Superman, Jurassic World 4, Wicked 2

On By Littum

“Survive til ’25” has been the mantra of the movie industry — heck, the entire film industry — ever since pandemic-related delays and Hollywood labor strikes wreaked havoc on studio boards and production calendars. Several potential 2024 blockbusters, like Tom Cruise’s eighth “Mission Impossible” and Marvel’s “Captain America: Brave New World,” were instead pushed into this calendar year, giving 2025 a slew of movies everyone hopes will turn the box office around. to something approaching its pre-COVID glory.

Can Ethan Hunt, some of Earth’s mightiest heroes and a new generation of rogue dinosaurs come to the rescue? Will the star power of Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Dwayne Johnson help propel their risqué original film to fame and fortune? Black looks into his crystal ball to predict the year’s triumphs, misfires – and everything in between.

20th Century Studios

Avatar: Fire and Ash (Disney)

Release date: 19 Dec
Thrill factor: Three years ago, “Avatar: The Way of Water” grossed $2.3 billion, proving without a doubt that audiences remain insatiable for the sci-fi saga of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) on the alien moon Pandora. Now James Cameron returns with the third chapter which, as the title suggests, will introduce the “Ash People” clan of Na’vi.
Chill factor: Maybe a three-year gap is too … short … for “Avatar” movies?
Verdict: Never play against Cameron: Disney to put another $2 billion in the bank.

The Conjuring: Last Rites (Warner Bros.)

Release date: Sept. 5
Thrill factor: Across eight films, the “Conjuring” universe has quietly risen to become the highest-grossing horror franchise in history. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga are back as ghost hunters for what is billed as the final entry in the occult-tinged franchise.
Chill factor: Aside from a few low-budget indie hits, 2024 was disappointing for movies about things that go bump in the night.
Verdict: Horror fans will be summoned to “Conjuring 4” as an exorcism on Halloween night, offering frighteningly good profit margins.

Wicked: For Good (Universal)

Release date: Nov 21
Thrill factor: Nothing is riskier than splitting a movie (a musical, no less!) in two, but “Wicked: Part One” beat the odds to make it to the big screen. Fans won’t be able to resist the journey back to Oz for the conclusion of the story of Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande).
Chill factor: The second act has showstoppers (“No Good Deed”) and tearjerkers (“For Good”), but the best, catchiest songs are in the first film.
Verdict: Like a seed dropped from a skybird, “Wicked” will go down as the biggest Broadway adaptation in box office history.

Zootopia 2 (Disney)

Release date: Nov 26
Thrill factor: The Zootopia Police Department’s finest join forces again for a sequel to 2016’s billion-dollar blockbuster.
Chill factor: Sequelitis can strike without warning. Just ask “Joker: Folie à Deux,” “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” or “The Marvels,” all of which were disappointing follow-ups to box office giants.
Verdict: “Zootopia 2” will give “Moana 2” — and its record-breaking Thanksgiving debut — a run for its money.

Universal / Courtesy Everett Collection

28 Years Later (Sony)

Release date: June 20
Thrill factor: Director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland revisit the zombified Britain of 2002’s “28 Days Later,” this time with Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer and Ralph Fiennes running for their lives from the undead hordes.
Chill factor: With “The Walking Dead” and “The Last of Us” gobbling up TV audiences, zombie movies have been a little, well, lifeless lately.
Verdict: If the movie is even half as scary as the absolutely terrifying teaser trailer, then these zombies are going to scare up some tasty box office.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps (Disney)

Release date: July 25
Voltage factor: Marvel’s First Family finally joins the MCU, with Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as the titular superheroes living in a retro-futuristic 1960s Earth – and distinctly separate from Marvel Studios’ main timeline .
Chill factor: The previous “Fantastic 4” films (from the 2000s and 2015) were less than inspiring, creatively and financially; audiences could shrug off this attempt to make the new foursome into movie stars.
Verdict: Marvel Studios’ next two “Avengers” outings will build directly from the events of this film, so, even more than most MCU fare, this one should be a smash. Fortunately for Disney, it’s time to open the boxes.

Jurassic World Rebirth (Universal)

Release date: July 2nd
Thrill factor: Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailey take the reins of the 32-year-old franchise, playing a team tasked with retrieving material from dinosaurs that may hold the key to a miracle cure. Gareth Edwards – who has made a career out of beautifully edited VFX films like “Godzilla” and “The Creator” – directs.
Chill factor: There’s a chance that after three “Jurassic World” movies over the past 10 years, moviegoers have grown weary of dinosaurs.
Verdict: Come now. Audiences love dinos, and this film and its fresh, talented cast will roar through the box office again.

Michael (Lionsgate)

Release date: Oct. 3
Thrill factor: Musical biopics are all the rage, and everyone on the planet knows Michael Jackson’s deep catalog of hits. In addition, director Antoine Fuqua cast Jackson’s nephew Jaafar Jackson to recreate the late King of Pop’s iconic performances.
Chill factor: Jackson is a divisive cultural figure whose legacy has been tarnished by multiple allegations that he sexually abused children for decades. (The musician denied any wrongdoing; a 1993 lawsuit involving the singer was settled out of civil court, and in 2005 he was prosecuted and acquitted on various counts.) At the very least, “Michael” is guaranteed to spark conversation and scrutiny.
Verdict: Controversy surrounding Jackson’s legacy won’t matter to global audiences, and “Michael” will moonwalk to box office glory.

