With 2024 coming to an end, it's time to look forward to the films that 2025 has to offer, and many big stars are returning with exciting new projects. While there were some great movies in 2024, many of the biggest actors were left out. The likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and Margot Robbie have had relatively quiet years, but 2025 could bring some of their most interesting films yet.
Outside of major franchises, few films receive so much hype so far in advance. One thing that might make movie fans mark a date on their calendars months in advance is a high-profile star in the lead role, and 2025 has new projects in store for some of the world's biggest box office draws, like Brad Pitt, Denzel Washington and Emma Stone. While many of these films remain shrouded in mystery, the cast is enough to make people pay attention.
10
Leonardo DiCaprio
The Battle of Baktan Cross
The Battle of Baktan Cross could be another defining moment in Leonardo DiCaprio's career. People have been waiting to see him collaborate with Paul Thomas Anderson for years, as the director is famous for bringing out excellent performances from his actors. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Daniel Day-Lewis, Joaquin Phoenix and even Adam Sandler gave excellent performances in Anderson's films.
Anderson tends to create realistic and imperfect characters, and DiCaprio may be the ideal actor for his style. Not much is known about The Battle of Baktan Cross, but there were some rumors that it could be an adaptation of Thomas Pynchon's book Vinlândia. Anderson is the only director to have approached a film adaptation of Pynchon's work – with Inherent Vice – so a second attempt is not out of the question.
9
Ke Huy Quan
Love hurts
After winning an Oscar for his supporting role in Everything everywhere at once, Ke Huy Quan has a starring role scheduled for 2025. Love hurts will be released in time for Valentine's Day and has the potential to be a good date movie, with a mix of romance, action and humor. The film appears to take full advantage of Quan's martial arts skills, with some exciting fight scenes showcased in the trailer.
The camera movements and the way Quan's character improvises with different weapons in the Love hurts trailer reminds John Wick franchise, but Love hurts It's much more comical. This could utilize Quan's affable charm as well as his acting pedigree. The supporting cast includes Ariana DeBose, Daniel Wu and former NFL star Marshawn Lynchwho showed off his comedic skills in 2023 Funds.
8
Anya Taylor-Joy
The gorge
After a starring role in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and a special appearance Dune: Part Two in 2024, Anya Taylor-Joy will star in a different kind of sci-fi movie in 2025. Apple TV+'s The gorge combine it with Whip stars Miles Teller as a duo of snipers hired to protect a mysterious chasm said to be the entrance to Hell. The trailer suggests it's part romance and part supernatural horror.
Launch on Valentine's Day, The gorge It feels like it could be an alternative kind of date movie, with action and horror to accompany its romantic story. Taylor-Joy's chemistry with Teller will likely be key to The gorgesuccess, as they seem to spend much of the film alone. The trailer shows a brief glimpse of Sigourney Weaver, but her role seems relatively minor.
7
Cate Blanchett
Black Bag
There are many great directors with exciting films coming in 2025, but Steven Soderbergh has two ahead of him. Shortly after releasing his horror film Presence, Soderbergh will switch genres for a spy thriller starring Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender called Black Bag. Old James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan and potential hopeful Regé-Jean Page are among the supporting cast.
Black Bag stars Blanchett and Fassbender as two married spies who are often forced to keep professional secrets from each other. The trailer shows some glimpses of the edgy action that Black Bag has to offer and also feels like a great showcase for two great lead performances. Black Bag will be released in March, but Blanchett has another film that could come out in 2025. Jim Jarmusch comedy-drama anthology Father, mother, sister, brother has not yet set a release date.
6
Roberto De Niro
Tall Knights
Robert De Niro will be back in familiar territory in 2025, starring in another gangster film. He is one of the actors most associated with the genre after starring in films such as Casino, Goodfellas and The Godfather Part II, but Tall Knights it still represents something new for him. De Niro will have a dual role as Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, two competing mob bosses in the 1950s.
De Niro will have a dual role as Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, two competing mob bosses in the 1950s.
With De Niro set to play two of the most notorious gangsters in history, Tall Knights It's already an intriguing film. What makes it even more exciting is the fact that Good companions writer Nicholas Pileggi wrote the screenplay. Barry Levinson, who won Best Director for 1988 Rain man, will be doing Tall Knights his first film since 2021 The Survivor. With De Niro and Pileggi on board, this could be his best film in decades.
