New movies: the most exciting films coming to theaters in July 2025 and beyond

New movies continue to come thick and fast amid this year’s summer blockbuster season. This weekend (July 18-20) might not be the perfect time to release a new film, though, with new big-screen entertainment releases sandwiched between two of the biggest comic book movie arrivals of 2025.

Still, if you’re a fan of slasher flicks or family-friendly animated offerings, this week’s new movie duo will be right up your street. If you’re not, there are plenty more eagerly anticipated films to learn about in this guide. So, scroll on to see what else is coming to a silver screen near you between now and the end of of October (NB: November and December entries will be added at a later date).

New movies: July

I Know What You Did Last Summer

Release date: out now (worldwide)

The fourth installment in the I Know What You Did… film franchise and a direct sequel to 1998’s I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, this flick hasn’t gone down well with critics (its 38% Rotten Tomatoes score proves why) but general audiences are lapping it up.

Madelyn Cline leads its cast that introduces us to five new friends who inadvertently cause a fatal car accident and try to cover their crime. Unsurprisingly, one year later, someone who knows what they did last summer begins hunting them down. Cue Cline’s character seeking out two of the original film’s survivors – Jennifer Love Hewitt’s Julie and Freddy Prince Jr’s Ray – to help them thwart this mysterious serial killer.

Smurfs

Release date: out now (worldwide)

Another Smurfs movie has graced out screens and aims to be better received than the last bunch of the small, blue humanoids’ other recent silver screen adventures. Given its abject 20% Rotten Tomatoes critical rating, though, it doesn’t seem like it’s succeeded in its goal.

With an all-star cast including Rihanna, who voices Smurfette, Smurfs will appeal to those with young kids and/or Smurf devotees. Its plot, which sees Papa Smurf kidnapped by Gargamel and Smurfette lead her fellow humanoids on a mission to save him, though, sounds incredibly derivative. My advice? Steer clear.

Eddington

Release date: out now (US); July 24 (Australia); August 22 (UK)

The latest feature film team-up between filmmaker Ari Aster and Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix, this contemporary western comedy-drama looks and sounds like a hoot.

Phoenix stars as Joe Cross, the sheriff of Eddington, New Mexico who becomes embroiled in an increasingly tense stand-off with the town’s mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal amid the height of 2020’s global pandemic. Emma Stone, Austin Butler, and Micheal Ward are also part of the cast.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Release date: July 25 (worldwide)

The first Marvel Phase 6 movie that’ll land in theaters, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is aiming to be an MCU film unlike anything you’ve seen before.

Indeed, not only is it a period piece that’s set in the 1960s, but it’s also a Marvel flick that exists in a universe separate to the MCU. Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach will play Marvel’s First Family, while Ralph Ineson and Julia Garner are on villain-based duties as Galactus and his herald The Silver Surfer.

The first trailer for First Steps achieved lift-off in February and it looks as epic as I hoped it would, while a new CinemaCon 2025 teaser also confirmed a big fan theory about Kirby’s Sue Storm. Between this and Superman, comic book movie fans will be eating well this July.

The Bad Guys 2

Release date: July 25 (UK); August 1 (US and Australia)

Everyone’s favorite band of reformed anthropomorphic villains are back. The Bad Guys 2 will reunite us with Wolf and company after they turned over a new leaf in their first big-screen outing. Unfortunately, they’ll be roped back into a life of crime when they’re forced to tackle a spacefaring mission for a group known as The Bad Girls.

The Bad Guys is a criminally underseen animated flick, so I’m looking forward to its sequel. Just don’t expect anyone in the UK to favor it over First Steps when the pair both arrive over the final weekend of July…

Together

Release date: July 30 (US); July 31 (Australia); August 15 (UK)

A supernatural body horror, Together stars real-life married couple Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Mille and Tim. After moving across the country amid some relationship tensions, the pair soon find themselves at the mercy of a terrifying unknown entity that threatens to corrupt their love, lives, and flesh.

There’s been a lot of early buzz around one of July’s final new movies – it currently holds a 100% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes – so expect this to be another banger from indie studio Neon.

New movies: August

Bring Her Back

Release date: out now (US and Australia); August 1 (UK)

After their first feature film – A24’s Talk to Me – earned plenty of acclaim in 2022, Danny and Michael Phillipou, aka the duo known as RackaNacka, are back with another horror flick that’ll aim to spook us silly.

