My Most (And Least) Anticipated Movies Of 2025

Summary

The Matt Walsh Show: My Most (And Least) Anticipated Movies Of 2025

Release Date: February 17, 2025

In the February 17, 2025 episode of The Matt Walsh Show on The Daily Wire, host Matt Walsh dives deep into the cinematic landscape of 2025, sharing his top three most anticipated movies and his three least expected films for the year. Balancing enthusiasm with critical insight, Matt provides listeners with a comprehensive overview of what to look forward to and what to potentially avoid in the upcoming movie season.

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Most Anticipated Movies of 2025

1. Friendship

Starring: Tim Robbins and Paul Rudd
Release Date: May 2025

Matt kicks off his list with excitement for Friendship, highlighting its unique blend of humor and creepiness. The trailer, which Matt praises for its tonal confusion, features a scene where a character muses, “I see the future. It’s full of pals” (00:38). Matt remarks on the trailer’s ability to oscillate between funny and eerie, stating, “You either think that’s a funny line or you don’t” (02:10). He believes the film serves as the perfect vehicle for Tim Robbins, lauding his performance on his Netflix sketch show for its dark comedic edge. Drawing parallels to The Banshees of Inisherin, Matt anticipates Friendship as a dark comedy that subverts expectations and offers a fresh take on storytelling. Despite predicting a limited audience, Matt is committed to watching the film, emphasizing its promise as a “darker, Americanized, Tim Robbins-ized version” of similar genres.

2. 28 Years Later

Sequel to: 28 Days Later
Release Date: Summer 2025

Next on Matt’s list is 28 Years Later, the anticipated conclusion to the 28 Days Later trilogy. Although initially lukewarm about the franchise, Matt expresses newfound enthusiasm after viewing the trailer. The trailer’s incorporation of Rudyard Kipling’s poem, paired with vintage radio broadcasts, impressed Matt with its creative genius (06:32). He commends the trailer for capturing the film’s tone without revealing too much plot, allowing audiences to sense the film’s atmosphere through clever editing and music. Matt reflects on his experience in trailer production, appreciating the delicate balance required to entice viewers without oversharing. His appreciation for well-crafted trailers like this one underscores his excitement for a potentially revitalized conclusion to the beloved zombie apocalypse series.

3. Anaconda Remake

Starring: Paul Rudd and Jack Black
Release Date: Christmas 2025

Contrary to typical sequel patterns, Matt is surprisingly enthusiastic about the Anaconda remake. Originally a 1997 thriller featuring Jennifer Lopez and Jon Voight, Matt anticipates the new version to adopt a comedic tone, thanks to casting choices like Paul Rudd and Jack Black. He rationalizes his excitement by emphasizing that remakes should breathe new life into poorly executed originals, rather than rehashing classics. “This is exactly the proper utilization of the remake,” Matt asserts (06:13). He appreciates the updated CGI and the shift towards comedy, believing that revisiting a flawed premise with fresh talent and humor can transform the film into something enjoyable. Despite acknowledging that not everyone may share his enthusiasm, Matt stands by his anticipation of the film, viewing it as a smart move in the remaking landscape.

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Least Anticipated Movies of 2025

1. Minecraft Movie

Release Date: April 2025

Launching into his list of least anticipated films, Matt sharply criticizes the upcoming Minecraft movie. He derides it as “utterly soulless” and a blatant “cash grab” solely designed to exploit the popular video game’s intellectual property (12:50). Matt argues that the film’s inception, driven by corporate profit motives rather than creative storytelling, ensures its inevitable failure. He expresses disdain for the idea of adapting Minecraft into a movie, stating, “Nobody saw the Minecraft game and thought to themselves, wow, there’s a great story to tell here” (12:38). For Matt, the movie epitomizes the worst of modern Hollywood’s approach to franchise filmmaking, where the emphasis on profit overshadows artistic integrity. Consequently, he confidently predicts the film will be subpar, awarding it “zero stars” and asserting he will not watch it.

