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Electric Boogaloo. Die Harder. 2 Fast 2 Furious. Movie continuations are a wonderful thing, if only because they give us these wonderful titles.
Sadly, 2025 doesn’t offer anything quite so iconic in the way of nomenclature, but it does feature plenty of sequels and prequels that check in on our favorite movie characters. Whether it’s Renée Zellweger’s Bridget Jones back for another awkward outing or John Kramer continuing his unique form of self-help, 2025 is full of continuing stories and first chapters.
Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy (Feb 14)
What started as a modern update on Pride and Prejudice has taken on a life of its own, as the never-not-nervous Bridget Jones continues to make the worst possible decisions. Nine years after the third installment, Bridget Jones’s Baby, Renée Zellweger’s beloved character now lives as a widowed mother of two and finds herself once again courted by two suitors.
This time, the potentials include the much younger but also incredibly handsome Roxster (Leo Woodall) and the more age-appropriate and also incredibly handsome Mr. Wallaker (Chiwetel Ejiofor). Of course, her old interests Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) and Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) are still around, although the latter in the form of a ghost.
Paddington in Peru (Feb 14)
Paddington the Bear taught us that if we’re kind and polite, the world will be right. Well, the world is certainly not right, so it’s a good thing that Paddington’s back with more words of comfort and wisdom.
Paddington in Peru sends Paddington (voiced with warmth and kindness by Ben Wishaw) and his adoptive family the Browns to Peru, where he comes to the aid of his wise Aunt Lucy. Paul King, who directed Paddington’s first two outings, sits out this adventure and music video veteran Dougal Wilson steps in. UK viewers, who got to see Paddington in Peru in November 2024, didn’t mind the change, as it currently sits at 92% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Final Destination: Bloodlines (May 16)
Unlike most series on this list, time doesn’t diminish the power of the Final Destination franchise. After all, Death never ages. And that’s a good thing too, since it’s been 14 years since the last entry, the excellent Final Destination 5. Even better, Final Destination: Bloodlines features one last appearance by Tony Todd as knowing mortician William Bludworth, before the actor’s untimely death last year.
Outside of that, we don’t know much about Bloodlines. Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein step in as directors, having earned a Daytime Emmy nomination for the Disney XD series Mech-X4. Stargirl‘s Brec Bassinger takes the lead, but the real star of a Final Destination movie is always the invisible presence of Death and the outlandish ways it kills people.
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (May 23)
“Our lives are not defined by any one action,” intones IMF computer whiz Luther (Ving Rhames) at the start of the trailer for Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning. It’s a good thing that the Mission: Impossible movies have lots and lots actions to choose from.
Still, it’s clear that The Final Reckoning intends to put a definite note on the series. Originally titled Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two, The Final Reckoning isn’t just about Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) facing off against an evil AI called the Entity. It also serves as a summation of Hunt’s career, alongside old friends Luther and Benji (Simon Pegg), as well as new edition Grace (Hayley Atwell).
Karate Kid: Legends (May 30)
We know the reason that studios like legacy sequels, as the name recognition all but guarantees an audience. At the same time, legacy sequels sometimes obscure the fact that, if a concept is good enough, then people will show up regardless of who’s involved.
That’s certainly the case with Karate Kid: Legends. Yes, the legacy sequel pairs original kid Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio), most recently seen on Cobra Kai, with Jackie Chan as Mr. Han, the teacher in the 2010 reboot movie The Karate Kid. But the real appeal is always going to be the story of a youngster learning how to do cool martial arts, in this case Li Fong (Ben Wang).
The Accountant 2 (April 25)
Lots of movies have tried to present autism as some sort of superpower, but few have pulled it off like The Accountant (2016). Directed by Gavin O’Connor, The Accountant stars Ben Affleck as a man whose tendencies make him excellent as an accountant for criminal organizations, until he’s forced to work for the Treasury Department by Director King (J.K. Simmons).
The film has become something of a cult favorite since its initial release, leading the way to The Accountant 2, once against directed by O’Connor and starring Affleck. The Account 2 finds Affleck’s Christian Wolff teaming with his brother Brax (Jon Bernthal) to investigate the death of a friend. Anna Kendrick, who played a woman in peril in the first film, does not return, replaced by Daniella Pineda.
