With Netflix changing the movie industry like never before, and still way ahead of its rival streamers in terms of revenue to play with, 2025 is set to be the platform’s best year yet for feature-length releases. Its action thrillers have bigger stars than ever before, its book adaptations are getting even more ambitious, and it has some long-awaited sequels in store for fans of various franchises. Among these streaming movie treats, there are bound to be some films that take off into the stratosphere, becoming mᴀssive Netflix hits.

Last year saw several direct-to-Netflix movie releases find great success, including The Union starring Mark Wahlberg, Jeremy Saulnier’s Rebel Ridge, and Kevin Hart’s latest action comedy Lift. Already this year, Cameron Diaz has proven more popular than ever after ending her acting hiatus to star in Back in Action alongside Jamie Foxx, while Amy Schumer’s comedy Kinda Pregnant has just taken Netflix’s global number one spot. But things are just getting started. Here are 10 more movies scheduled for release on the platform between March and December 2025, which are almost guaranteed to become streaming smashes.

1

The Electric State

Releasing March 14

Netflix had better hope this ambitious dystopian comedy-drama is a mᴀssive hit – they’ve spent more than enough money for it to be one. The Electric State cost a whopping $320 million to make, with some stunning visual effects featuring alongside a stellar cast led by Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt.

The movie is an adaptation of Simon Stålenhag’s 2018 illustrated novel about an orphan and her robot friend searching for her brother in a post-apocalyptic world. The Russo brothers are directing, fresh from producing a string of innovative film successes off the back of their historic run directing record-breaking Marvel blockbusters. With expectations off-the-charts, their new release The Electric State is not to be missed.

2

Havoc

Releasing In Early 2025

Gareth Evans, the writer-director behind Gangs of London, is about to hit us where it hurts with a rollicking ride through another criminal underworld. He has Tom Hardy on board as Havoc’s lead actor, and Forest Whitaker supporting for good measure, to tell the story of a police detective trying to rescue the son of a politician from a city’s seedy underbelly before it’s too late.

This hard-hitting action thriller is absolutely guaranteed to be a big hit.

Based on Netflix’s three most-streamed live-action movies from last year, this hard-hitting action thriller is absolutely guaranteed to be a barnstormingly big hit. The only question is, how big? Moreover, will Havoc and Hardy earn the Netflix views they get from action fans?

3

Fear Street: Prom Queen

Releasing Mid-2025

This latest Fear Street is the fourth installment of the movie franchise adapted from R.L. Stine’s classic slasher novels. Netflix has had the rights to this franchise since its first movie, and will be looking to make the most of this latest chapter of the saga by releasing Fear Street: Prom Queen right around the time most high school seniors have their prom nights. That’s one way to spoil the party.

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It’s far from certain that this movie will take off. But Prom Queen and its ’80s setting might just have the right combination of long-term franchise fans, teen-friendly nostalgia, and two of the streaming world’s breakthrough stars from 2024, India Fowler and David Iacono, to spring a scary surprise at the top of Netflix’s summer charts. It’s likely that Fear Street will shadow viewers until it is.

4

The Old Guard 2

Releasing July 2

After the success of Gina Prince-Bythewood’s first Old Guard film on Netflix back in 2020, The Old Guard 2 is finally here five years later. A further adaptation of the superhero comic book series, with Charlize Theron reprising her role as Andromache “Andy” of Scythia, this sequel was mostly filmed in Rome’s Cinecittà Studios, implying that we could see a very different setting from where The Old Guard took place.

KiKi Layne, Marwan Kenzari, Matthias Schoenaerts and Luca Marinelli also return from the first movie, while Uma Thurman and Henry Golding are exciting new additions to the cast, in as yet unspecified roles. With The Old Guard 2’s release date now confirmed, director Victoria Mahoney has now completed her second feature film. If it’s anything like as ambitious as her first 14 years ago, there’ll be a fair few moments of unexpected brilliance in this one, too.

5

The Woman in Cabin 10

Releasing Late 2025

Australian theater director Simon Stone is directing Keira Knightley in her latest thriller movie, The Woman In Cabin 10, about a mysterious disappearance on a luxury cruise. Guy Pearce, Kaya Scodelairo and David Ajala also feature in a superb all-British cast, with the film sH๏τ entirely at sea, off the southern English coast on the superyacht Savannah.

If Knightley’s work in last year’s excellent spy thriller series Black Doves is anything to go by, then there’s a lot to look forward to in The Woman in Cabin 10.

