It’s been an up-and-down year for film, with some heartening success stories, several saddening failures and a few world-conquering blockbusters that make you wonder if the future of movies is just video game adaptations aimed at tweens. But 2025 isn’t over yet. As we push into the chilliest months, Hollywood has saved some of the best – or, at least, biggest – for last, with the second half of one of 2024’s most dominant box-office phenomenons and the latest instalment of a billion-dollar franchise. In between, there’s also 18th century musicals about convulsing religious zealots, a sci-fi action satire featuring Glen Powell running for his life, and Timothée Chalamet making yet another Oscar push, portraying a champion 1950s ping-pong player. Here are the 20 movies we’re most excited to see this winter.
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Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s Palme d’Or winner follows a former political prisoner seeking revenge against the officer who tortured him while imprisoned. As an outspoken critic of the Islamic Republic who’s faced government persecution in the past, Panahi is intimately familiar with the subject matter, but framing it in the context of a tense thriller is new terrain. Obviously, it seems to work.
In US cinemas Oct 15
Danish director Joachim Trier’s last film, the wistful 2021 romcom The Worst Person in the World, has seen its esteem rise over the last four years, to where it’s now considered one of the best movies of the 2020s. Naturally, his followup arrives with a good deal of hype, and it’s already being handicapped as a Best Picture frontrunner. Stellan Skarsgård stars as a fading film director who attempts to cast his estranged daughter (Worst Person’s Renate Reinsve) in a movie about his childhood.
In US cinemas Nov 7
George Clooney as a suave but aging A-list actor? Wonder if he can pull that off. Noah Baumbach directs this midlife-crisis dramedy, in which Clooney and his manager, played by Adam Sandler, journey across Europe, coming to terms with their life choices along the way. Clooney’s character might have the title, but it’s Sandler who’s already generating Oscar buzz.
In cinemas worldwide Nov 14, on Netflix Dec 5
The first Knives Out was a charming anachronism that became a major leftfield hit, while the sequel attempted to modernise the murder-mystery trappings, to less success. The third film looks to get back to basics somewhat, this time involving the death of a priest. Once again, the cast is stacked: you’ve got Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Kerry Washington and the suddenly ubiquitous Josh O’Connor, just to name a few. Most importantly, Daniel Craig is back as super-sleuth Benoit Blanc, and luckily, his Southern accent hasn’t gotten any more believable.
In US cinemas Nov 26 and the UK Nov 28. On Netflix Dec 12
A surefire Oscar contender in multiple categories (Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Elizabethan ruffs), Chloé Zhao's adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's novel has already left Telluride audiences sobbing in their seats. The story of William Shakespeare and wife Anne Hathaway’s grief in the face of terrible loss, it’s an ode to love and family that sparkles with mystery and magic.
In US theaters Nov 27
The third instalment of James Cameron’s epic sci-fi franchise is approaching to make another gazillion dollars before disappearing from memory completely before the fourth movie arrives in another three to five years to rake in even more money. Whatever you think of the story – which, if you need a refresher, involves blue-skinned aliens and their physical and spiritual connection to both nature and mankind – the movies do always look great on the big screen.
In cinemas worldwide Dec 19
In the post-separation battle of the Safdie brothers, Round 1 near-unanimously goes to Josh. That’s what happens when you cast Timothée Chalamet as a cocky young ping-pong phenom in 1950s New York romancing an older movie star, played by Gwyneth Paltrow. Apologies to Benny Safdie, Dwayne ‘the Rock’ Johnson and The Smashing Machine, but that’s an instant KO.
In US cinemas Dec 25 and the UK Jan 1, 2026
Rose Byrne’s performance as a single mother coming unglued in writer-director Mary Bronstein’s psychological dramedy was the talk of Sundance, and she’s all but penciled in for a strong awards run. Conan O’Brien co-stars as her therapist, while the ascendant rapper-turned-actor ASAP Rocky builds off his impressive showing in Highest 2 Lowest. It looks like Uncut Gems for parenting.
In cinemas worldwide Oct 10
Writer-director James L Brooks’ first movie in over a decade is an Obama Era period piece starring Sex Education’s Emma Mackey as a young politician suddenly thrust into the governorship of an unspecified state, with Jamie Lee Curtis, Woody Harrelson, Ayo Edebiri and Albert Brooks also in the cast. Its trailer looks a bit… corny, frankly, but you have to give the guy who made Broadcast News and co-created The Simpsons the benefit of the doubt.
In cinemas worldwide Dec 12
Bradley Cooper returns to the director’s chair for a portrait of a midlife crisis that doesn’t manifest in the purchase of a new sportscar or a fresh ear-piercing but something almost equally embarrassing: amateur standup comedy. Will Arnett is a newly divorced father of two who ends up haunting open mics and processing the disorientation of his life by joking about it onstage. Arnett co-wrote the script with Cooper and Mark Chappel and it looks like the sort of adult-oriented dramedy that’s all too rare these days.
In US cinemas Dec 19
Richard Linklater has two historically-informed films coming out within weeks of each other, the first being the Rodgers and Hart chamber drama Blue Moon. More intriguing for cinephiles is his dramatisation of the production of Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960 game-changer Breathless, with Guillaume Marbeck as the director, Zoey Deutch as Jean Seberg and Aubry Dullin as Jean-Paul Belmondo. Is there much fresh insight to be drawn from one of the most pored-over films of all-time? Remains to be seen, but Linklater’s film seems to replicate the freewheeling energy of the French classic it’s based on.
In cinemas worldwide Oct 31. On Netflix Nov 14
Directed by The Brutalist co-writer Mona Fastvold, this 18th century musical drama, about the founding of the Christian religious sect known as the Shakers, was one of the biggest surprises coming out of festival season. Early reviews have underscored its peculiarity, so it certainly won’t be for everyone, but Amanda Seyfried’s ecstatic performance as the controversial zealot of the title has landed her on the Oscar short-list.
In US cinemas Dec 25
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