From the World of John Wick: Ballerina (June 6)
Half the fun of the John Wick franchise has been the slow revelation of the byzantine assassin network that gets fleshed out with each film in the series. At least, that’s what Lionsgate is counting on, given that they can’t really keep making movies about Keanu Reeves’s dog-lover/hired killer.
From the World of John Wick: Ballerina (yes, that is the official title and therefore it must be always used) switches gears from Wick to Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas), a dancer learning the ways of the Ruska Roma killers. Because its set between Chapters 3 and 4 of John Wick, Reeves will appear as Wick, as will Ian McShane as Winston and the late, great Lance Reddick as Charon.
28 Years Later (June 20)
28 Years Later ranks high on the most anticipated movies on this list, in part because of the delay between its release and the original 28 Days Later in 2002 (no disrespect to the solid but less effective 2007 sequel 28 Weeks Later, directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo). It also ranks high because 28 Years Later marks a new collaboration between director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland, the latter of whom has moved on to making his own features, such as last year’s Civil War.
That said, one person who won’t be returning for the sequel is Cillian Murphy, contrary to initial reports. Instead, 28 Years Later will follow a man played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who must leave his peaceful island home and brave the Rage Virus-infested mainland. Along the way, he’ll meet fellow survivors played by Ralph Fiennes and Jodie Comer.
M3GAN 2.0 (June 27)
At this point, we still don’t know anything about the plot to M3GAN 2.0, Blumhouse’s follow-up to the surprise hit about an AI doll that gets a little murder-y when protecting orphan Cady (Violet McGraw), even if it means killing Cady’s aunt and M3GAN‘s creator Gemma (Allison Williams).
Still, Blumhouse seems determined to stick to the formula of the first movie. Gerard Johnstone and Akela Cooper return to direct and write, respectively, and the addition of Jemaine Clement to the cast suggests that they’ll keep the comedic tone. We’ll also get a focus on practical effects, with dancer Amie Donald giving M3GAN her uncanny body language, while YouTuber Jenna Davis is back as the doll’s voice.
Jurassic World: Rebirth (July 2)
Like Karate Kid: Legends, Jurassic World: Rebirth seems like a legacy sequel that misses the primary appeal of its movie. If you make a cool dinosaur movie, we’ll probably go and see it. Dinosaurs are awesome (it does, however, have to be a cool dinosaur movie—something the makers of 65 forgot).
Jurassic World: Rebirth will certainly have cool dinosaurs, especially since it comes from director Gareth Edwards. Evans got his start on the impressive looking indie Monsters, which got him a gig directing the MonsterVerse Godzilla. However, it also has big name stars such as Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali, and it builds off the events of Jurassic World: Dominion, all of which might distract from the joy of just seeing thunder lizards on screen.
I Know What You Did Last Summer (July 18)
Okay, this one might not actually fit on this list, because we’re not 100% if I Know What You Did Last Summer is a sequel or a reboot. Heck, we’re not even completely sure if the movie’s going to be called I Know What You Did Last Summer.
Initial reports suggested that the film would be a reboot/remake, with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson directing the story of teenagers, led by Madelyn Cline of Glass Onion, hunted by a killer who knows their dirty secret. But now, original stars Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze, Jr. have joined the cast, which indicates a continuation of the first film, which already had multiple sequels. Just how many yellow-coated stragglers did these people kill?
The Bad Guys 2 (August 1)
Based on the kid’s book by Aaron Blabey, The Bad Guys was a unexpected family hit for DreamWorks, thanks to its slick presentation and evergreen story about villains doing the right thing. That’s enough to justify a sequel, coming later this Summer.
The Bad Guys 2 reunites Mr. Wolf (Sam Rockwell), Mr. Snake (Marc Maron), Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson), Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos), and Ms. Tarantula (Awkwafina). This time, the team meets its match in the Bad Girls, a rival team voiced by Danielle Brooks, Natasha Lyonne, and Maria Bakalova.
