The 100 movies, TV shows, albums, and video games we're more interested in for 2025

2020 was a tough year for movies, to say the least, but before things completely collapsed Leigh Whannell’s reimagining of the Invisible Man for, um, “The Invisible Man” got a lot of love from horror fans. Whannell is back with another modern contextualizing of a classic Universal monster in 2025. We don’t need to tell you what “Wolf Man” is about, but if you saw “The Invisible Man,” we know you’re hyped for this one.

Will Ferrell has kind of dipped out on live-action comedy for a bit here. He’s had small roles, like the CEO of Mattel in “Barbie,” but he’s mostly done voice work or not done much of anything for a couple years. If we don’t count “Spirited,” which completely came and went, we’re going back to 2020’s “Eurovision,” which avoided theaters by going to Netflix. Well, “You’re Cordially Invited” is an Amazon Prime original, so Ferrell remains out of theaters, but he’s starring in a live-action comedy, and he’s doing it with Reese Witherspoon at that.

In a way, “Bridget Jones’s Baby” was already the legacy sequel in this series, but 2016 was before the real rise of the legacy sequel. After a year with “Twisters” and “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” among others, it’s a good time for a fourth movie starring Renee Zellweger as the titular Bridget Jones a decade after the last. It comes out on Valentine’s Day, and the whole gang is back, so the fans will come out.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe effectively took 2024 off, but 2025 they are going all-in once again. It all starts with “Captain America: Brave New World.” Now, do recall that Chris Evans is done doing the Steve Rogers thing. Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson, formerly Falcon, is now carrying the shield. Will it work? We’ll find out in 2025.

It really feels like “The Gorge” could go either way. Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy are starring, and Scott Derrickson is directing. It’s also about two snipers on either side of a seemingly-bottomless gorge not knowing why they have the task. That could be an interesting premise…or it could prove quite silly. Also, this is an Apple TV+ original, and to date its movies have topped out at a B-minus or so.

Osgood Perkins’ “Longlegs” was a surprise hit in 2024. It was the highest-grossing film in Neon history, and the highest-grossing film from an “independent” studio. Now, Perkins is a name to know for horror fans. “The Monkey” is his follow up to “Longlegs,” and horror lover Elijah Wood is signed on, which is a good omen.

Because we never got to see “Coyote vs. Acme,” “The Day the Earth Blew Up” is the first non-basketball Looney Tunes movie since “Back in Action” in 2003. This is also the first fully-animated Looney Tunes movie to get a theatrical release. It’s a Porky Pig and Daffy Duck story, so if you are a fan of those two, you’re in luck. Plus, no LeBron James!

Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan have joined forces for, well, every single one of Coogler’s films. Jordan even managed to pop into “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” for a bit. How can Coogler be more invested in Jordan’s career? By having him play twins, of course. Coogler and Jordan have pleased crowds in the past, and “Sinners” is for those folks. It’s also nice that this isn’t some I.P.-mining movie for once.

Steven Soderbergh has two movies coming out in 2025 because, well, he’s Steven Soderbergh. The dude’s a maniac. Of those two, “Black Bag” is the one that intrigues us more. It’s a spy thriller starring Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender. How can you not be intrigued?

The Russo brothers have not excelled outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but we remain intrigued. “The Electric State” may be a “sci-fi-adventure-comedy-drama,” which is a bit of a concern, but take a look at the cast. Literally the intriguing, enticing cast members go into double digits. If “The Electric State” doesn’t work, the Russos only have themselves to blame.

The strikes pushed “Alto Knights” from 2024 into 2025, but there’s a chance it’ll be an Oscar player (though in a year that will be tougher than 2024 would have been). While the movie’s showpiece is the fact Robert De Niro is playing a dual role, Nicholas Pileggi (“Goodfellas”) wrote the screenplay, and Barry Levinson (“Diner,” “Rain Man,” and more) is the director. That’s a strong creative duo.

We’re interested more than enthused. “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” paved the way for more video game-based films due to its success. “Minecraft” has been hugely popular with the younger generations for years. It has a distinct aesthetic style, and that is now being brought to the big screen. “A Minecraft Movie” should be a hit, and we do wonder if it will be any good.

