by David Slifer

In the world of cinema and Hollywood, many studios have been in the process of promoting their upcoming projects for the rest of 2025 and early to middle of 2026. As the school year comes to a close and summer break starts, there will be a very decent variety of films to go to the theatre and watch.  

Disney this year had a few films promoted this year. A few movies announced are the live action “Lilo & Stitch,” “Tron: Ares,” “Thunderbolts*,” “Fantastic Four: First Steps,” and “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.” “Tron: Ares” is the third installment in the Tron franchise and will star Jared Leto and Jeff Bridges. Marvel Studios made up a big portion of Disney’s lineup as they prepare to drop “Thunderbolts*” on May 2 and “Fantastic Four: First Steps” on July 25. “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” will be releasing July 31, 2026. 

Warner Brothers did not have much this year as they only promoted “Superman, F1, Sinners and Mortal Kombat 2.” Superman released a five minute sneak peak of the film, making it also an extended version of the trailer we got back in December. This film will be the first film of the newly reboot DC Cinematic Universe and will star David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan and Nicholas Hoult. F1 stars Brad Pitt and will follow his character Sonny Hayes, a former Formula One racer who becomes a mentor to a new team. Sinners is a film directed by Ryan Coolger, best known for directing both Black Panther films and “Creed.” The film stars Michael B. Jordan and Hailee Steinfeld and has had phenomenal reviews from critics and is set to be to first project from Warner to release this season. “Mortal Kombat 2” will release as the sequel to the 2021 installment “Mortal Kombat.” The film will introduce one of the games fan favorite characters Johnny Cage played by Karl Urban. 

Sony announced four “Beatles” movie each following one of the four members. They have also finally announced the release date for the third Spider-Verse film, “Beyond the Spider-Verse,”though not much was said about the projects. On the bright side were given the cast of the Beatles films. The four band members will be played by Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison and Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr. Although they were announced this year this year, the biopics will not be released until 2028. The release date for “Beyond the Spider-Verse” is June 4, 2027. 

Universal had a good variety this year with many different genres spread out. The films listed are a part of their announcement. These are not all the films they promoted. They will be releasing “Jurassic World: Rebirth,” “MEGAN 2.0,” “Five Night’s at Freddy’s 2,” the live action “How to Train Your Dragon,” “Wicked for Good” and “Shrek 5.” Jurassic World: Rebirth will be the seventh installment of the Jurassic franchise. “MEGAN 2.0” will continue on from the end of the last film. Five Night’s at Freddy’s will star Matthew Lillard and Josh Hutcherson as they reprise the roles and continue their journeys in this continuing franchise. Many people are excited about the live action How to Train Your Dragon and Wicked for Good. Lastly, we will get the fifth Shrek film with the entire original cast returning. 

With many projects announced, we have a lot to look forward to this year and the next few years.