5
Margot Robbie
A great and beautiful journey
Barbie made Margot Robbie one of the biggest stars of 2023, but she hasn't appeared in any films since. After a quiet 2024, Robbie is set to return to the big screen starring alongside Colin Farrell in A great and beautiful journey. The romantic fantasy will be Kogonada's third film, following Columbus and After Yang. The director first rose to prominence for his popular video essays on different directors and filmmaking techniques.
The story follows two people who meet at a wedding before embarking on a cross-country road trip guided by some kind of magical GPS.
Not many concrete details were revealed about A great and beautiful journey so far, but the film is based on a script that is available to read online. Seth Reiss' script earned a spot on the “Black List”, a survey of the most popular scripts ever produced in Hollywood. Its story follows two people who meet at a wedding before embarking on a cross-country road trip guided by some kind of magical GPS. Kogonada's film could tweak the script, but the core concept will likely remain the same.
4
Brad Pitt
F1
Brad Pitt's only film in 2024 was Wolves, his action comedy with George Clooney. F1The reported budget would make this one of the most expensive original films ever made, so it's a completely different perspective. Pitt stars as a retired Formula 1 driver who is hired to turn around the fortunes of a bankrupt team. This seems similar to your character in money ball at first glance, but the trailer seems to suggest that his character actually starts competing in F1 again.
F1 will have a huge audience of Formula 1 fans around the world ready for it, especially as Pitt is followed by almost the entire grid. Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and more drivers will appear as themselveswhile Javier Bardem and Damson Idris are also in the cast. Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski will try to recreate the same kind of thrilling action from his Tom Cruise film. If he does this, then F1 has a good chance of being a big box office success.
3
Emma Stone
Bugonia
After starring Poor things in 2023 and Types of kindness in 2024, Emma Stone continues her creative partnership with Yorgos Lanthimos in 2025, starring in Bugonia. Lanthimos' films are often classified by the unique and disturbing style he brings, and some actors are better suited to this than others. Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz and Colin Farrell have all shown they can operate on her quirky wavelength, but Stone seems to be her favorite actor.
There are some things that have been revealed about Bugonia already, although the film won't come out until November. It is an English remake of Jang Joon-hwan's film Save the Green Planet!, with Stone playing the CEO of a pharmaceutical company who is kidnapped by two conspiracy theorists. Types of kindness star Jesse Plemons has been cast as one of the kidnappers, while Alicia Silverstone will play his mother.
2
Lily Gladstone
The wedding banquet
After his Oscar-nominated performance in Martin Scorsese's Flower Moon Assassins, Lily Gladstone had a relatively quiet 2024. She appeared in the independent film Jazzy, but her most prominent role of the year came in Hulu's true crime drama Under the bridge. She could be back in the spotlight in 2025, starring in Andrew Ahn's new romantic comedy The wedding banquet.
The first reactions should appear at the Sundance Film Festival in January, before The wedding banquet is released in April.
The wedding banquet is a remake of Ang Lee's 1993 hit of the same name. The story follows a bisexual Taiwanese man living in New York City who marries a Chinese woman to deceive his parents. Gladstone could be playing a gender-swapped version of the main character, although plot details have not yet been released. The first reactions should appear at the Sundance Film Festival in January, before The wedding banquet is released in April.
1
Denzel Washington
Highest 2 Lowest
Denzel Washington is one of the most decorated actors of his generation and is already receiving cries for yet another Oscar nomination thanks to his performance in Gladiator II. 2025 will see him resume his long-standing creative collaboration with Spike Lee as they team up for a remake of Akira Kurosawa's crime drama High and Low. The title was changed to Highest 2 Lowest, which reflects the more modern New York City setting that Lee chose.
He's teaming up with Spike Lee for a remake of Akira Kurosawa's crime drama High and Low.
Denzel Washington and Spike Lee's films tend to get the best out of both men, but it's been almost 20 years since they last worked on a heist movie together. Inside the Man. It will be interesting to see how they interact at this later stage in Washington's career. It's unclear which character he will play Highest 2 Lowest, but looking at Kurosawa's film suggests he may be playing an executive facing a moral dilemma, the same character played by Toshiro Mifune.