If “Mickey 17” is anywhere near as good as “Parasite,” it probably would have won Best Picture in 2024. We mention “Parasite” not apropos of nothing, but because “Mickey 17” is Bong Joon-ho’s follow-up to his Oscar-winning sensation. It got pushed to 2025, but “Mickey 17” is going to have a ton of eyes on it after the success of “Parasite.”

In essence, “Thunderbolts*” is Marvel’s answer to the Suicide Squad. The difference, other than the fact this movie almost has to be better than the first Suicide Squad attempt, is that it has dozens of movies to build upon. “Thunderbolts*” is bringing together many of Marvel’s anti-heroes and villains into a team up. Also, it allows them to bring Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, and Wyatt Russell together, which should make for an easier sell.

This better be the last “Mission: Impossible” movie. Not that we’re tired of them. It’s just that they can’t get away with calling the eighth movie in the franchise “The Final Reckoning” if they don’t mean it. Plus, Tom Cruise is in his sixties. Maybe it is time for the missions to no longer be accepted.

When pondering a live-action “Lilo & Stitch,” it is best to recall that “The Lion King” and “The Jungle Book” mostly aren’t live-action at all. “Lilo & Stitch” may have to bring us an animated Stitch, but otherwise the characters will be live action. The original animated film was one of Disney’s bigger surprise successes, so we’re glad it got to get into the mix for a live-action remake.

Late in 2023, the talk was that Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio were going to be joining forces for a “Karate Kid” movie and that a wide-scale casting effort was in the works to find the new karate kid. Plans for a 2024 release did not come together, but now Ben Wang has been tapped for the titular role, Chan and Macchio are indeed in the movie, and “Karate Kid: Legends” offers up more confidence than “Untitled Karate Kid Sequel” did.

Inelegant title aside, “Ballerina” should be dumb fun. It stars Ana de Armas who could use a starring role. However, the “John Wick” spinoff was directed by Len Wiseman of “Underworld” fame. There’s no chance this movie is just straight-up good, but there’s a strong chance it is entertaining.

At least Pixar will throw us new ideas. “Elio” is co-directed by Domee Shi, who brought us the beloved “Turning Red.” It centers on a young boy who is accidentally beamed up into an intergalactic species meeting as the ambassador from Earth. Sounds like we’re primed for some fantastic creature designs! At least, we’d better be!

DreamWorks looked Disney dead in the eye and said, “We can do live-action versions of our animated movies as well.” That’s right “How to Train Your Dragon” is doing the live-action thing. The series was quite popular, and the movie will have dragons in it. Now it’s more like family-friendly “Game of Thrones,” and that feels like an easy sell.

“28 Days Later” was a zombie-movie sensation, and after skipping “28 Weeks Later,” Danny Boyle is back to direct. Alex Garland also returned to write the screenplay, but we’re less excited about that because that dude can be incredibly tedious if he’s not reeled in. The cast for “28 Years Later” is full of killers and the trailer got people hyped, so we have caught some contact hype from that.

It’s probably a good time for an F1 film, given that the racing league has become quite popular in the United States. It’s definitely a good time to deliver an F1 film starring Brad Pitt, one of the remaining movie stars out there. “F1” is also directed by Joseph Kosinski who helped “Top Gun: Maverick.” This could be the most-intense auto racing movie we’ve seen, and that sounds awesome.

We have a smidge of trepidation. In 2022 “M3GAN” was a Dumpuary gem. Amid the studio castoffs that get dumped on us in January and February the silly horror movie with just the amount of winking stood out and became a surprise hit. Now, “M3GAN 2.0” is being released at the end of June. It’s a studio summer release! Can it hang with the big guns? Will it be too winking? At least we’re still looking forward to finding out.

We’ll admit it: We thought this series was over. The last one brought the gangs together from the “Jurassic Park” and “Jurassic World” series. “Rebirth” does live up to its name. Scarlett Johansson and Mahershela Ali are the stars. Gareth Edwards, director of 2014’s “Godzilla” and “Rogue One” is the director. Maybe it’ll be good?

