There’s a fake news take that critics are a permanently cranky lot who actually loathe movies and love nothing better than moaning about them, but the reality couldn’t be further from the truth.
We’ve dedicated our careers to sitting in the flickering dark not because we think most movies are rot, but because we live in eternal hope that they are not. Occasionally, a game-changing filmmaker comes along who captures hearts and minds across the aisle.
While we wait for more international titles to be announced, here are ten big-ticket films I’m genuinely excited to see as 2025 unspools.
10 exciting films coming to Australian cinemas in 2025
Babygirl
Director: Halina Reijn
Release date: 30 January
Why I’m excited: At the time of writing, I’m seeing this tomorrow morning and I’m so excited I might spill my glass of milk. What more do I need to say other than our glorious queen Nicole Kidman in Eyes Wide Shut mode, embarking on a dangerous but deliciously kinky affair with Triangle of Sadness star Harris ‘Balenciaga, H&M‘ Dickinson, as directed by Halina Reijn, who delivered the bananas bravura of Bodies Bodies Bodies? Keeeeeeeeeen.
Mickey 17
Director: Bong Joon-ho
Release date: 6 March
Why I’m excited: South Korean hero Bong Joon-ho’s twisted social commentary-infused horror Parasite upended Hollywood royalty to take home 2019’s Best Picture Oscar, the first foreign language film to do so, plus Best Director, Original Screenplay and International. So hopes are super-high for his dystopian clone comedy adapted from an Edward Ashton novel and starring Robert Pattinson alongside Aussies Toni Collette and Daniel Henshall.
Black Bag
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Release date: 13 March
Why I’m excited: I first encountered Steven Soderbergh’s wildly eclectic career via his frank and fearless look at the truth behind flushed feelings in 1989 Palme d’Or-winner Sex, Lies, and Videotape. Taking in everything from Ocean’s 11 to Magic Mike via a two-part Che Guevara biopic since, I’ll follow where he leads. And if that’s towards a spy thriller starring Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender, all the better (also check out his Lucy Liu-led creeper Presence, releasing 6 February).
Sinners
Director: Ryan Coogler
Release date: 17 April
Why I’m excited: Even if I wasn’t as sold on Robert Egger’s Nosferatu re-do as my magnificent colleague Silvi Vann-Wall, my love for vampire movies remains undying. Anything that shakes up the old bones is welcome, so the promise of Ryan Coogler leading the bloody good talent of his Creed, Black Panther and Fruitvale Station star Michael B Jordan into a Jim Crow-era South dance with the devil has me knocking on coffin-lid wood with anticipation.
28 Years Later
Director: Danny Boyle
Release date: 19 June
Why I’m excited: Speaking of horror movies I’m frothing for, I was already bolting like an unnervingly fast zombie towards this third instalment in the 28 saga that managed to make the brain-hungry horde truly terrifying again before that alarming Rudyard Kipling poem-set and folk horror-infected trailer dropped. Now I’m ravenous for its return from the dead, as led by Danny Boyle and Civil War scribe Alex Garland and starring Ralph Fiennes, Jodie Comer and maaaybe Cillian Murphy?? Candyman rebooter Nia DaCosta is attached to the next chapter.
Also look out for Zak Hilditch’s five-star Aussie chiller We Bury the Dead landing a local release.
Superman
Director: James Gunn
Release date: 10 July
Why I’m excited: Much has been said about the impact of arguably too many comic book movies on the industry, but as a kid who grew up on the source material, I’m a little more sympathetic than many of my fellow critics. It’s all but impossible to supplant the Christopher Reeve-led Richard Donner movies in my heart, and I didn’t rate Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3, but I’m going into this David Corenswet-starring reboot with my hopes sky high. Look out for a Will Reve cameo, plus Aussie Milly Alcock as Supergirl.
ScreenHub: Supergirl: Australian Milly Alcock lands top role
Bugonia
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Release date: 6 November
Why I’m excited: Greek New Wave’s shaker-maker and Kinds of Kindness-helmer Yorgos Lanthimos’ films exude anarchic energy, with Emma Stone clearly relishing their ongoing out-there team-up. I’m keen to see what they’ll do with this remake of South Korean filmmaker Jang Joon-hwan’s alien invasion farce Save the Green Planet! that also taps fellow regulars Jesse Plemmons and Alicia freaking Silverstone.
Jimpa
Director: Sophie Hyde
Release date: TBC
Why I’m excited: South Australian champion Sophie Hyde broke my heart with her documentary Life in Movement, about the tragic loss of choreographer Tanja Liedtke. Her debut dramatic feature debut, 52 Tuesdays, traced a beautifully told transition story while introducing the luminous Tilda Cobham-Hervey. After the sex-positive triumph that was 2022’s Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack-led Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, I’m even more pumped for this family drama spanning Adelaide to Amsterdam and featuring Hyde’s non-binary teenager, Aud, alongside Olivia ‘goddess’ Colman and John Lithgow.
ScreenHub: Jimpa, Never Get Busted! and Together selected for Sundance 2025
Frankenstein/The Bride!
Director: Guillermo del Toro and Maggie Gyllenhaal, respectively
Release date: TBC
Why I’m excited: Remember when the big studios used to go head-to-head with volcano or earth-shattering meteor movies? Well, this year we have not one but two spooky movies invoking Mary Shelley’s less well-known monster, aborted in mere pages of the novel but immortalised by Elsa Lanchester in James Whale’s sequel Bride of Frankenstein (1935). Jessie Buckley inhabits her roughly-sewn skin in Gyllenhaal’s particularly promising alternate take. It remains to be seen if Mia Goth is the Bride in Hellboy helmer del Toro’s, also starring Aussie Jacob Elordi as her monstrous mate.
For a full list of the most anticipated movies coming out in 2025, see here.
