With many breakout and blockbuster films 2025 was a great year to be a cinephile.
“Zootopia 2” became the highest-grossing American film of 2025, and “KPop Demon Hunters” became the most popular film on Netflix ever with more than more than 236 million views.
Now, as the year comes to a close, let’s reflect on what some of the Northern Star staff think are the best films of 2025.
“Wicked: For Good” — Emily Beebe:
Coming after the highly successful movie “Wicked,” this sequel is the culmination of the wonderful franchise. From director Jon M. Chu, “Wicked: For Good” shows the journey between Glinda (Ariana Grande) and Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) as both the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) and guards try to capture Elphaba.
The “Wicked” franchise is a prequel to “The Wizard of Oz.” This movie will leave viewers on the edge of their seats as tensions run high through the journey of capturing and killing Elphaba.
“Zootopia 2” — Ryan Day:
Disney’s sequel to the 2016 film “Zootopia” not only lives up to the original, but exceeds it. With a new focus on reptiles as a core aspect of the plot, “Zootopia 2” further expands on its world of anthropomorphic characters.
The film sees the return of Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) and Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) as they unravel the dark secret of Zootopia’s past. With its unique comedic appeal and captivating storyline that keeps fans guessing, it is no surprise why “Zootopia 2” is the highest-grossing domestic film of 2025.
“Weapons” — Kahlil Kambui:
Many great blockbuster films came out this year, but this horror film was so good it made comedian and filmmaker Jordan Peele terminate members of his management team after losing a bidding war to production rights of the film.
“Weapons,” from the mind of director Zach Cregger who’s known for his hit film Barbarian, is about a classroom full of children disappearing without a trace.
Rather than relying on jump scares and gore, Creggers creates a feeling of paranoia, fear and dread due to the movie’s tension and scary imagery. Compared to other horror films such as “28 Years Later” and “Final Destination: Bloodlines,” “Weapons” is the best horror movie to come out in 2025.
“Sinners” —- Andrew Bailey:
“Sinners” is super deep and super stylized, if a little misshapen. Some flaws don’t ruin the excellent story and fantastic ambiance. The moderate sized cast is well fleshed out, but lacking some cohesion, and I’d look forward to an extended cut to see what was lost in the edit.
Sinners is most certainly a film about the black experience of the 1930’s, with references to black art and struggle, the writing and acting sell the gritty horror of both the Jim Crow South and the monsters which haunt the film’s characters physically and spiritually. The movie makes full use of its time to give a cerebral and moving experience.
“F1” — Diego Martinez:
Formula 1 fans can relate when I say most of 2025 was spent waiting for this movie. “F1” was a fun watch and incredibly engaging from start to finish.
The film created a compelling story while also focusing on maintaining those realistic aspects we see in the actual motorsport, like drama in the garage and tensions between teammates.
Damson Idris showed great emotion as Joshua Pierce and was excellent at representing the mindset a Formula 1 rookie would have. Brad Pitt also delivered an accurate performance, successfully showing a lot of that neutral emotion that most veteran drivers have in his portrayal of character Sonny Hayes.
Overall, this movie is a great representation of how the world of Formula 1 works and I highly recommend anyone who is a fan of Formula 1 to watch this movie.