James Gunn left Marvel to become the new creative director of DC’s films for Warner Bros., and his first big swing is “Superman.” Gunn both wrote and directed this movie. He cast the largely-unknown David Corenswet as Superman. Gunn even brought his buddy Nathan Fillion in to play Green Lantern (yes, Sean Gunn has a small role as well). To the extent people are still invested in the superhero movie thing, “Superman” is the biggest movie of the summer, and probably of 2025.

Yeah, the last swing at the Smurfs yielded lackluster movies. This one was written by Pam Brady, though, who has done a lot of “South Park” stuff and wrote the first pass of “Hot Rod.” That is to say, she’s not afraid to get weird. The director Chris Miller helmed “Shrek the Third” and “Puss in Boots.” Yes, the cast is the usual collection of celebrities hired for their names, but also Amy Sedaris and Natasha Lyonne are in the mix. Let’s see how it goes.

Yes, they are doing the “Scream” for “I Know What You Did Last Summer.” Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt will be around to pass the torch to a new generation. While the movie doesn’t have a title yet, here’s a free pitch: “I’ll Always Remember What You Did That Summer.” It can’t be about last summer anymore, right?

All previous attempts to produce a good “Fantastic Four” movie have been unsuccessful. The last one effectively ended Josh Trank’s directorial career. Now, the Fantastic Four are back under Marvel’s umbrella at Disney. Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Eban Moss-Bachrach are playing the Fantastic Four. This will be the time it works out…right?

Honestly? Our excitement for “The Naked Gun” comes entirely from listening to “The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast.” Akiva Schaffer, one-third of The Lonely Island, directed “The Naked Gun.” Liam Neeson is playing the son of Frank Drebin. As long as every joke is wonderfully stupid we’ll be content.

“Freakier Friday” could be the “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” of 2025 i.e. the legacy sequel people aren’t so sure about that turns into a big hit. Jamie Lee Curtis has an Oscar now. Lindsay Lohan is acting fairly regularly. If the “Freaky Friday” fans come out, this one will be a story of the summer.

Well, this movie has already been re-titled, but “The Battle of Baktan Cross” probably wasn’t going to sell as well. What really matters to us is that this is the latest Paul Thomas Anderson movie, and every one of his films is worth getting excited for. That goes double after “Licorice Pizza” turned out so good. Some of the usual crew (including at least one Haim sister) is in the mix, but two names really stand out. “One Battle After Another” features both Regina Hall and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Look, we didn’t need a sequel to “Nobody,” but if one is being offered, we’re not going to decline. Bob Odenkirk gets to be an action star again! Sharon Stone and Colin Hanks join the cast. Maybe, even probably, this will be a slightly-less-good version of the first one, but we’re good with that.

Maggie Gyllenhaal wrote and directed a musical based in part on “The Bride of Frankenstein.” Yes, her musicals-loving brother Jake is in the cast. However, what’s key here is that Christian Bale is playing Frankenstein(‘s monster) and Jessie Buckley is the bride. It could be fun, or be a swing and a miss, but we appreciate the swing.

So. John Logan wrote the script for “The Aviator,” “Gladiator,” “Skyfall,” and many more. Anthony Fuqua has directed a lot of solid action flicks (including “The Equalizer” series). These two have joined forces for “Michael.” It is a cradle-to-grave biopic of Michael Jackson. His nephew Jaafar, a non-actor, is playing Jackson. Now, many a biopic has been made about a problematic person, but right now we have a lot of questions. This is a fascinating bit of business right here.

If you are familiar with the true-crime story of Jeffrey Manchester, aka Roofman, then you have a sense of what this crime drama is all about. Don’t worry, it’s not as dark as most true crime stuff, as Manchester was a robber by and large. “Roofman” feels like an Oscar play with Channing Tatum as Manchester and Kirsten Dunst in a lead role as well. Derek Cianfrance, director of “Blue Valentine” and “The Place Between the Pines” is directing his first film in almost a decade, and he doesn’t do populist fare, which also speaks to the Oscars element.

Hey, another “Tron” movie! These films don’t get trotted out with any frequency, with “Tron: Legacy” arriving in 2010. Jeff Bridges is back, of course, though likely in a cameo-adjacent role. We’ll eschew the Jared Leto of it all to note that Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith are both in this movie, and we like them both quite a bit as actors.