Knightley’s most recent feature-length roles have been a distinctly mixed bag, although we have to go back to 2021 for her last part in a movie. On the other hand, if her work in last year’s excellent spy thriller series Black Doves is anything to go by, then there’s a lot to look forward to in The Woman in Cabin 10. Either way, the movie’s intriguing тιтle will surely pull its fair share of Netflix viewers in.

6

RIP

Releasing Fall 2025

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are reuniting in RIP to make it a perfect 10 for their feature-length collaborations. Yet RIP will be the first action movie that the pair have ever starred in together. It follows the work of Miami’s Tactical Narcotics Team, as they happen upon a giant stash of money in an abandoned house (via Tudum).

Affleck and Damon are both used to taking the lead in big-budget action movies, but they’ve never shared the spotlight as all-action leads.

It’ll be interesting to see how Affleck and Damon play off each other in their respective roles, given that both are used to taking the lead in big-budget action movies, but they’ve never shared the spotlight as all-action leads. With these two actors historically a mᴀssive draw for Netflix, and this movie fitting the template of last year’s most-watched, RIP could be an outside better for 2025 most-watched live-action feature on Netflix.

7

Happy Gilmore 2

Releasing Late 2025

Adam Sandler is back in one of his most beloved roles, as highly unorthodox PGA golfer Happy Gilmore. A lot’s changed in Sandler’s career since the original Happy Gilmore came out in 1996, not least his $250 million deal with a streaming platform that was still 11 years from being founded at that time. He’s branched out as an actor since then, too, with Sandler’s serious roles in acclaimed films like 2002’s Punch Drunk Love and 2019’s Uncut Gems each showing very different sides to his talent.

It’ll be interesting to see which sides of Sandler show in this sought-after sequel, where he’ll be reunited with some of his fellow cast members from the first movie, Julie Bowen, Christopher McDonald and Dennis Dugan. Ben Stiller and Bad Bunny will also appear at tee-off this time, though, as two of what will likely end up being several star cameos in Happy Gilmore 2.

8

Frankenstein

Releasing November 2025

Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio changed what was possible for stop-animated filmmaking back in 2022. More importantly, it changed the game for Netflix when it came to big-budget movies made primarily for their aesthetic value. Del Toro showed that he could attract millions of viewers, as well as acclaim, with a darker, more difficult version of Pinocchio’s story than Disney was able to offer up. So, the platform has essentially given him a blank cheque for his next project, a whole new adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

Tel Toro has promised to adhere to Shelley’s original novel more than any other adaptation of Frankenstein in history. The first images of Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi as the Monster he creates look suitably cinematic. It won’t have deterred Del Toro that another adaptation of Frankenstein – Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! – is coming out this year, either. A similar situation three years ago only made his Pinocchio look even better.

9

The Thursday Murder Club

Releasing In 2025

Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series is surely the literary phenomenon of the decade so far. Osman’s novels have sold over 10 million copies worldwide (via The Guardian), which is why Netflix will be thanking their lucky stars that they’ve got hold of the rights to feature-film adaptations of the series.

The Thursday Murder Club is not only Netflix’s most exciting upcoming movie, but is arguably going to be the movie industry’s biggest streaming event of the year. It doesn’t exactly temper expectations that a cast including Helen Mirren, Ben Kingsley, Jonathan Pryce, and Pierce Brosnan has been announced, or that Netflix are currently keeping the movie’s release date a closely guarded secret. It’s safe to ᴀssume that they have the Christmas holiday season in mind, though.

10

Wake Up ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Man: A Knives Out Mystery

Releasing In 2025

Another movie we can expect to see popping up on Netflix around that time is the latest installment of Rian Johnson’s Knives Out saga, starring Daniel Craig as detective Benoit Blanc. Netflix spent a whopping $469 million on a Knives Out deal that bought them movies, of which Wake Up ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Man is the second. The first, Glᴀss Onion, was released two days before Christmas in 2022. It was a phenomenal success throughout the holiday season, effectively proving that the streaming giant had made the right decision with their purchase.

In this third Knives Out mystery, Blanc has a new look, and travels to London for his next case. Netflix should start ratcheting up their promotional campaign far in advance of the movie’s release, and we expect to see an initial teaser trailer released by the end of the summer. With Blanc returning alongside the screen premiere of Osman’s series, it could be an almighty battle of the detectives for Netflix’s Christmas number-one spot. Stay tuned.

Sources: Tudum; The Guardian