Can you believe it? 2025 is already nearing its end. It’s a year that has seen the release of some huge movies, including Sinners, 28 Years Later and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. But it’s not over yet: film fans still have plenty to look forward to before New Year’s Eve rolls around, as well as beyond into 2026.
There’s a slate of new sequels and fresh adaptations ready to roll on film both at movie theatres and on home streaming services, as well as some entirely original stuff for movie lovers to sink their teeth into. From alien hunters to masked psychos to Hollywood heroes, there’s no shortage of cinematic magic in store for viewers.
So, without further ado, let’s take a look at the best upcoming movies for the remainder of 2025, plus 2026.
The Running Man
Set in a dystopian future where America’s most popular TV show is a life-or-death competition where the participants are hunted down by ruthless assassins (we say future, but this could be about two years away in real life the way things are going), The Running Man stars Glen Powell as the show’s newest contestant. Can he survive for 30 days and win the money he needs to save his ill daughter’s life?
Based on a 1982 Stephen King story and having previously been adapted for a fun but fairly forgettable Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle, we wouldn’t be half as excited about this new version of The Running Man if it wasn’t directed by Edgar Wright. Wright has injected all his movies, from Shaun of the Dead to Baby Driver to Last Night in Soho, with so much visual flair and kinetic energy, and he seems like the perfect filmmaker to bring this death-game chaos to the big screen.
Release date: 7 November 2025
Predator: Badlands
Dan Trachtenberg’s third Predator series film (after Prey and Predator: Killer of Killers) is the first to feature the dreadlocked alien hunter as its protagonist rather than its big bad. In this case, the Predator a young ‘runt’ named Dek, cast out by his clan but determined to prove himself by hunting down the most vicious creatures on a planet filled with them.
Judging by the trailer, Badlands will also feature the first merging of the Alien and Predator franchises since The Films Which We Shall Not Name. Elle Fanning appears as an android created by Weyland Yutani, the ruthless megacorporation that has appeared all the way through the Alien series. Could the real ‘apex predator’ our hero hunter ends up facing be an acid-blooded xenomorph? The trailer gives nothing away, but fans are already speculating wildly.
Release date: 7 November 2025
Jay Kelly
George Clooney and Adam Sandler lead a magnificent ensemble cast in Netflix’s tentpole festive period release – a sweeping comedy-drama following a beloved Hollywood movie star (Clooney) and his doting manager (Sandler) as they travel through Europe reflecting and reminiscing on their lives.
Given the subject matter, this could have been saccharine or sentimental in certain creative hands, but Jay Kelly is co-written and directed by Noah Baumbach, so we have hugely high expectations for it. The film has already been screened at festivals, and the critics seem impressed; we’re just looking forward to see Sandler and Clooney trading witticisms on the big (or small) screen.
Release date: 14 November 2025 (cinemas); 5 December 2025 (Netflix)
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Rian Johnson’s third movie in the Knives Out series brings together another star-studded group of misfits (among them Josh Brolin, Jeremy Renner, Glenn Close, Mila Kunis and Andrew Scott) in a new murder mystery – this time centring around a Catholic congregation where the sins being committed require something a little stronger than a few Our Fathers, atonement-wise. Presiding over the case once again is Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc, a flamboyant private detective whose mind is as quick as his Southern drawl is slow.
This film will be Jeremy Renner’s first major creative project since his horrific snowplough accident almost two years ago.
Release date: 26 November 2025 (cinemas); 12 December 2025 (Netflix)
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Originally slated for release in August 2024, the third Avatar movie is finally nearing touchdown. Judging by the trailer, and from comments from director James Cameron, this time around we’ll see Na’vi take on Na’vi, via the introduction of the warlike, aggressive Ash People.
But, really, it’s an Avatar movie – so we’re expecting technical mastery, breath-taking visuals, action aplenty… and a fairly forgettable story. We’re also expecting it to make an ocean full of cash during its theatrical run, after which it’ll arrive on Disney+ for home streaming.
As well as the huge returning cast, including Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang, there’ll be new additions in Oona Chaplin and David Thewlis.
Release date: 19 December 2025
Crime 101
Chris Hemsworth leads a star-stuffed cast in this thriller, playing a stylish and masterful jewel thief who steals from the rich along Los Angeles’ Highway 101. But he’s no Robin Hood, and there’s no giving to the poor here – although a portion of his multi-million dollar takings do go to Halle Berry’s insurance broker, who’s tipping him off about her clients’ assets and whereabouts.
Hot on their heels are detective Mark Ruffalo (playing a world-weary cop for what seems like the millionth time) plus Barry Keoghan’s psychopathic criminal, all of which promises to be a diverting revisit to the sort of car-chase-and-shootout antics we’ve seen in the likes of Heat and Drive. Will Crime 101 be as good as either of those classics? Highly unlikely, but we’d be more than happy with an entertaining crime thriller full of big-name actors.
Release date: 13 February 2026
Scream 7
Scream started off by parodying the tropes of the multi-sequel slasher movie franchises of the 1980s, and has now become a trope-filled, multi-sequel slasher franchise itself. Still, this seventh big screen Scream does bring back some familiar old faces, not least Kevin Williamson, who wrote the very first movie and her both co-writes and directs. Also returning are Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox, and a few surprise guest stars from beyond the cinematic grave – we’ve heard that both David Arquette and Matthew Lillard have also been cast.
Judging by the trailer – which, as is usual these days, seems to reveal far too much – Scream 7‘s plot looks like pretty standard horror fare, with a new knife-wielding, ghost-masked murderer appearing and threatening the family of Campbell’s heroine Sidney Prescott in the town she’s made her home. But our fingers are crossed for Williamson to deliver some shocks and surprises this time around.
Release date: 27 February 2026
Cold Storage
David Koepp is known as a screenwriter of triple-A Hollywood blockbusters like Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible and 2002’s Spider-Man, but he’s clearly got a love of b-movies too – hence penning this horror comedy based on his own 2019 novel, in which a deadly fungus emerges from a sealed lab and threatens to bring about the end of the world.
The cast features not only horror-adjacent youngbloods like Joe Keery, Sosie Bacon and Georgina Campbell, but esteemed thespians like Lesley Manville and Vanessa Redgrave. Not to mention Liam Neeson because, well, why wouldn’t you cast Liam Neeson as the straight-talking military man in an ultra-violent splatterfest?
Release date: 2026
Mortal Kombat II
Usually, when a film is delayed it’s a bad sign – perhaps restive actors, post-production hell, reshoots or negative test screenings have spooked the studio. But that doesn’t seem to be the case here; after originally being slated for an October 2025 release, Warner Bros. eventually decided Mortal Kombat II was simply too big, bold and brilliant to be a fall movie – and consequently pushed it back to May of 2026 where it can bask in summer blockbuster status.
With Karl Urban joining the cast as action star turned fighter Johnny Cage, it’s time for another brutal, no-holds barred tournament featuring a roster of martial artists, monsters and demigods. Expect gallons of gore as Cage, Sonia Blade, Kitana and more battle it out in an attempt to dethrone the evil emperor Shao Khan.
Release date: 8 May 2026