Granted, a combination of Ryan Reynolds, Jason Momoa, and Vince Vaughn headlining a movie could go either way. It could be fun, or it could be a lot. However, “Animal Friends” is a road-trip comedy mixing live action and animation and so maybe it will be a nice bit of comedy in October.

There’s a lot going on in “Good Fortune.” It’s a body-swap comedy and an alternate reality comedy. Keanu Reeves plays an angel who pulls off the body swap but loses his wings for it which then leads to his works being undone. Aziz Ansari co-stars, directs, and wrote the screenplay. The movie has a good cast, and it’s nice when Reeves gets to be funny, so let’s hope it isn’t too busy.

2021’s “Mortal Kombat” cracked the code, to a degree, by making an obvious decision: If you make a movie based on a hyper-violent video game, the movie should also be hyper-violent. Finally, we got the hard-R “Mortal Kombat” that gave us the gory nonsense we’ve wanted. The same director is back for the sequel, so we’re in good hands.

“Prey” cracked the code of the “Predator” sequel. You take the Predator and you drop him into some different point in time. “Prey” went well into the past, and now “Badlands” goes into the future. It appears this is a post-apocalyptic “Predator” movie, and with Elle Fanning in the mix, we’re intrigued.

Look, they’ve stretched this out too much. The first part of “Wicked” is pushing the time frame as is, and it was only the first part. They took a fairly-long musical and made it even more bloated. All that quibbling aside, the first movie was a huge hit and people are going to be hyped for the now-subtitled “For Good” in 2025. If “Wicked” doesn’t get the Oscars, it’s likely because they are waiting to divvy them out for the second part.

“Glen Powell: Movie Star” gets its first big test. Powell is taking on the Arnold Schwarzenegger role in “The Running Man.” You know, the movie about the killer game show. Notably, “The Running Man” is directed by Edgar Wright, looking for a bit of a bounce back after “Last Night in Soho” hit theaters with a shrug.

We haven’t really mentioned him yet, but he’s going to be all over 2025 so we should. Ke Huy Quan is popping up in a lot of movies that are on the docket. That includes joining Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman in the sequel to “Zootopia.” Just a reminder that the first film made over one billion dollars. It was a massive hit, so this sequel is significant.

“Big Jim” steps to the plate again. People bet against James Cameron and he shows them what’s up. Skepticism was high when Cameron said he was going to make a few sequels to “Avatar” and that he was filming the second and third movie back-to-back before the second one even came out. Why, to even break even “Way of Water” was going to have to make almost two billion! It made $2.320 billion. Now, it’s “Fire and Ash” hitting theaters. Can Cameron do it again? Or will the whispers of “hubris” finally come to fruition?

Just before Christmas, we get the fourth theatrical “SpongeBob SquarePants” movie. SpongeBob will be squaring off with the pirate ghost the Flying Dutchman. Notably, for the purposes of this film, the Dutchman is being voiced by Mark Hamill. While this film seems to have nothing to do with the holidays, it could make fine family fare for those looking to hit the theaters.

We now, fittingly, shift to television. Whatever you think of Tim Allen personally, he’s a minted sitcom star. The cast for “Shifting Gears” also features Kat Dennings, who is no sitcom slouch herself, as well as Seann William Scott. It does seem like this show is “What if Tim Taylor was a grandfather?” but that’s not the worst idea for a network sitcom.

With “Yellowstone” heading off into the sunset, maybe Netflix is trying to grab some of that audience. “American Primeval” is a Western coming to the streaming giant featuring a cast of notable faces and familiar names, but with no out-and-out star. Peter Berg, a frequent collaborator with Mark Wahlberg on action movies, is directing this show, which could go either way, but it does speak to the investment that Netflix is making on getting into the Western space again.

The Dick Wolf procedural machine heads to Amazon Prime. “On Call” is the latest offering from the production behemoth that has given us the “Law & Order” universe and the various Chicago shows. “On Call” is a medical drama about a training officer and her new rookie partner handling medical emergencies, so it feels like it will be very “case of the week” in nature.

