15 Most Anticipated Action Movies of 2025

Moviegoers all across the world better get ready for endless entertainment on the silver screen, as Hollywood has some seriously spectacular action flicks in the works for 2025. Fans of the adrenaline-pumping genre can’t get enough of exhilarating battle sequences, rip-roaring stunt work, and some truly unforgettable heroes and villains, with many of the industry’s most famous faces headlining these buzzed-about films that are set to make their glorious debuts this year.

From superhero extravaganzas like Captain America: Brave New Word and Thunderbolts* to pulse-pounding action thrillers such as A Working Man, The Accountant 2, and Ballerina, there will be no shortage of exciting movies to watch to help ring in 2025. Celebrated movie stars including Jason Statham, Tom Cruise, and Liam Neeson are just a few of the famous faces headlining these bold and daring films, which will leave audiences on the edge of their seat as they live vicariously through their fearless counterparts.

15

‘Flight Risk’

January 24, 2025

After nearly a decade since the release of his most recent project Hacksaw Ridge, Mel Gibson is making a return to the director’s chair with the action thriller Flight Risk, which touts a small-but-talented cast featuring Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Dockety, and Topher Grace and focuses on U.S. Marshal Madelyn Harris as she is tasked with accompanying a government witness to a crucial trial against a mob boss, only to discover the pilot transporting them is a lethal hitman hired to take out the informant.

Wahlberg Embraces His Villainous Side

The screenplay for Flight Risk was written by Jared Rosenberg and even landed on the year’s “Black List” in 2020, which consists of most-popular unproduced scripts in Hollywood. The action flick is Wahlberg’s first villainous role in 29 years, as the last time he played the antagonist in a movie was as the violent sociopath David McCall in the 1996 thriller Fear. To prepare for his performance as the unhinged assassin, Wahlberg opted to partially shave his head each day before filming instead of using a bald cap, much to the amusement of his fans.

14

‘Love Hurts’

February 7, 2025

Academy Award-winner Ke Huy Quan stars as a man whose shady past comes back to bite him in the action comedy Love Hurts, in which the Kung Fu Panda 4 star appears as Marvin Gable, a successful Milwaukee real estate agent who must return to his former life of crime when his old partner Rose (Ariana DeBose) resurfaces after being left for dead, forcing Marvin to tap back into his hitman skills as he fights off lethal assassins and his violent crime lord brother Knuckles (Daniel Wu).

Quan Fully Commits to Being an Action Hero

Love Hurts marks Quan’s first leading role and will showcase the seasoned actor’s physical prowess and endearing charisma, as he takes on one bad guy after another in delightfully zany action sequences. The film will also reunite Quan with fellow Goonies star Sean Astin and will feature former NFL player Marshawn Lynch, making for an eclectic and wildly entertaining cast. Quan was adamant on doing his own stunts in Love Hurts and felt it was very special when an actor really fight themselves, revealing to ScreenRant:

“You could clearly see if it was Jackie Chan, or Sammo Hung or Jet Li, it was all them doing it. So, I told them, ‘Listen, if I’m going to do this, I want to do all the fights myself, every punch, every kick, I want to throw them myself.'”

13

‘Captain America: Brave New World’

February 14, 2025

After nearly a decade of saving the world and portraying one of Marvel’s most beloved heroes, Chris Evans decided to hang up his superhero cape and pass the iconic shield to Sam Wilson in Captain America: Brave New World, which features Anthony Mackie as the newly appointed Captain America who finds himself trying to earn the mantle and title he has been given, all the while trying to get to the bottom of an international incident and the nefarious mastermind behind the worldwide crisis.

Mackie Has Big Shoes To Fill as Cap

Mackie will be joined in the highly-anticipated superhero flick alongside Danny Ramirez, Giancarlo Esposito, Tim Blake Nelson, and Harrison Ford, with the Indiana Jones legend also taking on the exciting role of the Red Hulk, replacing original star William Hurt following his death in 2022. When discussing Sam’s thrilling transformation and hs new chapter as Captain America, Mackie told Deadline in 2024:

“Sam’s evolution is simple. He’s still a counselor. He’s still serving soldiers, but at the same time, now he’s a leader of his community in the country.”

12

‘Novocaine’

March 14, 2025

The Boys breakout star Jack Quaid is continuing his Hollywood takeover by headlining the upcoming action comedy Novocaine, in which he portrays the sheltered and naive bank teller Nathan Caine as he goes on a daring rescue mission to save the object of his affection (Amber Midthunder) after she is shockingly kidnapped, as the reserved introvert is willing to risk both life and limb to make sure his lady love comes home safe. The one thing Nathan has in his favor is that he is unable to feel pain, a peculiar strength he uses to his advantage.

A Wild & Zany Thrill Ride For Audiences

The unassuming everyman was born with a rare genetic disorder that makes him immune to physical pain, and when his new girlfriend is taken hostage during a bank robbery, Nathan decides to embrace his strange condition and use it to his advantage as he pursues the bad guys responsible for the crime. The producers for Novacaine described the zany flick as “a non-stop, edge-of-the-seat action thriller loaded with all the heart, humor and kick***-ery you could ever want.”

11

‘A Working Man’

March 28, 2025

Hollywood action superstar Jason Statham is back for another butt-kicking adventure in A Working Man, for which the charismatic performer reunited with The Beekeeper director David Ayer to help tell the gripping story of ex-Royal Marines Commando Levon Cade, who after enjoying his peaceful new life as a construction worker is forced to embrace his former impressive skill set after his boss’s daughter is kidnapped by human traffickers. As Cade investigates the crime, he discovers a dangerous conspiracy involving the government and the culprits.