2. Jurassic World Rebirth

Release Date: Summer 2025

Matt’s scorn continues with the announcement of Jurassic World Rebirth, another installment in the ever-expanding Jurassic Park franchise. He vehemently criticizes the franchise’s persistent decline, highlighting the decline in special effects quality and the bloated, unengaging storylines (14:17). Matt nostalgically recalls the original Jurassic Park for its groundbreaking special effects and tight narrative, contrasting it with the current sequels that, in his view, lack character depth and compelling storytelling. He laments the shift from an intimate story of a few individuals stranded on an island to sprawling plots that attempt to escalate stakes artificially. “They keep making these damn Jurassic World things. This is the 90th one,” Matt declares (14:27). He underscores a fundamental issue with the sequels: the inability to connect with characters due to their poor writing and performance. For Matt, Jurassic World Rebirth epitomizes franchise fatigue and creative stagnation, warranting his disinterest and dismissal.

3. Fantastic Four Remake

Release Date: TBD 2025

Closing his list is the new Fantastic Four remake, which Matt staunchly opposes. He asserts that the superhero genre, particularly Fantastic Four, has reached oversaturation, with no room for fresh or impactful storytelling (19:48). Matt critiques the original Fantastic Four team as “lame” and underdeveloped, arguing that their powers and personalities lack the depth needed for compelling cinema. He elaborates, “They just suck. I don’t know… This stretchy guy, right? He’s just..." (19:30). Matt further mocks the practicality of their abilities in real-world scenarios, questioning the sincerity and effectiveness of their heroism. His disdain extends to the repetitive nature of superhero narratives, which he feels offer nothing new or engaging. By labeling the Fantastic Four offensive and redundant, Matt firmly concludes that this remake is unworthy of attention or viewership.

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Conclusion

In this episode, Matt Walsh expertly balances his genuine excitement for innovative and thoughtfully crafted films with his critical perspective on formulaic and profit-driven Hollywood productions. By sharing his most and least anticipated movies of 2025, Matt offers listeners a curated guide to the cinematic offerings of the year, grounded in his personal tastes and industry insights. His analysis underscores the importance of storytelling integrity and creative vision in filmmaking, while cautioning against the pitfalls of commercial exploitation and repetitive franchises.

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Notable Quotes

• Friendship Trailer Humor:
  “You either think that’s a funny line or you don’t.” (02:10)

• 28 Years Later Trailer Praise:
  “Whoever thought of that is a creative genius.” (06:21)

• Anaconda Remake on Proper Remakes:
  “This is exactly the proper utilization of the remake.” (06:13)

• Minecraft Movie Critique:
  “Nobody saw the Minecraft game and thought to themselves, wow, there’s a great story to tell here.” (12:38)

• Jurassic World Rebirth Frustration:
  “They keep making these damn Jurassic World things. This is the 90th one.” (14:27)

• Fantastic Four Remake Dismissal:
  “They just suck. I don’t know… This stretchy guy, right? He’s just...” (19:30)

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Note: Timestamps are included to reference specific moments within the podcast transcript for accurate context and attribution.

Transcript

[A]

All right. Today we're going to talk about some of the top three movies I'm most looking forward to in 2025. And then also because we can't, just can't do a video that's only positive. That wouldn't be right. It wouldn't feel right. And so we're also going to do the three movies I'm least looking forward to in 2025. So these are the. The three best movies of 2025 coming up. And the three worst. I can already declare that even though I haven't seen them, I have already determined what the best and worst are going to be. We'll start with the positive. We'll put our. We'll put our best foot forward and keep things positive. I just got a trailer for the first one a few days ago. This will be released in May from a 24. This is one of the movies I'm looking forward to starring Tim Robbins and Paul Rudd. It's called Friendship. Here's the trailer.

[B]

Hello.

[A]

Hi.