How do you keep mining Sherlock Holmes (and those books are in the public domain so mining that world is lucrative)? How about focusing on John Watson? After all, Watson was a medical doctor. In CBS’ “Watson,” Morris Chestnut plays a version of Watson dealing with the fallout from the deaths of Sherlock and his archenemy Professor Moriarty. If you know anything about Sherlock, you know how that turns out. For now, though, “Watson” is set to be a medical drama with a smidge of mystery in the mix.

Details on “Paradise” are a bit scant. What we do know is that the thought is that it is about the security guard of a former president. More concretely, the Hulu show was created by Dan Fogelman of “This is Us” fame and stars “This is Us” alum Sterling K. Brown. Frankly, having Brown for the lead role is enough for us.

Did you like the Disney+ show “What If…?” Then “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” is for you. The animated show posits a world where Norman Osborn mentors young Peter Parker, as opposed to Tony Stark as established in the MCU. It allows for some variety in yet-another Spider-Man project, and the fact it’s animated gives it a little flair as well.

Adult Swim’s original programming hasn’t really clicked with a hit since “Rick and Morty,” but maybe “Common Side Effects” can make it work. The show is a half-hour comedy with some actual plot to it, which may help. Among its producers are the guys who gave us “King of the Hill,” Greg Daniels and Mike Judge. Judge even voices the villain of the show. “Common Side Effects” was also co-created by Steve Hely, which is a name we remember from back when Twitter was fun. There’s more to get intrigued by here than most Adult Swim shows.

It’s been a minute that we’ve been waiting on “Win or Lose.” Originally, it was going to be a 2023 release. Then, it got pushed to 2024. Then, Disney+ swapped “Win or Lose” with “Dream Productions,” which we understand. “Dream Productions” got to draft off “Inside Out 2” that way. “Win or Lose” is an animated sports comedy that interestingly is doing a “Rashomon” thing in which every episode tells the story of the big game from the perspective of a different member of a middle-school softball team.

We’re oh-so-close to closing the gap between film and TV for good. Robert De Niro is starring in a TV show. Only a few movie stars have yet to make that leap. Having De Niro in a Netflix show is a good starting point, but this conspiracy thriller has a killer cast, so even if De Niro wasn’t in the mix we’d be looking forward to this one.

Daredevil gets to be part of the MCU and the Disney family while remaining as Daredevil as ever. Before the Disney days, Charlie Cox’s Daredevil headlined Netflix’s gritty, adult Marvel superhero shows. While “Born Again” will be lighter than the TV-MA of the Netflix show, that doesn’t mean it’s going to be “Ant-Man” now.

We have to mention “The Studio,” but we also feel like voicing concern. The Apple TV+ show was co-created, in part, by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, and the things those two have written together are profoundly asinine. Fortunately, they only handled the writing on one episode solo and the cast looks great. Catherine O’Hara and Kathryn Hahn cover a lot of sins.

With Cinemax no longer at his disposal, Jonathan Tropper moves to Apple TV+. He’s the guy who created “Banshee” and “Warrior” and we can only hope that “Your Friends and Neighbors” will be the right side of lunkheaded like those two shows. Jon Hamm plays a hedge fund manager who starts to navigate the criminal landscape to maintain a lavish lifestyle for his family.

If you love the “Devil May Cry” video game series, as many do, then you’re excited for this. If you have never played any of those games, you might still enjoy it. A couple trailers for the animated show have dropped already, so if you aren’t well-versed, then you can check those out and try and parse the background details and get ready for the Netflix show.

When that first planned “Game of Thrones” spinoff got axed, there was reason for worry. Then, “House of the Dragon” took off with gusto and all was right in the world of Westeros. Former rugby player Peter Claffey is playing Ser Duncan the Tall, and this series is based on George R.R. Martin’s novella “Tales of Dunk and Egg.” Clearly people are still into the “Game of Thrones” world, so this show is going to be in the chatter out there.

Trying to take a bigger-picture view of Wakanda in the “Black Panther” sequel didn’t fully work out, but to be fair that movie was pieced together in the wake of tragedy. “Eyes of Wakanda” was able to be crafted without anybody’s backs against the wall. Also, it seems there will be time travel. The Hatut Zaraze, those famed warriors of Wakanda, will be traveling through (MCU) history to find vibranium. It’s animated, so the show can really let loose.

