We interrupt your regular editions of Movie Reviews 2025 to offer you something a little bit different. Instead of a collection of reviews, today you are being served up a Summer Showcase, previewing all the big films heading your way shortly.
Yes, the summer blockbuster season is already underway, with top films such as Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Lilo & Stitch, Final Destination: Bloodlines, and The Thunderbolts* packing in the crowds, but with months of great movies to go, this is merely the tip of the ice cube. Between big screen releases and home entertainment, there are a wealth of films on the horizon.
Want to read all about it? Of course you do – and that’s where this Movie Reviews 2025: Summer Showcase comes into play.
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May 2025
As mentioned above, May has already presented some top titles, offering up a mix of action, comedy, horror, and super heroics. The releases so far, including the aforementioned Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, have all been good stuff.
Describing Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning in a previous edition of Movie Reviews 2025, I said: “If you want to be entertained, The Final Reckoning will do this. It’s event cinema, and what big screen adventure is all about.”
If you haven’t taken a look yet, be sure to check it out. Meanwhile, as the month draws to a close, the blockbusters continue with Karate Kid: Legends and the animated film, Lost in Starlight.
Landing on Netflix on May 30th, Lost in Starlight focuses on an astronaut named Nan-young and a musician named Jay, who embark on a long distance relationship. How long? One that stretches between Earth and Mars.
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June 2025
From here we then slide into June, where big screen films include the John Wick spin-off, Ballerina; the Al Pacino/Dan Stevens horror movie, The Ritual; and the romantic comedy, Materialists with Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, and Pedro Pascal. The How to Train Your Dragon movie series also returns to the big screen, but this time via a live-action remake of the 2010 animated film.
What’s interesting about here is the original movie was directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, while this remake is directed solely by DeBlois. Now he has full control of the director’s chair, will he make any major changes?
Meanwhile over on streaming, in early June, Netflix offers up the drama-thriller, Straw. The Tyler Perry-directed picture focuses on a single mother facing a series of unfortunate events.
Describing the film, Netflix said: “Struggling against circumstances beyond her control, she becomes entangled in a situation she never imagined. Fuelled by desperation, she finds herself at the centre of suspicion in a world that seems indifferent to her existence.”
Sticking with streaming, and the animated anthology film, Predator: Killer of Killers, makes its debut. Available on Hulu in the US, and Disney+ everywhere else, the film will focus on three different stories from three different time periods, covering Vikings, feudal Japan, and World War II.
Predator: Killer of Killers is directed by Dan Trachtenberg. The same Dan Trachtenberg who previously helmed 2022’s Prey, and who is also behind the next live-action Predator film, Predator: Badlands, which arrives in November.
Back to the big screen, and June also brings Disney-Pixar’s Elio; the Brad Pitt sports drama, F1; and sci-fi-horror sequel, M3GAN 2.0. Plus, Danny Boyle and Alex Garland re-team for the highly-anticipated post-apocalyptic horror film, 28 Years Later.
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July 2025
Heading into July, and it’s time for the seriously big guns! First up is Jurassic World: Rebirth – the seventh entry in the Jurassic Park/Jurassic World movie series. Gareth Edwards is on director duties for this sci-fi action-adventure picture, while the cast includes Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, and Jonathan Bailey.
Following hot on the heels of Jurassic World: Rebirth is James Gunn’s Superman. Abandoning the continuity of the previous DC/Superman movies, and moving forward as a reboot of the series, Superman stars David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, and Nicholas Hoult, and promises big things for the Man of Steel.
Big things are also on the horizon for Marvel, courtesy of the next entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – The Fantastic Four: First Steps. There is a great deal of hype surrounding this picture, with many looking forward to seeing how this latest iteration of the Fantastic Four will improve on previous outings.
Matt Shakman is on directing duties for The Fantastic Four: First Steps, while the cast includes Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach. Ralph Ineson is also amongst the cast, playing the planet devouring Galactus, while Julia Garner is the Silver Surfer.
Other tent-pole offerings during June include Smurfs, and I Know What You Did Last Summer. Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. are set to make appearances in the latter, reprising their roles from the 1997 version of I Know What You Did Last Summer, and it’s inferior 1998 sequel, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer.
Meanwhile, over on streaming Netflix finally unveils The Old Guard 2. This belated sequel to 2020’s well-received The Old Guard, brings back Andy and her team of immortal warriors for another adventure.
Describing the movie, Netflix said: “With Booker still in exile after his betrayal, and Quynh out for revenge after escaping her underwater prison, Andy grapples with her newfound mortality as a mysterious threat emerges that could jeopardise everything she’s worked toward for thousands of years. Andy, Nile, Joe, Nicky, and James Copley enlist the help of Tuah, an old friend who may provide the key to unlocking the mystery behind immortal existence.”
Other streaming titles in July include Paramount+’s Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado; Disney+’s Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires; and Netflix’s Madea’s Destination Wedding. Adam Sandler will also reprise the title role for Happy Gilmore 2; while Matthias Schweighöfer and Ruby O. Fee take the lead in mystery-thriller, Brick.
Directed by Philip Koch, Brick focuses on Tim and Olivia – two people who wake up one day to discover they are trapped in their apartment, behind a seemingly impenetrable wall. As they soon learn, they are not alone; their whole building is faced with the same puzzling predicament!
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August 2025
Moving into August, and the month kicks off with animated crime comedy, The Bad Guys 2; live-action spoof comedy, The Naked Gun; and romantic comedy, My Oxford Year. Meanwhile, Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan reunite for body-swap sequel, Freakier Friday; Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, and Alden Ehrenreich star in mystery horror, Weapons; and Bob Odenkirk returns to the role of Hutch Mansell for Nobody sequel, Nobody 2.
If you’re a fan of adult animated comedy then you may want to turn your eyeballs to Netflix midway through August for the whacky romp, Fixed, which centres its story around a dog named Bull who discovers he is about to be neutered. Meanwhile, those who are into mysteries will want to keep their eyes on Netflix for The Thursday Murder Club.
Based on Richard Osman’s bestselling book of the same name, The Thursday Murder Club is an all-star affair featuring the likes of Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, and Celia Imrie, amongst others. Chris Columbus is on directing duties.
And then to round out the summer season, Darren Aronofsky offers up the black comedy, Caught Stealing; while Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman star in The Roses – a remake of the 1989 Michael Douglas/Kathleen Turner/Danny DeVito picture, The War of the Roses. Plus, Peter Dinklage stars in the black comedy The Toxic Avenger.
The Toxic Avenger is the latest instalment in The Toxic Avenger movie series, but also acts as a reboot/remake. So, if you’re not quite familiar with the property, this could be a whole new experience.
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With all this and much more, Summer 2025 has a lot to offer. Whether it proves to be a top season is ultimately up to you to decide, or the blockbusters to prove, but the summer is certainly filled with plenty of options to suit various tastes.
And don’t forget, you can keep track of all the latest big and small screen releases (including those on disc), by checking in with Movie Reviews 2025 – your indispensable review guide. New editions of Movie Reviews 2025 are published weekly, so you’re only ever a matter of days away from the next collection of reviews.
How lucky are you? Very lucky, I’d say.
Alex
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Thank you for taking the time to read this 2025 Summer Showcase on It’s A Stampede!. For more movie-related content, check out the recommended reads below.
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