[B]

Howdy, honey. The new neighbor invited you over for.

[A]

A drink at 8 tonight. I said you'd go. You don't know my schedule.

[B]

You sit there every night.

[A]

Might be nice to have a pal, you know, A bud.

[B]

Hey, guys. This is my neighbor, Craig. He's the best. I was spiraling. I mean, I see the way the guys look at her. I'm just.

[A]

I'm scared.

[B]

Sheila's lucky to have a dad like you. Boy, you should know that I've got you on my mind.

[A]

Your secret admire.

[B]

I've been watching you at night. I think of you. I want to be your baby. If your game is on, you can call Boo. If your love is strong. I can see the future. It's full of pals. I'm on the edge of life and the view is gorgeous. Look, we had a couple of really.

[A]

Nice hangs, but I think it best.

[B]

That we go our separate ways. I don't wish to continue this friendship. You all accepted me way too fast. You can't do that. You made me feel too free. People need rules. You should be dead, you psycho. Who are you? Give me a second. Second chance. Get the no.

[A]

Okay, so you're either the kind of person who thinks the line, I see the future and it's full of pals is hilarious or you don't. You either think that's a funny line or you don't. And if you see the humor in just that line alone or when he says, you don't know my schedule and the way that it was delivered it's like you either get that humor or you don't. If you don't, then you probably are not going to like this movie. It's the most tonally confusing trailer I've ever seen, but in a good way. It straddles between funny and creepy, but just does it masterfully. It's not entirely clear whether you're supposed to think this is funny or be scared by it. I think it's a little bit of both. It appears to be the perfect vehicle for Tim Robbins, who I think is hilarious in the show. The sketch show I think you should leave on Netflix, looks like a very dark comedy, which is exactly my speed, and it subverts expectations in a way that. That I think is pretty fascinating. It reminds me of the Banshees of Inisherin or however that's pronounced, which. Which I thought was a great film, but it's a. It's like a darker, Americanized, Tim Robbins ized version of that kind of. Of that kind of movie. And I'll definitely see it. I will certainly see it. It might be me and like five other people, but. But we're gonna watch that movie. Yeah. This one is. This next one is not a title that I necessarily would be overly excited to check out just based on the, like. When I heard they were making this movie, I was. I. I thought, well, I'll probably watch it. But I wasn't super excited about it. But the trailer is maybe one of the best trailers I've seen in a long time. So this is 28 Years Later. It's a sequel to 28 Days Later. And what was the other one? 28 weeks later, I think. And so this is the, I guess, conclusion of the trilogy, although of course nothing ends. So I'm sure they'll keep making them. It's coming out this summer, and here's the trailer.

[B]

Sit here, Auntie. What's going on?

[A]

Jimmy, sit still, keep quiet and do.

[B]

Not move from this spot. 7, 6, 11, 5, 9 and 20 miles today. 4, 11, 17, 30 to the day before. Boot, boot, boot, boot. Moving up and down again. There's no discharge in the war. Don't, don't, don't. Don't look at what's in front of you. Boot. Boost, boost, boost. Moving up and down again. Men, men, men, men. Go mad with watching them. There's no discharge in the war. If your eyes drop, they will get the top of you. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Moving up and down again. There's no discharge in the wall. To think of something different. Oh, keeps Me from going lunar.

[A]

Moving.

[B]

Up and down again, that no discharge in the world. 761 5.