If you thought the zombie episode of “What If…?” was a ton of fun, we have good news for you. This show is basically that, but a series. Disney was able to get an assortment of names from the MCU to lend their voices to their characters, and many a Marvel hero and villain will be appearing as zombies. There’s some novelty to that, to be sure.

First, we’ll say this: We don’t think every single one of these Marvel shows will be good. Almost certainly a couple of them will flop. We just don’t know which ones. “Wonder Man” is the one we have the least sense of. In a bold swing, this limited series has cast Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Simon Williams, aka Wonder Man. That’s notable because he played Black Manta in DC’s Aquaman movies. It also seems like “Wonder Man” will be a comedy, as the premise is that Williams has superpowers but he works as an actor and stuntman and decides to go out for the lead role in a superhero series.

Joe Dante’s “The ‘Burbs” is a really good movie, and based on his social media activity in the wake of the show’s announcement he has nothing to do with the show. That’s a shame, and hopefully that has changed/will change. There’s fodder for a series in the premise of “The ‘Burbs” and the casting of Keke Palmer in the lead role is interesting.

This show might end up being called “Wycaro 339,” but it is going to be sold on being the next show from Vince Gilligan. He gave us “Breaking Bad!” And sort of “Better Call Saul!” And we’ve all forgotten “Battle Creek” happened! Gilligan is working with Rhea Seehorn from “Better Call Saul,” and that’s good enough for us.

Yes, this USA show is based on the John Grisham novel. Yes, Grisham’s style is kind of perfect for the USA network’s style. We don’t envision “The Rainmaker” as Emmy bait by any means, but it should be slick fun if it is handled properly. Now, let’s get “The Pelican Brief” adapted to TV!

Asterix and Obelix are super popular in France, and so they are popular in Europe. Of course, we may now need two hands to count the number of times we’ve made that point when discussing some attempt to get Asterisk and Obelix to click in America. Maybe this Netflix show will make it happen. Or maybe we will be doing the “big in France” thing again in the future.

It would appear that “Golf” is poking fun at the LIV tournament, since it is about a pro golfer who leaves the PGA to be the face of a “controversial” new competitor. What we do know is that Will Ferrell is playing that golfer. Hey, Ferrell is back to playing dumb, arrogant athletes! Everything old is new again.

“Avatar: The Last Airbender” was a hit for Nickelodeon with a lot of legs in terms of that fandom. It’s the favorite Nick show of many people of a certain age. Are they now all too old to return to Nickelodeon to watch this sequel series? We’d guess “no,” and there will be new fans anyway. If this sequel hits the same quality, it will click.

While Paramount+ cleared the deck of several “Star Trek” shows in 2024, it wasn’t to give up the ghost on this cash cow. Fittingly for a revamping of the “Star Trek” slate, “Starfleet Academy” is about a new series of recruits to the titular academy. They also got Holly Hunter to play the head of Starfleet, and she’s got an Oscar and multiple Emmys so they are doing just fine.

The escape hatch for “Glen Powell: Movie Star.” Powell co-created, co-wrote, and is starring in “Chad Powers” for Hulu. Weirdly, “Chad Powers” is a fine companion to “Hit Man.” Do you remember when Eli Manning disguised himself as Chad Powers, walk-on quarterback for a hidden-camera comedy piece? That was the inspiration for this show. Powell plays a guy who tanks his career with his behavior and remakes/disguises himself as Chad Powers to walk on at a Southern college.

What happened between “Star Trek: The Original Series” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation?” Apparently, within the canonical universe, this has been a “lost era.” Now, it will be found in this direct-to-Paramount+ movie that is presented itself as a TV movie. Michelle Yeoh is reprising her role from “Star Trek: Discovery” and joins a secret division of Starfleet to do, you know, secret division stuff.

Maybe, possibly, potentially, “six seasons and a movie” will finally come to fruition. Had it been easy, it wouldn’t have been apt for “Community.” Work on the Community movie began in 2021. Peacock greenlit it in 2022. It began shooting…never. There is talk that it will finally shoot early in 2025 and thus finally arrive on Peacock. If we’re including “Community: The Movie” on this list for 2026, we won’t be surprised.