Bring Her Back stars Sally Hawkins and Billy Barratt among others, but that’s about as much as we know about this mystery-laced supernatural horror. Indeed, its trailers don’t give us much information on its story. Nevertheless, it seems like it’s better to go into this one blind. Indeed, given its 89% critical rating and 79% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, you’re best watching it with as little information rattling around in your head as possible.

The Naked Gun

Release date: August 1 (worldwide)

It was going to happen eventually. In an era where Hollywood’s biggest studios just love to remake classic films for no reasons whatsoever, Paramount Pictures is rebooting its Naked Gun franchise for… reasons.

In this big-screen revival, Liam Neeson plays Frank Drebin Jr, aka the son of Leslie Nielsen’s Frank Drebin from the original films. Little else is known about its plot, but you can expect it to try and recapture the laugh-out-loud, spoof-comedy nature of the franchise’s first few installments. Based on the two trailers I’ve seen, I’ve little hope that one of August’s new movies will be able to do so, though.

Freakier Friday

Release date: August 7 (Australia); August 8 (US and IK)

Another legacy sequel that, in some people’s eyes, is long overdue.

Freakier Friday will reunite us with mother-daughter duo Tess (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Anna (Lindsay Lohan), who find themselves trading places with the other – that being, their consciousness being transferred into the other person’s body – during another freak accident. This time around, though, Anna’s daughter and soon-to-be-stepdaughter are also thrown into the mix, making for a four-way body swap that’ll create even more mayhem for those involved.

Weapons

Release date: August 8 (worldwide)

Zach Cregger, writer-director of criminally underseen horror film Barbarian and producer on one of this year’s early hits in sci-fi horror-thriller Companion, will look to continue making a name for himself with this forthcoming mystery horror film.

Weapons will tell the disquieting story of a bunch of kids, all of whom are in the same class at school, mysteriously vanish on the same night and at the same time. Cue its community and devastated parents asking what and why all but one of their children have suddenly gone missing.

With a starry cast including Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, and Benedict Wong, and a deeply unsettling teaser that’s got film buffs talking, Weapons could be another big 2025 hit for Warner Bros.

Nobody 2

Release date: August 14 (Australia); August 15 (US and UK)

This Bob Odenkirk-starring action film franchise will aim to shake off its ‘John Wick clone’ image when its sequel arrives in mid-August.

Nobody 2 reunites us with Odenkirk’s family-man-hitman Hutch Mansell, whose much-needed family vacation gets interrupted when he inadvertently involves himself in the affairs of another notorious mob boss. Cue a frenetic and action-packed albeit light-hearted sequel spectacle that is going all-out to distance itself from Keanu Reeves’ beloved assassin-based movie series.

Materialists

Release date: out now (US and Australia); August 15 (UK)

Celine Song’s directorial feature debut, Past Lives, was one of the best movies of 2023. Thankfully, she’s avoided the so-called ‘sophomore slump’ with her latest flick, aka a romantic drama called Materialists that’s earned positive 80% critical and 67% audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes.

Dakota Johnson inhabits the title role as Lucy, a New York-based matchmaker who learns the harsh lesson that love doesn’t come easy, even to those whose job it is to set up singletons. Indeed, Lucy will find herself torn between her imperfect ex John (Chris Evans) and seemingly perfect match Henry (Pedro Pascal) in this A24 movie that tugs at the heartstrings.

Honey, Don’t!

Release date: August 22 (US and UK); TBC (Australia)

Fan-favorite director Ethan Coen returns with his silver-screen feature in late August.

Honey, Don’t! stars Margaret Qualley as a small-town private investigator whose latest case sees her try to get to the bottom of a series of grisly murders that all tie back to a mysterious cult-like church leader. Former Captain America star Chris Evans takes on the role as the aforementioned antagonist-in-chief as he continues to branch out from his days as one of Marvel’s most popular superheroes. Pencil this one in if you’re a fan of an Coen brothers-created project.

The Life of Chuck

Release date: out now (US); August 21 (Australia); August 22 (UK)

From the minds of horror auteurs Mike Flanagan and Stephen King, this Tom Hiddleston-fronted Neon flick couldn’t be a less scary film. In fact, it’s being billed as a modern day version of classic Christmas flick It’s a Wonderful Life, which certainly isn’t the kind of movie anyone expected to see from Messrs King and Flanagan.