Freakier Friday (August 8)
Jamie Lee Curtis takes a break from reprising her role as Laurie Strode to reprise a very different beloved character, Tess Coleman. The mother of Anna Coleman (Lindsay Lohan), Tess got to know her daughter real well when the two of them swapped bodies in the 2003 comedy Freaky Friday.
Late Night and The High Note director Nisha Ganatra checks in on the Colemans 20 years later, when they swap bodies once again. Most of the original movie’s cast returns, including Mark Harmon as Tess’s husband and Chad Michael Murray as Anna’s (ex?) boyfriend Jake. They’ll be joined by Julia Butters (best known as the littlest acting judge in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood) and Manny Jacinto from The Good Place and The Acolyte.
Nobody 2 (August 15)
The strange late-career of Bob Odenkirk continues with action movie Nobody 2. Unlike his slick loser Saul Goodman or his little-women-hugging dad, Odenkirk’s Nobody character Hutch Mansell is a former government assassin who just wants a normal life in the suburbs, but must take up killing after a drug lord threatens his family.
Derek Kolstad, co-creator of John Wick and writer of the first film, returns as one of the writers for Nobody 2, which puts Hutch on a new mission. Indonesian action director Timothy Tjahjanto takes over for this adventure, which adds to the cast Chris Pine, McKenna Grace, and John Ortiz.
Thread: An Insidious Tale (August 29)
Initially, it looked like Insidious: The Red Door would close the Insidious franchise in 2023. But that movie turned a profit that Blumhouse couldn’t ignore, resulting in a return visit to the supernatural world that James Wan and Leigh Whannell created with Insidious in 2010.
As its title suggests, Thread: An Insidious Tale won’t focus on the Lambert family nor on investigator Elise Rainier. Instead, Mandy Moore and Kumail Nanjiani will play new characters, in a film written and directed by Jeremy Slater, writer of Fantastic Four (2015) and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.
The Conjuring: Last Rites (September 5)
Insidious isn’t the only James Wan movie to get a sequel in 2025. The Conjuring universe continues with a fourth entry in the mainline series, The Conjuring: Last Rites.
Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga are back as real-world investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. Wan has stated that Last Rites will put an end to the duo’s adventures, which may or may not mean that the movie’s adapting one of the final cases of the actual Warrens. Michael Chaves, who made lesser Conjuring Universe entries The Curse of La Llorona and The Nun II, returns to direct, having made The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.
Downton Abbey 3 (September 12)
The Downton Abbey movies from 2019 and 2022 felt like delightful bonuses, one last chance to visit the Crawleys and the people who work in the titular house. 2022’s Downton Abbey: A New Era felt like the end of the story, with matriarch Lady Violet dying at the end of the film, before the actor Maggie Smith’s own passing in 2024.
But this fall sees a new Downton Abbey film, one that brings back creator Julian Fellowes and director Simon Curtis, as well as the principal cast, including Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern as Robert and Cora Crawly, Michelle Dockery and Laura Carmichael as their daughters Mary and Edith, and Jim Carter and Phyllis Logan as chief servants Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes. Paul Giamatti returns as Cora’s brother Harold Levinson.
Saw XI (September 26)
Another month, another sequel to a James Wan and Leigh Whannel movie! When Saw X proved an unlikely hit in 2023, production began on Saw XI, with Kevin Greutert directing and Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan writing.
Yet, we don’t have any idea what Saw XI will be about, or even when it will take place. Before you get snotty and point out that Saw movies are just about gory kills, keep in mind that the series has an insanely layered narrative, one that keeps bringing Tobin Bell back to the series, even though his character John Kramer died at the end of the third film. Will Saw XI be another prequel, like its immediate predecessor? Or will we keep moving forward with new revelations? As long as Chris Rock’s not involved, everyone will certainly be happy.
Tron: Ares (October 10)
Tron and Tron: Legacy have a fairly straightforward premise. A human goes inside of a computer and discovers a world ruled by cool neon costumes. Tron: Ares seeks to flip the series on its head with an inverted story.