On February 16, 2025, “Saturday Night Live” is celebrating its 50th anniversary. We can only assume they will be pulling out all the stops. Every beloved host, every available cast member, every iconic character, they will be trotted out. It is going to be like that last massive anniversary special, but even bigger. After all, it’s not like Lorne Michaels will be around for the 75th anniversary.

We have a few returns that feel fresh enough, and significant enough, to warrant mentioning. The NBA rights battle was weirdly well-covered. Turner Sports lost the NBA, but NBC regained it. The league has not been on NBC since 2002, and people are excited. Network television is kind of where sports leagues need to be these days. Also, people just want to hear “Roundball Rock” again.

After years of being a rerun staple, “King of the Hill” is returning. It’s original run was lengthy enough as is, lasting 13 seasons and 259 episodes on FOX. Evidently, that wasn’t enough, as the Hills are returning. “King of the Hill” was announced as returning in January 2023, but animation can take some time to get percolating. Notably, the show will now be on Hulu, not FOX. It will have been 15 years since the presumed series finale. How will “King of the Hill” fare now?

Summer vacation is back on! “Phineas and Ferb” was a Disney show that focused on two stepbrothers using seemingly unlimited resources to have the best summer vacation ever. It’s legitimately a funny show, family friendly but not tedious for adults with critical comedic taste. The show ended its run in 2015, but Phineas, Ferb, and presumably Perry the Platypus are returning in 2025. It will be airing on Disney+, where plenty of people have probably found the original show already.

Every season of “The Terror” is an anthology. The first season was quite good. The second season was a miss. Where will the third season, “Devil in Silver,” fall? We don’t know the plot, but there are new showrunners, and Dan Stevens is the lead, and both of those are good things.

The album offerings always make up the slightest section of this list, but they still get some love. Franz Ferdinand has been popping up some recently, because they are prepping for the release of their first album since 2018. The Scottish rock band was part of the rise-of-Pitchfork era in the middle of the 2000s, but they have continued to create, craft, and evolve. Now, they arrive at “The Human Fear, which will also feature a new drummer for the band.

In the world of hip-hop, sometimes it feels like dying makes you more prolific. A dark assertion, to be sure, but not entirely inaccurate. Mac Miller is another example of that. The rapper died in 2018, the same year that his album “Swimming” came out. “Balloonerism” is the second posthumous Miller album, and his seventh total.

The Weeknd is just in the music firmament now. We blinked and he was there. Also, fortunately he hasn’t focused on acting after starring in “The Idol,” because watching that gives one a real “Don’t quit your day job” feel. “Hurry Up Tomorrow” is the Canadian musician’s sixth album, and gets The Weeknd back to doing what he does best.

It would behoove Lady Gaga to get things back on track. “Joker: Folie a Deux” did not pan out. Some did say Gaga didn’t come out too poorly in all that, but we find that to be wishful thinking based on Gaga fandom. Well, those folks hopefully won’t have to bend over backwards to defend her 2025 album, which doesn’t have a title, or a release date, but can comfortably be expected.

What does Lana Del Ray do now that she’s married to that guy who does gator tours? They may also be croc tours not gator tours? We don’t actually care. “The Right Person Will Stay” purportedly sees Lana Del Rey staying in that countrified space of her last album. There seems to be a lot of that going around, but it isn’t always a bad thing.

Fittingly, we go from Lana Dey Rey to video games. The hack-and-slash “Dynasty Warriors” series continues here in 2025. These games are based on the 14th century Chinese novel “Romance of the Three Kingdoms,” which clearly offers up plenty of fodder. Word is “Origins” is going into detail on some of the early elements of that novel, which is a change of pace.

Hey, an original, non-sequel video game! Before movies went sequel mad, video games were well down that road. “Eternal Strands” sees you playing a warrior with a magical cloak seeking a lost civilization and facing various baddies. It’s not reinventing the wheel, but at least it has something fresh to it.

“Phantom Brave” came out in 2004, and now many years later it is getting a sequel. In this RPG game, the protagonists of the first game, Marona and Ash, are back, and this time they are facing ghost pirates. Are any of them voiced by Mark Hamill? Play “The Lost Hero” to find out!