[A]

So just, just a great trailer and the utilizing. That's the Rudyard Kipling poem Boots and a radio broadcast of that poem from. I don't know when that radio broadcast was, but they pulled the actual audio from it from many years ago. It's very inspired use of that poem. I mean whoever thought of that is a creative genius. And I have a little experience making trailers. You know, I was heavily involved in creating both trailers for our films. What is a Woman And Am I Racist? And really developed a respect for the craft of making trails. It's not easy. It is not easy to tell the story of the film. At least give people enough information about what it is so that they would want to see it, but not too much information, you know, and you got to do it all in two minutes. You also have to capture the tone and the feel of the film without explaining too much. And you have to leave enough mystery that people have to go see it to fully understand. But they know enough of it that they know it's something they're interested in seeing. Very hard to do that in 120 seconds or 180 seconds. Which is why most trailers are just awful. You know, most trailers are bad. Most trailers are just a summary of the movie that shows you everything that happens. And this doesn't do that at all. It doesn't show you much of the movie at all really. And you're very, you have only a kind of. All you know of the plot is basically what's in the title, which is that this is 28 years after the zombie apocalypse. But just with the way it's cut together and using the poem and the music, you just get a sense of the feel and tone of the film in a way that I think is very clever. And so I, I, you know, maybe the movie doesn't live up to the trailer. I don't know. I'm gonna see it. Plus I love a good zombie movie like any red blooded American would. So I'm looking forward to that. My final anticipated movie has no trailer yet. And this one's gonna be a curve ball. This is gonna be controversial, okay, but there is apparently a remake of the 1997 movie Anaconda, which in 97 was starring Jennifer Lopez and Jon Voight. And this one's gonna come out around Christmas, I think. And the new one will be starring Paul Rudd and Jack Black. And the old one, if you ever saw the one from 1997 is like a thriller action, about a giant snake, obviously an anaconda in the Amazon eating people. Like a man eating snake. And Jon Voight, who I, if I remember correctly, is the villain in the movie. Spoiler alert. But he gets eaten at the end and then the snake spits him out and then eats him again. One of the great moments in cinematic history. It was a bad movie, like, very bad movie, but wonderfully bad. So that it was also entertaining. And the remake is supposed to be a comedy, and I'll tell you why. So they're going for a different feel with the movie, with the remake. I'll tell you why I'm looking forward to it because, well, first of all, it's a movie about a giant snake in the Amazon eating people. Like, who wouldn't want to see that? But also, more importantly, this, to me, is what remakes should be. Okay, this is exactly. This is the proper utilization of the remake. They are remaking a bad movie that had kind of a fun premise, but it was not executed well. And plus, it was 1997. The CGI was really bad. So update the CGI, but also take the fun premise. Okay? You got a giant snake in the Amazon. People are lost in the Amazon being hunted by a snake. That's a cool premise. Was not executed well. Jennifer Lopez is a terrible actress. And just take that and try it again. That's exactly what you should be doing with remakes. Don't remake the good movies. The good movies are good. You don't need to do them over. They've been done well. Find the movies that are bad but the premise is good and remake it. So I'm looking forward to that again. Probably not that many people will be looking forward to that one, but I am. Anyway, now that the gym memberships, the diets, the new year plans have likely already faded away. There's still one plan worth keeping. Growing closer to God. Meet Hallow, the world's number one prayer app. With over 10,000 guided prayers and meditations, Palo makes spiritual growth simple and accessible right from your phone. Start your day with the groundbreaking Bible in a Year podcast featuring Father Mike Schmitz, who brings scripture to life in ways that you've never experienced. Join Jonathan Roumie from the Chosen for daily Gospel Reflections, accompanied by insights from biblical scholar Jeff Cavins. Short on time, we'll try the daily minute Prayer. Need help winding down? Explore their nightly sleep prayers. Whatever your schedule, Hallow fits into your life with customizable reminders, schedules, and supportive community to keep you accountable this year. Put your relationship with God first. Let Hallow guide you on your spiritual journey one prayer at a time. Go to hallow.com mattwallsh for three months free of Hallow. Today, let's get to the part that everyone's really waiting for, where I complain about the bad stuff that I don't like. So here are my least anticipated movies, the movies that I absolutely will not see. And first, we have another Jack Black vehicle. So both Jack Black and Paul Rudd appear on this list twice. I didn't plan it that way. It's just how it happens. This is the Minecraft movie.

