Kevin Wozniak
I’ve been doing these summer movie preview pieces for the last couple of years, highlighting twenty intriguing films coming out during the summer movie season (beginning of May through end of August). I choose twenty films each year so that I can highlight the diverse films coming out during that summer season, and not just make a list of the big-budget blockbusters we’ve come to expect while going to the movies in the summer. The past two summers, getting to twenty was a bit of a stretch, and I was forced to include films that I wasn’t super excited about.
When choosing the most exciting movies coming out in summer 2025, I did not face the same problem. There are so many interesting and exciting titles coming out this summer that I had to cut some to narrow the list down. Movies like Darren Aronofsky’s Caught Stealing, Trey Edwards Shults’ Hurry Up Tomorrow, the Bob Odenkirk-starring Nobody 2, and this year’s Sundance darling Sorry, Baby were ultimately left off the list. That’s not to say you shouldn’t see those, but rather the twenty films I’ve listed are a great combination of blockbusters, sequels, indies, and Oscar contenders.
This is the most excited I have been for the summer movie season this decade. It’s a spoil of riches that offers something for everyone. From big-budget superhero movies to potential Oscar players and original films, kids, adults, art house fans, and average moviegoers can all find something they’ll want to see. Summer 2025 also looks like a big summer for horror films, sequels, A24, and Pedro Pascal, who stars in three of the films I have listed. This feels like a pre-pandemic summer and one of those “we’re so back” summers we’ve all been waiting for. Here are my picks for the most exciting summer 2025 movies.
Thunderbolts* (May 2)
Marvel kicks off the summer movie season with their star-studded Thunderbolts*. Sebastian Stan, Florence Pugh, and David Harbour lead a ragtag group of unconventional antiheroes on a dangerous mission to save the world. The marketing for the film has been really fun, the cast is great, and Marvel is trying to rebound after mixed reviews and the underwhelming box office of Captain America: Brave New World. I have hope that this will be a stellar beginning to a huge summer.
Final Destination: Bloodlines (May 16)
The iconic horror franchise makes its return after fourteen years to once again show us insane and ridiculous ways people can die. This is one of my favorite horror franchises and will be a great sendoff for the late Tony Todd.
Lilo & Stitch (May 23)
The beloved 2002 film about an adorable but rambunctious alien who gets adopted by a young Hawaiian girl following the death of her parents is the latest Disney animated film to get a live-action remake. Following in the footsteps of the disastrous Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which was ultimately a critical and box office disappointment and with live-action remakes like Moana, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Robin Hood, and Tangled waiting in the wings, Lilo & Stitch looks to get Disney live-action remakes back on track.
Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning (May 23)
Is this the last time we’ll see Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt? All of the marketing and the title suggest it might be. If it is, you know Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie are going to take Hunt and his Impossible Mission team out in the biggest and most exciting way imaginable.
Bring Her Back (May 30)
Following their 2023 horror sensation Talk to Me, directors Danny and Michael Philippou team up once again with A24 to bring us a horror movie about a brother and sister who uncover a terrifying ritual at the secluded home of their new foster mother. One of the most intriguing titles coming out this summer, it will be interesting to see how the Philippou brothers follow up Talk to Me. Are they the real deal or a one-hit wonder? I can’t wait to find out.
The Phoenician Theory (May 30)
The newest film from Wes Anderson looks at a wealthy businessman, Zsa-zsa Korda (Benicio Del Toro), who appoints his only daughter (Mia Threapleton), a nun, as sole heir to his estate. As Korda embarks on a new enterprise, they soon become the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists, and determined assassins. Playing in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, The Phoenician Theory is the most Oscar-buzzy title coming out this summer.
From the World of John Wick: Ballerina (June 6)
Taking place between the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum and John Wick: Chapter 4, Ballerina looks at Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas), a ballerina-assassin, as she begins to train in the assassin traditions of the Ruska Roma and sets out to exact revenge for her father’s death. Despite some conflicting stories about reshoots and John Wick director Chad Stahelski overseeing a lot of the film, Ballerina still looks badass, with enough bone-crushing, blood-spattering fight sequences to satisfy even the biggest John Wick fans.
Life of Chuck (June 6)
Mike Flanagan returns to the big screen for the first time since 2019’s Doctor Sleep for The Life of Chuck, an adaptation of Stephen King’s fantastical short story about three chapters in the life of an ordinary man named Charles Krantz. Boasting a stellar cast including Tom Hiddleston, Karen Gillan, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Matthew Lillard, Mia Sara, Nick Offerman, and Mark Hamill, The Life of Chuck won the prestigious Audience Award at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, a good sign for the quality and its award chances.
How to Train Your Dragon (June 13)
Universal takes a stab at making a live-action remake of one of their classic animated films with How to Train Your Dragon. Early word of the film following a screening at this year’s CinemaCon has been very positive, with many critics and fans praising the visuals and emotion of the film. Though live-action remakes of animated movies have become sour to viewers, the duo of How to Train Your Dragon and Lilo & Stitch might turn it around.
Materialists (June 13)
Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal, and Chris Evans star in this romantic comedy from writer/director Celine Song. The film follows a successful matchmaker (Johnson) whose lucrative business is complicated when she falls into a toxic love triangle that threatens her clients. Song’s 2023 debut Past Lives was one of the best films of that year and one of the best romance movies of the decade, and seeing her work in a similar genre with this stacked cast has me ecstatic.