Warner Bros.

Good Fortune (Lionsgate)

Release date: 17 Oct
Thrill factor: Internet sweetheart Keanu Reeves plays a literal angel alongside Seth Rogen, Keke Palmer and Sandra Oh in the body-swap comedy from Aziz Ansari in his directorial debut.
Chill factor: Commercially successful R-rated comedies are almost as rare as the prospect of actually switching bodies with another person.
Verdict: Reviews will play a big role in how many tickets are sold. But “Good Fortune” could get a much-needed boost in attention if Palmer delivers what she does best: Throwing out meme-worthy moments on the press tour.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (Paramount)

Release date: 23 May
Thrill factor: Tom Cruise’s death-defying stunts in his eighth turn as the Impossible Mission Force’s most valuable agent offer the kind of cinematic spectacle that demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible.
Chill factor: “Mission: Impossible” proved all the ways that cutting a movie in half could go wrong. In 2023, “Dead Reckoning Part One” — what should have been a sure hit after “Top Gun: Maverick” — was crushed by “Barbenheimer,” leading the studio to retitle the follow-up film. “MI:7” cost nearly $300 million, and these action adventures don’t get any cheaper to produce.
Verdict: Cruise’s (possible?) swan song as Ethan Hunt will pack theaters in early summer, but “Mission: Impossible” won’t go out on a high note.

The Smashing Machine (A24)

Release date: Undated
Thrill factor: Dwayne Johnson steps back into the ring, not as The Rock, but as mixed martial artist Mark Kerr, in a biopic written and directed by indie auteur Benny Safdie (“Uncut Gems”).
Chill factor: The 52-year-old Johnson, who also produced the film, is just three years younger than Kerr, so it’s unclear whether ticket buyers will buy him as Kerr at his peak in the late 1990s and early 2000s .
Verdict: Johnson’s career desperately needs this kind of role, his first dramatic since 2013’s “Pain & Gain” — but the film’s success depends on whether the actor can still deliver a grounded, emotionally complex performance.

Superman (Warner Bros.)

Release date: July 11
Voltage factor: James Gunn relaunches Man of Steel and the DC Universe, where David Corenswet’s Superman lives (for the first time on the big screen) on an Earth filled with other superheroes who don’t all get along.
Chill factor: Comic book cinema isn’t nearly as bulletproof as it used to be, and the last solo Supes movie, 2013’s “Man of Steel,” was a gentleman’s triple. This movie need to be a homemaker.
Verdict: If Gunn can marry truth, justice and the American way to the outsider sensibility that made the “Guardians of the Galaxy” trilogy a global sensation, then the DCU will be up, up and gone.

Apple original movies

F1 (Apple Original Films and Warner Bros.)

Release date: June 27
Thrill factor: Brad Pitt teams up with “Top Gun: Maverick” director Joseph Kosinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer to play a retired Formula 1 driver recruited to mentor a hotshot new star (Damson Idris).
Chill factor: Apple’s track record for expensive, star-studded theatrical releases is (check notes) not a single profitable film. Not one.
Verdict: If the global popularity of Pitt, Kosinski, Bruckheimer and Formula 1 isn’t enough to give Apple its first win in cinemas, then at least Tim Cook has the iPhone 17 to look forward to.

Snow White (Disney)

Release date: March 21
Thrill factor: “West Side Story” star Rachel Zegler brings her killer pipes to the original Disney princess, with “Wonder Woman” star Gal Gadot playing against type as the Evil Queen.
Chill factor: The $240 million budgeted adaptation has been dogged by expensive reshoots and calls for a boycott due to Zegler and Gadot’s (opposite) views on the Israel-Hamas war, which may not be the thing everyone wants to think about when they going to a Disney musical.
Verdict: After one too many box office revisits, families will tire of Magic Kingdom’s latest live-action remake.

Tron: Ares (Disney)

Release date: 10 Oct
Thrill factor: The first two “Tron” movies took place almost entirely in the digital space known as the Grid, but this threequel from director Joachim Rønning (“Maleficent: Mistress of Evil”) places Jared Leto’s titular living program in the real world.
Chill factor: Leto may be an Oscar winner, but to date he’s nowhere near the box-office draw that Disney needs for a wildly sporadic sci-fi franchise that looks like great, but never showed overwhelming audience demand for more.
Verdict: Bettering the $410 million global gross of 2010’s “Tron: Legacy” will be as difficult as getting a perfect score in “Pac-Man.”

Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Film (Warner Bros.)

Release date: August 8
Thrill factor: Paul Thomas Anderson – creator of masterpieces such as “Boogie Nights”, “Magnolia” and “Phantom Thread” – has recruited Leonardo DiCaprio, one of Hollywood’s last remaining bankable stars, to lead the busy cast of Sean Penn, Regina Hall and Alana Haim.
Chill factor: The film’s $140 million budget will require at least $300 million in global box office sales to turn a profit theatrically. Anderson’s highest-grossing film, 2007’s “There Will Be Blood,” earned $76 million worldwide.
Verdict: The untitled project — reportedly a crime drama — will be a critical darling, but it won’t be in the Golden Globe race for film and box office receipts.