[B]

Minecraft trailer, take two. I am Steve. As a child, I yearned for the mines. But something always got in the way. Come on, get outta here. But the call of the mines was too strong. So one day I started digging and digging until I found this. A wonderland where anything you can imagine is possible. As long as what you imagine can be built out of blocks. Got a boy. Where are we? Wait, who are you again? Garrett the garbage Man.

[A]

Garrison.

[B]

Gamer of the year 1989.

[A]

Whatever that's coming out. I don't know when that's coming out. I think, what did it say? April? So who cares? It's just everything I hate about modern Hollywood. Utterly soulless. Just totally soulless. Cash grab. A movie that exists just purely to cash in on an ip. Nobody really wanted to tell this story. You know, nobody saw the Minecraft game and thought to themselves, wow, there's a great story to tell here. Nobody thought that. Not one single person did. Instead, some suits in an office somewhere in Hollywood were sitting around and had projections on how much a movie based on this IP could make. And they went out and they found someone to write this movie and a bunch of actors with standards low enough to appear in it. And that's how this movie came about. There's just zero chance that a film with that starting point can be good. Okay, when the genesis of the film begins with some corporate guys looking at charts, it will be a crap movie. It can't be good. You know, you can't make real art that way. It just doesn't. It doesn't work that way. And so I hate this. I give it zero stars. I don't need to see it. Zero stars is what it gets. Next. Speaking of soulless tripe, this summer we will have another installment in the endless Jurassic park, or I guess, Jurassic World now franchise. This one is called Jurassic World Rebirth.

[B]

He's your guy. We're the best that moving things and People in and out of places they shouldn't be, avoid government patrol. But there aren't that many anymore. Why is that?

[A]

Okay, we've already seen enough of this. We don't even need to play anymore. It's. It's. If you've seen any of these movies, you've. That. It's just that again. Which is the same thing again. Once again, I hate everything about it. And I can state with absolute certainty that this movie will be trash and I don't need to see it. And people will say, oh, how can you judge it without seeing it? How can you. I don't know. If I invited you over to my house to come eat cat poop out of the litter box, would you need to actually do it in order to make a judgment call? Okay. Would you need to say, well, you know, I can't knock it till I try it. It doesn't sound appealing, but who knows, maybe it'll taste good. No, it is possible to know that. To know what a thing is before experiencing it. It is possible. Sometimes if you have a vaguely human level intellectually, you can project out with near certainty about certain things. And this is one of those things. So I can say this movie is just pure excrement without actually seeing it. And they keep making these damn Jurassic World things. This is the 90th one. Nobody has liked any of them since the first one. No one likes them. No one cares about them. The actors in the films care about them and like them least of all, which is very. Which is readily apparent if you watch them. They have to keep churning them out. They keep cashing in. What made the original Jurassic Park a good film? Well, first of all, the special effects at the time were mind blowing. These days we are not impressed with that anymore. And also somehow the special effects now are worse than they were 30 years ago. That's maybe the most mind boggling thing about these Jurassic park special effects Jurassic park films is that the special effects keep getting worse each time. So how does that happen? But even more so, Jurassic park is a great film and it was a tightly constructed, efficiently told story with a relatively small cast of characters that we as the audience felt like we knew and liked and cared about. And we were able to know and like and care about these characters because they were well written and performed. And also because the story was pretty small in scale and intimate. It was just a few people trapped on an island, right? And they had to get off the island. So it was a very simple objective. On an island, you got to get off of it because there are dinosaurs. And that was the plot. Very simple, small scale, but the stakes were high. And the reason the stakes were high is not because the fate of the world hung in the balance. It really didn't. But it was because we cared about the characters and the fate of the characters hung in the balance. That's how you raise stakes in a story. Not by increasing the number of people who are in danger. Not by making it so now the whole world's in danger, but by making us care about the characters who are in the dangerous situation. Which is why you actually get kind of diminishing returns. There's this inverse effect where often. And this is sequelitis. This is what they do with sequels. They just make it bigger and bigger and bigger so that in the first movie, a few people on an island were threatened. And then the next movie that they made, it was like, there's a dinosaur lost in a city, and now a whole city is threatened. And now you get to Jurassic World. I mean, it's a world, you know, it's not Jurassic park anymore. The whole world now is. There's an apocalypse happening. And this is how lazy writers think that they can raise the stakes, but it doesn't. Just because more people are now in harm's way doesn't raise the stakes. Because we care less about the characters. Cause there's so many of them, and they're poorly written and lazily performed. But there's so many of them now that it's like I can't connect with any one of them. So I don't care anymore. Like, sure, just have everybody in the Jurassic park world world die. What do I care? In the next movie, just have an asteroid hit and everybody dies. Like, I don't care at all. It makes no difference to me because nobody cares about these characters. We don't know them. But that requires actual talent in writing the movies and directing them and performing them, which the people involved in these films don't have. Finally, my third least anticipated movie is the new Fantastic Four movie, which comes out in. I don't know when, but here's the trailer.

