Top movies out in 2025: from Nosferatu to A Complete Unknown

Timothée Chalamet stars as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown

(Image credit: Collection Christophel / Alamy Stock Photo)

last updated 23 January 2025

There are lots of movies to look forward to in 2025, including sequels and fresh new reels. Bridget Jones is set for a fourth outing, Cillian Murphy will reprise "28 Days Later" and Pixar is bringing out a new film about a "self-confessed wannabe alien abductee".

A Complete Unknown

"In 1960, John, Paul, George – but not yet Ringo – became The Beatles," said Matthew Bond in The Mail on Sunday. "In 1962, the Rolling Stones were born. But in the year in between, 1961, another key moment in modern musical history took place – the then 19-year-old Bob Dylan arrived in New York" with his acoustic guitar. "A Complete Unknown", the title of which comes from his track "Like a Rolling Stone", is the story of what happened over the next few years, culminating in his divisive switch to electric at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. Directed by James Mangold ("Walk the Line"), the film "grips, moves and does an excellent job of reminding everyone, even Dylan agnostics", of the importance of his music, thanks not least to its star Timothée Chalamet, "who never stops looking like Timothée Chalamet", yet somehow convinces us that "he might just be the young Bob".

The events building up to Newport unfold rather listlessly, said Deborah Ross in The Spectator – at one point we see Dylan in a record store, checking if his album is in stock – but the film "has a seductive, meditative, cumulative power. I wasn't bored for a single second." As for Chalamet, he is "astonishing, and does his own singing. He may even be better at singing Dylan than Dylan is at singing Dylan."

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Every now and then, a film comes along "that understands the potential of cinema so deeply that it changes the medium for everyone", said Kevin Maher in The Times. The 2015 Holocaust drama "Son of Saul" was one of those films, as was "2001: A Space Odyssey". "To that list we now have to add 'Nickel Boys', an adaptation of Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that is told completely, and audaciously, through point-of-view shots of its two protagonists, Elwood (Ethan Herisse) and Turner (Brandon Wilson)." Opening in Jim Crow-era Florida, the film introduces us first to Elwood, whose blissful home life is turned on its head when he is sent to the "brutal Nickel Academy, a so-called reform school based on the real-life and equally infamous Dozier School for Boys". There, he meets the "slick but sensitive Turner", and an instant bond is formed. The film commits "welcome sacrilege by altering the horribly downbeat ending of Whitehead's novel"; and though its subject matter is grim, it's surprisingly uplifting.

"The first-person use of the camera may not be a new filmmaking technique," said Alistair Harkness in The Scotsman, but in Nickel Boys, director RaMell Ross "takes it to another level", immersing viewers in the boys' world in a way that is "quite extraordinary". This is a film that is "unlike anything else out there". Whitehead's book could easily have been adapted into a "sedate, conventional" drama, said Radhika Seth in Vogue. Instead, Ross has created "something gorgeously bold and beguiling, bringing a surprising freshness and vitality to an undeniably gruelling story".

Restoring "mystery and magic to the concept of an undead bloodsucker", "Nosferatu" is a remake of F.W. Murnau's 1922 silent classic, which was based on Bram Stoker's "Dracula", said BBC Culture. Written and directed by Robert Eggers, it stars Lily-Rose Depp and Nicholas Hoult. Bill Skarsgård (who is also returning as It the clown in a new TV series next year) will play the "horrible old vampire". Those oh-so familiar "vampire clichés" are absent and it's shot like an "arthouse period drama" with costumes and props appropriate for the 19th-century setting, "spectacular outdoor scenes" shot in the Czech Republic and Romania, and some indoor scenes "illuminated only by candlelight". It is, however, still a Dracula film, so "familiar things keep happening to familiar characters", and while it's less scary than sad it still has its "share of gruesome shocks". Not many Dracula films "give you so much to sink your teeth into".

On 5 September 1972, 11 Israeli athletes were taken hostage at the Munich Olympics and then shot by Black September, a Palestinian militant organisation. Director Tim Fehlbaum retells the story through the eyes of the ABC Sports team as they "scramble to follow the tragedy" and in the process write "the rules of capturing a terrorist attack live on air", said Esquire. "We thought it would be interesting to take a step back, look at the first time a crisis like this was on live television, and reflect on how we consume media today," said Fehlbaum. Starring Peter Sarsgaard, it is however "more of a white-knuckled journalism thriller than a deep look into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict".

The fourth in the series featuring "loveable everywoman" Bridget Jones is "hotly anticipated", said Tatler. In line with the book, Bridget, played by Renée Zellweger, is "alone again" following – spoiler alert – her husband Mark's death. Balancing the demands of her career and bringing up two children, the "only area she's neglecting" is her love life. In store are "plenty of laughs" alongside "more touching moments".

Its planned release was delayed by the Hollywood writers' strike, but the "antihero biopic" looks to be "worth the wait", said London's Evening Standard. Florence Pugh's ex-Black Widow Yelena Belova finds her father Red Guardian Alexei Shostakov, played by David Harbour, "living in squalor". Both "depressed about what their lives have become" they set about changing things, with the help of a "group of misfits" from across the "Marvel multiverse".

The title of the eighth "Mission: Impossible" film suggests "it might be Tom Cruise's final mission", said The Guardian. Its budget of $400 million (£314 million) makes it the fourth most expensive film ever. "The Final Reckoning" follows on from 2023's "Dead Reckoning" and sees the return of Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Angela Bassett and Vanessa Kirby, joined by Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff and Hannah Waddingham. As Ethan Hunt, Cruise is "up against a dangerous AI program", The Entity, which "seems to predict his every move" and if it falls "into the wrong hands" could be disastrous, said Variety. He discovers The Entity is "stashed aboard" an old Russian submarine, but there's a "foe from Ethan's past" on its trail too…

"Expectations have been set sky high" for Pixar's latest offering after the success of their "highest-grossing animated film of all time", 2024's "Inside Out 2", said Empire. The "legendary animation studio" has aimed high with the narrative of "Elio", a "self-confessed wannabe alien abductee" who is "swept off to an interplanetary organisation's HQ" to discover who he is and how he fits into the universe. The hook "feels fresh" and visually the film evokes "expressive elasticity" and "intricately detailed world-building" of past Pixar offerings

Twenty-three years on, Cillian Murphy is rumoured to be reprising his "28 Days Later" lead role in this "highly anticipated sequel" to the 2002 zombie tale, said Metro. Among other cast members are "some of Hollywood's biggest names" including Jodie Comer and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. No plot details have been released but Danny Boyle is back in the director's seat and the production is believed to have been filmed on iPhone.

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Adrienne Wyper has been a freelance sub-editor and writer for The Week's website and magazine since 2015. As a travel and lifestyle journalist, she has also written and edited for other titles including BBC Countryfile, British Travel Journal, Coast, Country Living, Country Walking, Good Housekeeping, The Independent, The Lady and Woman’s Own.