In The Life of Chuck, we follow Charles ‘Chuck’ Krantz, a seemingly ordinary fellow whose life we watch play out in three distinct chapters: his childhood, young adult life (Hiddleston plays Chuck during this period), and as an elderly man.

Little else has been publicly revealed about the movie’s plot, but it looks and sounds like it could be the sleeper hit of the summer. Based on its 81% and 88% Rotten Tomatoes critical and audience scores, it’s one you won’t want to miss.

Caught Stealing

Release date: August 28 (Australia); August 29 (US and UK)

Based on Charlie Huston’s book namesake (he also penned its screenplay), crime-comedy Caught Stealing stars Austin Butler as Hank Thompson, a former baseball wonderkid-turned-bartender who gets more than he bargained for when his punk British friend Russ (Matt Smith) asks Hank to look after his cat for a few days.

With a fun-looking trailer, an all-star cast that looks at the top of its game, and a bona fide filmmaking legend in Darren Aronofsky at the helm, Caught Stealing could make a play to *ahem* steal the show at the global box office in late August.

New movies: September

The Roses

Release date: September 1 (worldwide)

Austin Powers, Borat, and Meet the Parents filmmaker Jay Roach will aim to bring his signature brand of cringey and slapstick humor to the fore in his latest feature film The Roses.

Based on Warren Adler’s ‘The War of the Roses’ novel, which was previously turned into a movie in 1989, this reimagining stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman as Theo and Ivy Rose. A pitch-perfect couple with a fulfilling marriage, things take a turn for the worse when Theo’s career starts to nosedive as Ivy’s takes off. Cue reams of hidden resentment boiling to the surface. Andy Samberg, Ncuti Gatwa, Allison Janney, and Kate McKinnon are among the starry supporting cast.

The Conjuring: Last Rites

Release date: September 4 (Australia); September 5 (US and UK)

Billed as the final The Conjuring movie that’ll star Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson as Lorraine and Ed Warren, Last Rites will kick off spooky season when it arrives in early September.

Taking on last terrifying case, the married couple and real-life paranormal investigators attempt to banish a demonic entity from a family home. Predictably, things won’t progress as smoothly as the Warrens hope. Expect scares aplenty and – hopefully – a fitting end to Wilson and Farmiga’s time playing two of the most famous supernatural researchers that the world has ever seen.

The Long Walk

Release date: September 11 (Australia); September 12 (US and UK)

The next Stephen King novel to get the silver screen treatment, The Long Walk is a dystopian horror story that’s set in an alternate universe. In it, the annual, titular event sees 100 young men walk – without stopping and while maintaining a speed of four miles per hour (6.4 kilometers an hour) – down US Route 1. The catch? Anyone who stops three times is executed right there on the spot.

Directed by The Hunger Games‘ Francis Lawrence and starring Mark Hamill, Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, and Ben Wang among others, this tension-fueled survival drama will scratch the itch of those who’ll still be mourning the end of Squid Game by mid-September.

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale

Release date: September 11 (Australia); September 12 (US and UK)

It’s almost time to bid farewell to one of the UK’s biggest franchises in many a year. Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale is not only the third and final film in the series, but it’ll also bring down the curtain on the must-see period drama for the last time.

Given it’ll be the enterprise’s final hurrah, you can expect all of your favorite characters (and the actors who play them) to return, too, including Hugh Bonneville and Simon Russell Beale. As for what its story entails, it’ll reunite us with the Crawley family and their staff as they head into the 1930s and all of the changes that accompany this decade.

A Big Bold Beautiful Journey

Release date: September 18 (Australia); September 19 (US and UK)

From Sony Pictures and US-South Korean director Kogonada, Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell star in this fantasy drama as Sarah and David.

Singletons who meet during a mutual friend’s wedding, they soon find themselves in the hands of fate itself as they embark on the titular trek that sees them collectively relive moments from their individual pasts and how their current lives might alter their separate and shared futures. One of September’s new movies that I’m most excited for.

Him

Release date: September 19 (US and UK); September 24 (Australia)

The latest unsettling feature to be executively produced by horror extraordinaire Jordan Peele, Him follows Tyriq Withers’ Cameron Cade, a rising American football star who’s trained by eight-time Championship quarterback Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans) after Withers emerges from a coma following an attack by a hysterical fan.

However, Cade soon realizes that his hero isn’t all that he seems and, in the pursuit of greatness, he’s forced down a disorienting rabbit hole that might cost Cade more than he realizes.