Directed by Joachim Rønning and written by Jesse Wigutow and Jack Thorne, Tron: Ares stars Jared Leto as Ares, a program who leaves the system and joins the real world. The reversal gives the film a chance to look at the way AI has bled into modern society, and hopefully won’t lose any of the franchise’s distinctive visuals.
The Black Phone 2 (October 17)
Extraneous and unlikely sequels are nothing new to the horror genre (see: the Saw XI entry above). But we’ve been scratching our heads ever since director Scott Derrickson announced The Black Phone 2. After all, the 2021 original—co-written by Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill and based on a Joe Hill story—ended kind of definitively. Finney (Mason Thames) escaped the basement of the Grabber (Ethan Hawke), thanks to his psychic sister (Madeleine McGraw) and a phone that allowed him to communicate with past victims.
How the heck is Finney going to use another black phone? You know what, as long as Derrickson directs The Black Phone 2 with as much style as he did the original, and as long as we get more fantastic performances from the cast, we can probably stop worrying about the plot contrivances, just like we do for every other horror sequel.
Mortal Kombat 2 (October 24)
Here’s the thing about the 2021 Mortal Kombat movie directed by Simon McQuoid. It had a lot of good things going for it, including cool takes on classic characters Kano (Josh Lawson), Scorpion (Hiroyuki Sanada), and Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim). And it had a compelling lead in new character Cole Young (Lewis Tan).
But it didn’t actually feature the titular Mortal Kombat tournament, which is the whole point of the story. So hopefully Mortal Kombat 2, once again directed by McQuoid but now written by Jeremy Slater, can rectify the problem. They’re off to a good start with the addition of Karl Urban as Johnny Cage. If we can get some justice for Goro, too, then we might have the first good Mortal Kombat movie on our hands.
Predator: Badlands (November 7)
Director Dan Trachtenberg shocked everyone with Prey, a Predator sequel that pit a Comanche woman against an alien hunter in 1719. Hopefully, Trachtenberg can do the same with the follow-up Predator: Badlands.
Badlands leaps from the past to the far future, where Elle Fanning plays twin sisters trying to survive an apocalyptic wasteland. Early reports have suggested that the wasteland serves as a training ground for Predators, which sounds an awful lot like 2010’s underrated Predators. But it’s hard to believe that Trachtenberg doesn’t have something more unexpected in mind for this latest entry.
Now You See Me 3 (November 14)
With its third entry, Now You See Me is establishing itself as the mid-level blockbuster franchise that we rarely get these days, something that everyone sees, everyone enjoys, and then everyone seems to forget about, at least until the next one comes around.
Now You See Me 3 brings in Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer as the latest slick filmmaker to drive the series, taking over from Louis Leterrier on the first one and Jon M. Chu from the sequel. Fleischer reunites with mainstays Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson who, along with Mark Ruffalo, Isla Fischer, and Morgan Freeman, play magicians who pull off unlikely heists.
Wicked: For Good (November 21)
Speaking of Jon M. Chu, what’s he up to these days? Oh yeah, he made the third-biggest movie of 2024, Wicked. And he’s back for the second part of the Broadway musical, now titled Wicked: For Good.
Wicked: For Good picks up after Elphaba’s (Cynthia Erivo) gravity-defying rejection to help the duplicitous Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) and the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum as himself), leaving behind her popular friend Galinda (Ariana Grande). Musical fans have warned that the second act of Wicked pales in comparison to the first, but Chu’s convinced he’s got enough tricks to make For Good just as good as its predecessor.
Zootopia 2 (November 26)
Honestly, it feels a bit like tempting fate for Disney to return to the world of Zootopia. The first movie’s colorful visuals and excellent voice acting distracted from a creaky central metaphor that falls apart under the slightest scrutiny.
Still, there’s no denying that Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman created two of Disney’s best new characters, so we can’t get too grouchy about them returning for a second go. This time, they’ll be joined by Ke Huy Quan, the latest quarry for Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 (December 5)
To anyone over the age of 25, Five Nights at Freddy’s seems like a pretty basic premise, one that was exhausted in the first movie. There’s a scary pizza place, animatronics come to life, they spook the new watchman. We get it.
