The final months of 2025 are packed with some of the most promising movies of the year.
From James Cameron’s highly anticipated Avatar: Fire and Ash to Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein and Scott Cooper’s Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, the last few months of the year are packed with original works, sequels, and literary adaptations. To tell you the truth, we couldn’t be more excited.
So, without further ado, here’s a selection of the best movies to watch out for as the end of the year approaches. Got your popcorn ready?
Tron: Ares – Friday, October 10 in theaters
Director: Joachim Rønning
Cast: Jared Leto, Jeff Bridges, Evan Peters, Greta Lee
Directed by Joachim Rønning, based on a screenplay by Jesse Wigutow, Tron: Ares is the third installment in the Tron series and a standalone sequel to Tron: Legacy (2010).
In it, actor Jared Leto plays Ares, a technological program with consciousness that transcends the real world, triggering a high-risk collision.
For those unfamiliar with the subject matter, the original Tron (1982) tells the story of Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer and video game developer who is transported into a virtual world. His experience there consisted of interacting with programs in order to escape, and of course, included the iconic light cycles.
Disney’s official synopsis of the film reads as follows:
“Tron: Ares’ follows a highly sophisticated program, Ares, who is sent from the digital world into the real world on a dangerous mission, marking humankind’s first encounter with AI beings.”
In other words, Tron: Ares puts a twist on the usual story formula. Instead of introducing real people into the digital world of a video game, Tron: Ares takes digital AI out of the game world and lets it run rampant in the real world.
The film also features Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Hasan Minhaj, Jodie Turner-Smith, Arturo Castro, Cameron Monaghan, and Gillian Anderson. The renowned Jeff Bridges reprises his role as Kevin Flynn from the previous films.
The late 2010 sequel, Tron: Legacy, told the story of Sam (Flynn’s son), who responded to a message from his long-lost father.
Mortal Kombat II – Friday, October 24 in theaters
Director: Simon McQuoid
Cast: Karl Urban, Martyn Ford, Adeline Rudolph, Lewis Tan
The wait is almost over for fans of the Mortal Kombat franchise! How exciting!
Mortal Kombat II is coming to theaters in October and promises to deliver even more action, drama, and iconic characters from the beloved video game series.
Director Simon McQuoid has revealed that the highly anticipated sequel focuses on the Mortal Kombat tournament, “the great battle” in which warriors from different realms face off against each other in a fight to the death. The tournament was mentioned in the first film and is now the plot of the new installment.
In the previous Mortal Kombat movie, the sinister sorcerer Shang Tsung (Chin Han) tried to kill the Earth warriors before they could compete. Now, the ultimate challenge in the tournament arrives.
Fan-favorite champions, joined by Johnny Cage (Karl Urban) himself, face off in a battle to the death to defeat the dark rule of Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford), which threatens the very existence of the Earth Realm and its defenders.
One of the most exciting parts of Mortal Kombat II is its incredible cast. The production brings back many familiar faces from the first film, while introducing new characters that fans of the games will immediately recognize.
Unlike the first film, which was available on streaming platforms and in theaters at the same time, this sequel will be a theatrical exclusive.
Springsteen: Deliver me from Nowhere – Friday, October 24 in theaters
Director: Scott Cooper
Cast: Jeremy Allen White, Jeremy Strong, Odessa Young
Friends, your next biopic about a tormented music legend is here: Springsteen: Deliver me from Nowhere.
The award-winning star of The Bear, Jeremy Allen White, plays the musician as he prepares his sixth album, Nebraska. The biopic is based on Warren Zanes’ 2023 book Deliver me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska.
Written and directed by Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart), the musical drama follows Springsteen in the early 1980s, when he was a young musician on the verge of global stardom and struggling to reconcile the pressures of success with the ghosts of his past. The plot centers on the creation of Nebraska, a deeply personal and acoustic album he recorded on a four-track machine in his New Jersey bedroom.
Writer Warren Zanes has said it will be different from most biographies in that it “doesn’t start before the success, but in the middle of it.”
White reportedly sings and plays guitar in the film, and spent a lot of time with Springsteen to perfect his performance.
Frankenstein – November 7 on Netflix
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Cast: Jacob Elordi, Oscar Isaac, Mia Goth, Christoph Waltz
Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein finally arrives on Netflix this November.
This gothic version promises to be a deeply emotional and visually stunning adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic 1818 horror novel.
The official synopsis of the film is as follows:
“Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro adapts Mary Shelley’s classic tale of Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but egotistical scientist who brings a creature to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation.”
Del Toro has stated that this project has been close to his heart for decades. The director, known for his distinctive blend of dark fantasy and horror in works such as Pan’s Labyrinth and The Shape of Water, has described Frankenstein as a “Miltonian tragedy” and a story he has wanted to tell for 50 years.
“I had an epiphany when I first saw Frankenstein. It’s a movie that required growth and tools I didn’t have 10 or 20 years ago. Now I’m brave—or crazy—enough to tackle it.”
The film stays true to its 19th-century setting and explores Victor Frankenstein’s obsession with the decay of life, as well as his morally ambiguous experiments, which lead to the creation of a reanimated creature. Oscar Isaac plays Frankenstein, and Jacob Elordi brings the creature to life with an unsettling performance.
Frankenstein premiered in the main competition at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on August 30, 2025. It will then have a limited theatrical release on October 17, 2025, and finally premiere on Netflix worldwide on November 7, 2025.
Avatar: Fire and Ash – Friday, December 19 in theaters
Director: James Cameron
Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang
Director James Cameron returns with Avatar: Fire and Ash, the third installment that continues the Pandora saga. This time, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) face a formidable new enemy: the Ash People, led by Varang (Oona Chaplin).
In the first two Avatar films, the Na’vi clans of Pandora were positive characters who lived in harmony with their environment and adapted according to their location. However, everything seems to indicate that Avatar: Fire and Ash could present significant changes, delving into darker and more destructive aspects at the hands of the Na’vi clan of Fire.
Here’s the official logline, per The Hollywood Reporter:
“Jake and Neytiri’s family grapples with grief after Neteyam’s death, encountering a new, aggressive Na’vi tribe, the Ash People, who are led by the fiery Varang, as the conflict on Pandora escalates and a new moral focus emerges.”
As they struggle with personal loss and external threats, Jake and Neytiri strive harder than ever to protect their family and the future of Pandora.