28 Years Later (June 20)
Danny Boyle’s 2003 28 Days Later was a terrifying, expertly made zombie film that reinvented the genre. With 28 Years Later, Boyle reteams with Alex Garland, who wrote 28 Days Later, to give us an update on the survivors of the rage virus. Starring Jodi Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jack O’Connell, and Ralph Fiennes, this is my most anticipated sequel and horror movie of the summer.
Elio (June 20)
Pixar bounced back in a big way in 2024 with Inside Out 2 becoming the highest-grossing animated film of all time domestically and being nominated for Best Animated Feature Film at the Academy Awards. They hope to continue that success with their newest film Elio. Directed by the teams that brought us Coco and Turning Red (two of Pixar’s best), Elio is the story of a space fanatic with an active imagination, finds himself on a cosmic misadventure where he must form new bonds with alien lifeforms, navigate a crisis of intergalactic proportions and somehow discover who he is truly meant to be. Despite some stumbles over the last few years, I’m always interested in a new Pixar new and Elio looks lively and entertaining.
F1 (June 27)
The team behind Top Gun: Maverick goes from fighter jets in the sky to the racetracks of Formula 1 in F1. The film follows a former Formula 1 racer (Brad Pitt) who comes out of retirement to help mentor a rookie prodigy (Damson Idris). With authentic race sequences, which find Pitt and Idris in the cockpit of modified Formula 2 cars on actual F1 racetracks, and cars being rigged with special cameras to capture the speed and intensity of the races, F1 sounds like a movie that needs to be seen on the biggest and loudest screen possible.
M3GAN 2.0 (June 27)
The yassified killing machine that took cinemas by storm in early 2023 is back in M3GAN 2.0. Following the events of M3GAN, in which a robotic companion for a little girl turned evil and tormented a suburban family, M3GAN 2.0 gives M3GAN (played physically by Amie Donald and voiced by Jenna Davis) the Terminator 2 treatment as she tries to take down Amelia (Ivanna Sakhno), a military-grade weapon who was built by a defense contractor who stole M3GAN’s underlying tech. Does it sound ridiculous? Absolutely. Is that the point? Definitely.
Jurassic World: Rebirth (July 2)
I am not the biggest fan of the Jurassic World franchise. Frankly, none of the Jurassic Park or Jurassic World films are particularly good following the 1993 original, but they keep making money, so they keep making them. Jurassic World: Rebirth finds Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, and Mahershala Ali returning to the dinosaur-populated island in hopes of extracting DNA from a few dinosaurs to help with a medical breakthrough. Though I’m always pessimistic about these movies, the trailers have been pretty good, and every summer movie season is better with dinosaurs.
Superman (July 11)
What is there to say about Superman? Not since Richard Donner’s 1978 original starring Christopher Reeve and Gene Hackman has there been a great Superman movie. While I do think 2006’s Superman Returns is underappreciated, Zach Snyder’s handling of Superman and the DCEU was underwhelming and poorly handled. Now, James Gunn, the man behind Guardians of the Galaxy and who turned the Suicide Squad into one of the best superhero movies this decade, takes a crack at bringing the Man of Steel to the big screen, with David Corenswet donning the red cape. The trailers have been good, and Gunn’s track record with superhero movies is spectacular. Don’t be surprised if this is the biggest movie of the summer and maybe the year.
Eddington (July 18)
Eddington takes place in May 2020 in Eddington, New Mexico, where a small-town sheriff (Joaquin Phoenix) has a standoff with the local mayor (Pedro Pascal), which sparks a local powder keg during a pandemic. Ari Aster is one of the most unique and gifted minds in cinema today, and you never know what to expect from one of his films. Starring alongside Phoenix and Pascal are Emma Stone, Austin Butler, and Clifton Collins Jr. The mind of Ari Aster is a scary place to go, but I can’t wait to dive in again.
Fantastic Four: First Steps (July 25)
Though Marvel has the Thunderbolts* dropping at the beginning of the summer, Fantastic Four: First Steps is their most important film of 2025 and probably the most important film of the summer. It’s no secret that the MCU has been struggling since Avengers: Endgame in 2019. While there have been some good films post-Endgame, this phase of the MCU has been misguided. Fantastic Four is as important as any movie in the history of the MCU. It is introducing the iconic first family of Marvel while also setting us up for next year’s Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. If Fantastic Four is good and successful, we have nothing to worry about. But if it’s bad and doesn’t hit at the box office, I don’t know if the MCU will recover.
The Naked Gun (August 1)
When I started making this list, Akiva Schaffer’s remake of the classic Leslie Nielsen comedy wasn’t going to come near it. But then the trailer dropped, and I was immediately sold. Liam Neeson stars as Frank Drebin Jr., son of Neilsen’s Frank Drebin, leader of the Police Squad. Though the trailer didn’t give us much about the plot (like that matters), it highlighted Neeson and his comedic talents, showing that he’s perfectly cast for this role and that the film is going to be smart, witty, and hilarious.
Freakier Friday (August 8)
2003’s Freaky Friday is a classic film for me and other millennials. It’s a perfect remake led by two dynamite performances from Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis. Do we need a sequel to it? Probably not, but I’m all for it. Lohan and Curtis reprise their roles as Anna and Tess Colman, who go through another freak body swap occurrence with Anna’s daughter (Julia Butters) and soon-to-be stepdaughter (Sophia Hammons). Freakier Friday could be a disaster, but I’m ready to revisit these characters and witness the start of the Lindsay Lohan renaissance.
Make sure to follow Film Obsessive’s coverage of these films and many more throughout the summer!
