Anticipated vfx projects of 2025 Anticipated vfx projects of 2025

What does 2025 have in store for us in terms of visual effects spectacle?

Are filmmakers starting to wise up to audience sensibilities toward how visual effects are used? Are original imaginative special effects films a thing of the past? Are animation studios done plundering their own archives? Will the Sundance Film Festival unleash more unexpected gems than we could ever predict here? Will A.I. eat us all?

The answers to some of these questions may, or may not, be found below in Cartoon Brew’s highly subjective guide to interesting vfx-heavy films on the horizon for this year. Titles are grouped by type. Credits are not final nor complete. Click trailers at your peril.

Tentpoles

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (May 23)
ILM and company reunite with superstar Tom Cruise and filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie to bring down the curtain on the eighth and final entry in the Impossible Mission Force series. This time, renegade agent Ethan Hunt is back creating havoc in the U.K., Malta, South Africa and Norway, with some stunning aerial action — about which all vfx secrets will likely be closely guarded.


Superman (Jul. 11)
The superhero genre is still ticking, and many comic fans are anticipating a good Fantastic Four on July 25, but Siegel and Shuster’s Superman, the orphaned son of Krypton, remains the grand-daddy of them all. This time, James Gunn reportedly takes inspiration from the Fleischer Studios 1940s Superman animated shorts, and promises to return to the heart of the hero – joined by Krypto the Superdog. Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy vfx supervisor Stephane Ceretti reteams with Gunn for this film.


Tron: Ares (Oct. 10)
Joachim Rønning takes over from director Joseph Kosinski, returning to the glittering cybernetic realms of Disney’s sci-fi adventure thriller. The computerized action this time tackles artificial intelligence as the outgrowth of proto-gamer Flynn’s creation. Initiated by Steven Lisberger in 1982. ILM is among the studios working on the film.


Avatar: Fire and Ash (Dec. 19)
James Cameron unveils part three of five in his science fiction epic with Wētā FX creating new Pandoran realms and new characters, bringing a different hue to the Alpha Centuri paradise. No trailer yet, but teaser images are gorgeous and intriguing.


Franchise

Paddington in Peru (Mar. 21)
Michael Bond’s urbane, marmalade-eating, talking bear travels back to his roots, in Darkest Peru, in this third hybrid animation adventure with Framestore. Dougal Wilson directs. The film is already a big hit in the U.K.


Snow White (Mar. 21)
The first of three hybrid cg-animated adaptations of much-loved animated features this year tackles the big one with Disney’s 1937 classic. Marc Webb directs Rachel Zegler as the raven-haired princess, with Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen. Animated diminutive gemstone miners and other fantasy creatures are credited at IMDb to MPC and Framestore.


A Minecraft Movie (Apr. 4)
Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures tackle the popular blocky world-building videogame as a tongue-in-cheek adventure starring Jack Black and Jason Momoa, directed by Jared Hess in league with vfx supervisor Dan Lemmon. Imageworks and Wētā FX are credited at IMDb.


Lilo & Stitch & How to Train Your Dragon (May 23, Jun. 13)
A remarkable twofer of hybrid live-action/cg-animated feature adaptations, both connected. Disney’s remake is based on their 2002 2d animated feature of a furry blue alien stranded in Hawaii, co-written and directed by Chris Sanders and Dean Deblois, now directed by Dean Fleisher Camp. Vfx are credited at IMDb to ILM, MPC, and Imageworks, among others.

Then, a month later, DeBlois writes and directs an adaptation of his own animated feature, How to Train Your Dragon (2010), teaming with Framestore to bring to life characters (including green-eyed Night Fury Toothless) to live-action realms for Universal.

Outliers

Presence (Jan. 24)
Steven Soderbergh and David Koep’s minimalist haunted house story, from Sundance 2024, not a huge vfx vehicle (supervised by Yuval Levy of Smile and I Saw the TV Glow). But, from all accounts, this is inventive, unnerving, and something to look out for.


Mickey 17 (Mar. 7)
How does Bong Joon-ho follow Oscar-winning Parasite? With a wry sci-fi thriller that looks like Harry Harrison channeling Philip K. Dick with Robert Pattinson facing an identity crisis as a long-suffering clone. Dan Glass, who worked on Bong’s Snowpiercer, is vfx supervisor.


28 Years Later (Jun. 20)
This film’s terrifying trailer puts a riveting spin on the living dead Rage Virus, filmmaker Danny Boyle’s zombie saga now three films in, reveals post-apocalyptic U.K. reduced to almost medieval survival, reminiscent of BBC TV’s harrowing 1984 atom bomb drama Threads.. Boyle directs from a script by frequent collaborator Alex Garland. Technical credits pending.


Predator: Badlands (Nov. 7)
After last year’s terrific streaming sleeper hit, Prey, which dropped Fox’s invisible alien hunter into the 1800s Comanche Nation, director Dan Trachtenberg returns to pit the bloodthirsty extraterrestrial trophy-hunter against Elle Fanning in new unexpected territory. Vfx are credited at IMDb to Wētā FX.


Streaming

Severance (Jan.17 – Apple TV+)
The long-delayed second season to Apple TV+’s surreal 2002 sci-fi drama, starring Adam Scott as a lonely man surgically severed from his work-life. Ben Stiller directs the pilot with visual panache, with vfx supervisor Eric Leven, MPC, ILM and others credited at IMDb.


Alien: Earth (Summer – Hulu)
Noah Hawley, showrunner of Showtime’s hit film-to-tv adaptation Fargo, unleashes Dan O’Bannon and H.R. Giger’s xenomorphic nightmare on the small screen, reportedly set on Earth 2120, two years before the events of Alien. IMDb credits Zoic Studios. Beware fake fan-made trailers lurking online.


Frankenstein (probably Oct. – Netflix)
Horror maestro Guillermo del Toro has stated, “Frankenstein to me is the pinnacle of everything.” Here, he tackles his dream project, a true-to-the-source-material Victorian Gothic nightmare based on Mary Shelley’s story of ‘The Modern Prometheus.’ Oscar Isaac stars as the misguided professor, vfx supervisor is del Toro’s long-trusted collaborator, Dennis Berardi. Prosthetics are by Steve Newburn.

Pictured at top (l-to-r): A Minecraft Movie, Lilo & Stitch, Superman.

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