Anyone under the age of 25 can tell you that creator Scott Cawthon created a rich, spiraling mythology for the Five Nights at Freddy’s games. Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, which will feature Matthew Lillard again, is just bringing that mythology to life, adapting the second game in the long-running series.
The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants (December 19)
Given that The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004) has one of the funniest moments in cinematic history (“Goofy Goober Rock”), its hard to begrudge a fourth film in the franchise.
In this latest entry, SpongeBob (Tom Kenny) faces off with the mystical force known as the Flying Dutchman (Mark Hamill). What more do you need? There will be lots of absurdity, Patrick Star (Bill Fagerbakke) will be dumb, Squidward (Rodger Bumpass) will be grouchy, and you’ll still laugh like you did when you were six years old.
Avatar: Fire and Ash (December 19)
First, he gave you trees. Then, he gave you water. Now, Academy Award winner James Cameron gives you… fire! Yes, it’s easy to mock the Avatar series, which has been called Dances With Smurfs since its first outing in 2009. But as he’s proved then, and then again with 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water, and really throughout his career, no one does spectacle like James Cameron.
So we’ll stop pretending we’re too good for Avatar: Fire and Ash and instead we’ll get excited to see how Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), and Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) deal with Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang) this time. And we’ll get even more excited about how Cameron will push cinema forward by finding new ways to capture the allure of fire.
Dirty Dancing 2 (TBA)
For decades, Dirty Dancing‘s just been sitting in the corner, languishing while an NPR host’s script about the Cuban revolution got retrofitted and stripped of all character to become the disastrous Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (seriously, it’s a crazy story). Well no more!
Jennifer Grey is back as Baby Houseman, the young woman who came out of her shell in 1963, thanks to teacher Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze). Jonathan Levine, director of Long Shot and 50/50, will guide the new project, which is in production for Lionsgate.
The Strangers: Chapter 2 (TBA)
Among the many terrifying parts of The Strangers (2008) was the moment when a victim (Liv Tyler) asked the masked trio why they were torturing her and her boyfriend. “Because you were home,” comes the answer, chilling for its lack of meaning. Somehow, neither a sequel nor the reimagining The Strangers: Chapter 1 has ruined that moment by telling us too much about that killer.
And yet, despite the risk the series runs—and, honestly, despite the lukewarm response to The Strangers: Chapter 1, The Strangers: Chapter 2 continues siccing Scarecrow, Dollface, and Pin-up Girl on unsuspecting victims. Veteran Renny Harlin is back to continue the story, as is the last film’s survivor, played by Madelaine Petsch.
Happy Gilmore 2 (TBA)
Like the great Carl Weathers who played him, Chubbs Peterson might be up in heaven with an alligator and Abraham Lincoln, but Happy Gilmore lives on. Adam Sandler returns to the character he last played in 1996 for Happy Gilmore 2, alongside Julie Bowen as his love interest Virginia and Christopher McDonald as the pompous Shooter McGavin.
Back in 1996, Sandler’s absurd look at the world of professional golf seemed fresh and exciting. It will be interesting to see if Sandler, who’s dulled his comic persona with endless middling comedies, can find the fire needed to play a hockey player turned golf pro.
Wake Up Dead Man (TBA)
Even the most cynical movie-goer, the type of person who grouches about the endless sequels and dearth of originality in Hollywood, has to like the Knives Out movies. After all, they’re less continuing stories and more new mysteries each time, the sole connecting tissue being the Southern fried detective Benoit Blanc, played with droll charisma by Daniel Craig.
As with the previous outings Knives Out and Glass Onion, Rian Johnson has assembled a fantastic cast to play the suspects in Blanc’s latest whodunit. Newcomers include Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, and more. And surely, Johnson’s regulars Noah Segan and Joseph Gordon-Levitt will show up in some capacity. As long as Johnson keeps getting wonderful performances out of Craig, he’s free to make these movies until the end of time.
The post The Biggest Movie Sequels and Prequels Coming in 2025 appeared first on Den of Geek.