“Citizen Sleeper” takes the RPG of it all to an even higher level, as you roll dice like you’re playing “Dungeons & Dragons” or something. There’s a lot of sci-fi stuff to it that would take a lot of explaining, but “Citizen Sleeper” was critically acclaimed and award winning. Though it only came out in 2022, the sequel “Starward Vector” is primed to arrive in 2025.

Henry from Skalitz is back! The blacksmith from Bohemia’s adventures continue in this sequel game. “Deliverance II” purportedly picks up immediately where the first game left off. Expect more of the same from this open-world RPG series, but of course if you liked the first game, that’s probably what you want.

We just like the fact they are still making “Civilization” games. The first one came out in 1991. Now, here we are, almost 35 years later. We are getting the seventh iteration of “Civilization” in 2025 and even if mostly what changes are the consoles and the graphics, it’s all good with us.

Sequel fatigue or not, we still pay attention when a new “Assassin’s Creed” game is coming out. “Shadows” takes place in 16th-century Japan and you can play as a ninja or a samurai. Yeah, that sounds about right. You know the drill, and you’re looking forward to seeing how the whole thing plays out this time.

“Avowed” seems unchill. The game artwork is pretty out there and evocative, and the first image we saw of the game was the protagonist fighting a bear with some nasty mutational infection. “Avowed” is not a sequel to “Pillars of Eternity,” but it takes place in the same universe, if you are familiar with that game at all.

This is the sixth game in the “Monster Hunter” series, so we know how it goes by this point. However, by this point the open world of these games are so massive that we don’t feel tired with hunting monsters yet. Now, apparently the game allows you to remove spider boogens if you are afraid of spiders, which is profoundly silly, but also impressive.

In 1957, the worst nuclear disaster in English history happened. “Atomfall” presupposes that it was much worse. In this world, Northern England is a radioactive quarantine zone, and it’s up to you as the game’s protagonist to survive. A British take on nuclear fallout sounds pretty interesting, and survival games can be some good, intense fun.

When fury gets fatal, you know it’s serious. While this is a fighting game, it’s also notable “City of the Wolves” is dropping in 2025. The last game in the “Fatal Fury” series came out in 1999. Yeah, video games have come a long way since then.

In 2020, we took a journey to the savage planet. Now, in 2025, the savage planet gets revenge. The tongue-in-cheek adventure series mixes lush graphics with weapons such as acid grenades. “Revenge of the Savage Planet” should be able to stand out even among many games of a similar ilk.

“Borderlands” needs a rebound as much as Lady Gaga. The attempt to make a “Borderlands” movie in 2024 proved disastrous. That’s the end of that, so the world of “Borderlands” will have to press on in video game form only. If the fourth game is well-received, it will all come out in the wash.

We don’t know anything specific about this game. We just know that a “Carmen Sandiego” game is scheduled to be released in the first quarter of 2025 across all the various platforms. That includes the Nintendo Switch and the PlayStation 5. It’s a Carmen Sandiego game, that’s all we really need to know. Carmen Sandiego games rule.

Hideo Kojima has a new game coming out. That’s going to make people super excited. “Death Stranding” was exceedingly popular. People loved it. It was critically adored. Expectations for this sequel are sky high. No game is going to get people intrigued more in 2025.

A “Doom” prequel? Eh, the series has been going on for so long, why not? You still get to do the “Doom” stuff. You still get to have a bunch of weapons and fight the monsters of Hell. What more could you reasonably want? If they decide to throw a smidge more back story into the mix, we can handle it. Just don’t get in the way of us shooting our giant guns.

For those who prefer to build back up after the apocalypse instead of merely surviving, there’s “Frostpunk 2.” Set 30 years after the first game, you’re in charge of New London in 1916 and rebuilding the city in the wake of an apocalyptic volcanic winter. It’s a little more involved than “SimCity,” but scratches the same itch.

We end with a reminder that even if Marvel is not necessarily at the pinnacle of culture and at the center of the zeitgeist, it has not gone anywhere. This period piece (you can guess when it is set) allows you to play as Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, or the Black Panther of 1943, Azzuri. And, of course, you fight Hydra, which is like fighting Nazis but more supernatural and you don’t have to look at Nazi insignias for hours on end. The game is based on a run in the comics, which should help from a story perspective.