The Strangers: Chapter 2

Release date: September 26 (US and UK); TBC (Australia)

A direct sequel to The Strangers: Chapter 1 – but bizarrely, the fourth entry in the horror-thriller film series – this flick reunites us with Maya (Madeleine Petsch), Gregory (Gabriel Basso), and Shelly (Ema Horvath) following the events of the aforementioned movie.

Little is know about what Chapter 2‘s plot entails, but it won’t be the franchise’s final installment. Indeed, a third film is due out sometime in 2026, so it’ll be interesting to see if its next entry is actually good enough to have warranted a follow-up.

One Battle After Another

Release date: September 25 (Australia); September 26 (US and UK)

Leo’s back. That’s right, the multi-award-winning Leonardo DiCaprio is set to appear in his first movie since 2023’s Killers of the Flower Moon in this Paul Thomas Anderson-directed action-comedy that’s due out in late September.

Leading an all-star cast that included Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, Sean Penn, and Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another sees DiCaprio portray Bob Ferguson. A member of a group of ex-revolutionaries, Ferguson rallies his former allies to rescue one of their daughters when a foe of yesteryear re-emerges from the shadows and kidnaps her.

Expect a typically great performance from DiCaprio, regardless of how good or bad this ends up being.

New movies: October

Tron: Ares

Release date: October 10 (worldwide)

15 years after Tron: Legacy reignited people’s interest in the Tron movie series, the franchise’s third entry is set to make a new generation aware of light-cycles and the perils of digital worlds.

In a twist on the series’ formula, though, Tron: Ares will see Jared Leto’s Ares, a highly sophisticated program, sent to the real world for reasons unknown. Greta Lee, Evans Peters, and Gillian Anderson are among its supporting cast, while franchise veteran Jeff Bridges will return in some capacity.

With artificial intelligence (AI) becoming an increasingly regular fixture in our lives, you can expect Tron: Ares to explore themes concerning the digital landscape, AI, and the dangers of other technological advancements as part of its story.

Good Fortune

Release date: October 16 (Australia); October 17 (UK and Australia)

Aziz Ansari returns to the silver screen after an 11-year absence in this religion-centric comedy flick that’s already sparked some comparisons with Dogma.

In it, fan-favorite actor Keanu Reeves plays Gabriel, a well-meaning but inept guardian angel who begins meddling in the affairs of a down-on-his-luck gig worker (Ansari) and wealthy venture capitalist (Seth Rogen). One of October’s new movies that could be a sleeper hit.

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere

Release date: October 23 (Australia); October 24 (US and UK)

Jeremy Allen White will temporarily hang up his apron from The Bear as he trade the kitchen for the big stage in 20th Century Studios’ Bruce Springsteen biopic.

The movie, which is based on Warren Zanes’ similarly titled book, chronicles the making of the legendary musician’s 1982 ‘Nebraska’ album as he contends with demons from his past and being on the precipice of global superstardom. Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere‘s first trailer suggests it’ll hook us all when The Boss’ biopic hits theaters in late October.

Mortal Kombat II

Release date: October 24 (worldwide)

After its predecessor received a day-and-date released in theaters and on HBO Max amid the pandemic, the second installment of Warner Bros’ live-action Mortal Kombat movie series will only arrive in cinemas globally later this year.

This time around, Karl Urban (The Boys, Dredd) stars as fan-favorite character Johnny Cage, who’s recruited to take part in the life-threatening tournament that was only tentatively teased in its forebear. The reason? Earthrealm is threatened by the malicious Shao Khan, so its defenders will need the help of every hero, reluctant or otherwise, to keep it safe from harm.

Bugonia

Release date: October 30 (Australia); October 31 (US); November 7 (UK)

The latest cinematic team-up between actor Emma Stone and director Yorgos Lanthimos, Bugonia is a western remake of South Korean sci-fi comedy film Save the Green Planet!.

In it, Jesse Plemons and Aidan Delbis play two conspiracy-fuelled young men who kidnap the CEO of a powerful corporation (Stone) after they become convinced she’s an alien hellbent on destroying planet Earth. Expect plenty of unusual camera shots, quirky and cringe-based humor, and deadpan performances from its cast throughout.

Want more new movies recommendations? Our new Netflix movies, new Max movies, new Prime Video movies, and new Disney Plus movies lists are full of streaming-based suggestions for a night at home instead.