viral trend, relationships form amid an unfolding health crisis.” HS
ETA: To be announced
How’s this for a cast: Austin Butler, Zoë Kravitz, Regina King, Matt Smith, Griffin Dunne and Bad Bunny star in Darren Aronofsky’s crime thriller, based on the book of the same name by Charlie Huston. Butler plays a former baseball player who finds himself wrapped up in New York’s criminal underbelly in the 1990s. It’s a big year for Butler, who is also set to star in Luca Guadagnino’s “readaptation” of American Psycho, filling Christian Bale’s considerable shoes. HS
ETA: To be announced
It feels like a lifetime since Trey Edward Shultz made waves with Waves, but he’ll be back this year with a pretty starry collaboration with The Weeknd, described as “an extension of the anticipated album of the same title which stands alongside the film’s score by The Weeknd and Daniel Lopatin.” The musician stars alongside Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan. HS
ETA: To be announced
We were big fans of Michael Pearce’s eerie debut Beast, which also brought Jessie Buckley and Johnny Flynn into the mainstream. His sophomore film, Encounter was a bit of a disappointment, but he’s assembled a very exciting cast for film number three: Julianne Moore plays a horse trainer living in Pennsylvania’s Echo Valley, whose daughter returns home one day covered in someone else’s blood. The underrated Domhnall Gleeson provides an air of menace as a local thug with an axe to grind. Fuck us up, Michael! HS
ETA: To be announced
