Summer Box Office 2025 Predictions
Another Summer With Sequels and Superheroes
Another summer with sequels and superheroes is upon us. No movie in the top 10 most anticipated movies of summer 2025 (listed below) is an original concept. The biggest movies are franchises that audiences are familiar with, whether that’s Jurassic Park, Marvel, or DC Comics. Rounding out the top list are live-action adaptations of previously animated movies such as Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon.
One of the biggest discussions during Cinema Con this year is how to get patrons into theaters. Cinema Con is the annual gathering of studio executives and cineplex owners showcasing the movies that hope to bring audiences into cinema seats. The big solution this year was to increase the theatrical engagement to a mandatory 45 days before a movie hits streaming. By increasing the theatrical window, they hope more people will come to the theaters instead of waiting to watch something at home.
They don’t question the product they’re putting into theaters as the problem. Look at this weekend in particular. There’s a highly reviewed movie, Sinners, from the director of Black Panther and Creed, opening, and I’ve heard people say they didn’t even know it existed. One of my most anticipated movies of the summer is Celine Song’s Materialists, but that A24 film has a fraction of the promotional budget, so you might not have even heard of it. It’s not that people don’t want original concepts and movies— they just aren’t being told they exist.
Many of the movies featured below in the summer preview are movies that have massive marketing budgets. Many of them even paid the lavish amount of money for a Super Bowl advertisement. I make a game of it by predicting which movies I think will make the most money in a given summer. I don’t ultimately care if a movie makes a billion dollars, but it’s a way to gamify the summer box office slate. Want to see how I did last year?
If you are using this list for your own box office game or just trying to figure out which movies to see this summer, I do hope this list helps. You’ll just have to go outside the big box office sensations to find a special movie.
According to Fandango, these are the most anticipated movies of summer 2025:
Jurassic World Rebirth
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning
Superman
Thunderbolts*
From the World of John Wick: Ballerina
28 Years Later
How to Train Your Dragon
Lilo & Stitch
Freakier Friday
Summer Movie Game Podcast
My co-host Evan Crean and I pick five movies to see which of us can draft five movies that will make the most domestically in Summer 2025.
Scroll down for the complete list, trailers, and other recommendations.
1. Jurassic World Rebirth
Release Date: July 2nd — Comp: Jurassic World: Dominion ($376m)
Synopsis: Five years after the events of Jurassic World Dominion, the planet’s ecology has proven largely inhospitable to dinosaurs. The last few remaining might provide life-saving benefits to humankind.
2. Lilo & Stitch
Release date: May 23rd — Comp: The Little Mermaid ($298m)
Synopsis: An experiment gone wrong escapes to Earth, where it becomes a little girl's pet.
3. The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Release date: July 25th — Comp: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 ($358m)
Synopsis: Four heroes must use their superpowers to defend Earth against the evil space god Galactus and his Herald, Silver Surfer.
4. Superman
Release date: July 11th — Comp: Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice ($330m)
Synopsis: An alien comes to Earth after his planet is destroyed and becomes the savior of mankind.
5. Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning
Release date: May 23rd — Comp: Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One ($172m)
Synopsis: Billed as the Final Mission: Impossible, Tom Cruise will again throw himself into peril to entertain millions.
6. How to Train Your Dragon
Release date: June 13th — Comp: How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World ($160m)
Synopsis: Humans and dragons have always been at war until an unlikely friendship helps the humans overcome prejudice.
7. Thunderbolts*
Release date: May 2nd — Comp: Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($259m)
Synopsis: Villains and outcasts from the Marvel Universe team up in a movie eerily similar to DC’s Suicide Squad.
8. F1
Release date: June 27th — Comp: Ford v. Ferrari ($117m)
Synopsis: Brad Pitt drives a Formula One car in the movie Apple hopes is more Top Gun: Maverick and less Ford v. Ferrari.
9. Elio
Release date: May 26 — Comp: Elemental ($154m)
Synopsis: Pixar tries to make another original animated movie, building off the success of Inside Out 2. Elio is an eleven-year-old boy who accidentally becomes the ambassador of Earth.
10. Ballerina
Release date: June 4th — Comp: John Wick: Chapter Two ($92m)
Synopsis: There’s room for more than one assassin in the John Wick universe, and Ana de Armas headlines this spin-off.
Honorable mentions: The Bad Guys 2, 28 Years Later, Karate Kid: Legends, Freakier Friday