[B]

Welcome to the Baxter Building. We make a point to do family dinner every week. Sunday at seven on the dot. No matter what. We're all here. T minus 5. Before we went up the first time, you couldn't turn invisible. Ben wasn't a rock. The best pilot in the world right here. Yeah, best looking, he means. And Johnny never caught fire. Ben has always been a rock.

[A]

Johnny is Johnny.

[B]

Hi. And I am right Here. Whatever life throws at us, we'll face it together.

[A]

All right?

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

Okay. Okay. So the truth is that there's like 100 other movies I could have put here, but 90% of the movies coming out in 2025 are very unanticipated by me. But I'm putting Fantastic Four in this spot because firstly, we just don't need any more superhero movies. You know, we just. We just don't need any more of them. We have our fold that we've reached capacity. We're well past capacity. These stories have been told now a million times. It's always basically the same story. Every. I don't care what you tell. I don't care what you say. Every superhero movie, it's basically just the same story. And not just the same story, but the same story beats. It's just the same damn thing. It's the same outline, you know, every time. And so we've seen it. But also, they've tried several times to make Fantastic Four movies, and it never works. And now they're trying it again, and this won't work either. And the reason, okay, is that the Fantastic Four, and I know I'm no superhero expert, but the Fantastic Four are just lame. They just are. Okay, Fantastic Four, they were prototype superheroes, right? They first appeared in comic books. I don't know when, but I assume in the 50s or early 60s. They were rough drafts. They were not finished products, and they're just lame. I mean, the one guy, right, isn't the one guy who's the main guy? Isn't he stretchy? This thing is stretchy. The one guy's a stretchy guy. I mean, you can't make a movie about a guy who's stretchy and expect anyone to take it seriously, when would that power even be practically useful? Especially in a world where the bad guys can just shoot your stretchy ass and all you've done is given them more of a target, right? Then the other guy's a rock, and the other one lights on fire. I mean, these are superheroes that every five year old invents independently without even knowing about Fantastic Four. So they're quaint and all that, but they're fun little relics of the 60s. But there just isn't enough here for an actual compelling story. And that's why these movies don't work, because the superheroes suck. They just suck. I don't know. Tell you, like, okay, if you were about to be killed by a supervillain with a laser or whatever, and you called out for a superhero to help you, you would be extremely disappointed if the stretchy guy showed up. Right? You would be saying, really? This stretchy? I can't get Spider Man. Or, like, Iron Man. You sent this stretchy son of a. What is he gonna do? Is he gonna stretch the guy to death? He's gonna wrap himself around the guy. Like, what if the guy has a knife? Just cut out the knife. He cut this guy in half. So that's why the movies don't work and I won't see them. And so there you go. Those are the movies that you should see and the movies that you are forbidden from seeing by law on penalty of death. That's it.