Statham & Ayer Make Movie Magic Yet Again

Based on the Chuck Dixon novel Levon’s Trade, the screenplay for the big screen adaptation was written by both Ayer and Sylvester Stallone and after initially being conceptualized as a television series, was instead retooled as a film starring the one-and-only Statham. The cinema staple will be joined by popular stars like David Harbour and Michael Peña in A Working Man, giving his devoted fan base something to hold them over until he and Ayer return for the buzzed-about sequel to The Beekeeper.

10

‘The Amateur’

April 11, 2025

Academy Award-winner Rami Malek stars as a brilliant CIA cryptographer who devastatingly loses his beloved wife in a terrorist attack and sets out to hunt down her killers in The Amateur, an adaptation of the Robert Littell novel that focuses on the courageous efforts of Charles Heller as he makes the daring decision to blackmail the agency into training him so that he can become a field operative and locate the terrorist group responsible for the horrific crime.

The Amateur Adaptation Finally Hits the Big Screen

Development for a new screen adaptation of The Amateur first began back in 2006, with Hugh Jackman initially attached to appear as the vengeance-seeking Charles Heller before the project ultimately went stagnant until February 2023, during which Malek was announced as the lead with James Hawes as director. The action thriller is the second time that Littell’s novel has been given the Hollywood treatment, with John Savage and Christopher Plummer starring in the 1981 version of the gripping hit novel.

9

‘The Accountant 2’

April 25, 2025

After his compelling portrayal of an autistic accountant with spectacular marksmanship, Ben Affleck reprised his role as the sharp Christian Wolff in The Accountant 2, which will once again follow the mathematics genius as he is tasked with helping Treasury agent Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) hunt down the people responsible for the assassination of her former boss Ray King (J.K. Simmons), with Wolff teaming up with his brother Braxton (Jon Bernthal) to deliver retribution.

Ben Affleck’s Exciting Action Trilogy

The Accountant became a critical and commercial success upon its release in 2016, grossing over $155 million and garnering praise for its slick action sequences and Affleck’s commanding performance, and shortly after its theatrical run a sequel was announced. Director Gavin O’Connor revealed that he planned to make The Accountant into a trilogy and will further explore Wolff’s story after the second installment, with the third and final entry is slated to be a buddy film which has been described as being, “Rain Man on steroids.”

8

‘Thunderbolts*’

May 2, 2025

Marvel’s lovable gang of misfits and antiheroes are reluctantly joining forces to protect the world from evil in the star-studded extravaganza Thunderbolts*, with famous faces like Sebastian Stan, Florence Pugh, and David Harbour reprising their respective roles from the MCU as Bucky Barnes, Yelena Bolova, Alexei Shostakov and more of the franchise’s thrilling reformed supervillains all team up to carry out dangerous missions for the government in an effort to make up for their past misdeeds.

Bucky Emerges as the Leader of the Antiheroes

Bucky will serve as the degenerate group’s de facto leader as he tries to whip the rowdy rebels into shape for the greater good of the world, and Stan compared his performance and role in Thunderbolts* to Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, as Randle McMurphy also had to figure out how to adapt and unite the quirky characters in the ’70s classic. Both Laurence Fishburne and Rachel Weisz are also set to return as Bill Foster and Melina Vostokoff after appearing in Ant-Man and the Wasp and Black Widow.

7

‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’

May 23, 2025

Tom Cruise is ready to take on the world’s most nefarious criminals once again in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, the eighth installment in the blockbuster action spy franchise that will once again focus on the fearless IMF agent Ethan Hunt and his loyal operative team as they continue to try and stop the powerful rogue AI known as the Entity that they first battled against in Dead Reckoning Part One, with the very existence of society and the world being jeopardized.

Cruise Is Back For More Death-Defying Stunts

Filmed back-to-back with its predecessor, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is one of the most expensive movies ever made with a whopping budget of $400 million and its release had been previously pushed back multiple times due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike and the underwhelming performance of Dead Reckoning Part One, which failed to compete with the “Barbenheimer” cultural phenomenon. Despite some believing the sequel would mark the end of the series, Cruise has since proclaimed his desire to play Hunt well into his late ’70s like Indiana Jones legend Harrison Ford.

6

‘Ballerina’

June 6, 2025

The fifth rip-roaring installment in the fan-favorite John Wick franchise and a spin-off of the blockbuster hits, Ballerina takes place between the thrilling events of the third and fourth films and stars Ana de Armas in the titular role, in which the Knives Out star appears as the aspiring ballerina-turned-assassin Eve Macarro, who sets out to train in the assassin traditions of the Ruska Roma in order to get revenge for the death of her beloved father, squaring off against the Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne) on her crusade.

The engrossing elements of Ballerina were written into the John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, as a ballerina portrayed by Unity Phelan made a brief appearance in the smash hit; Ana de Armas was subsequently cast as Eve Macarro in 2022, full committing herself to the intense stuntwork and opting to do them alone as much as possible, much like Reeves has done throughout the franchise. De Armas talked about the grueling training during a 2023 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon:

“But the other day, Keanu and I were rehearsing our very difficult stunt scene, and this man is just rolling and throwing me and doing crazy stunts. And I’m like — I can’t complain anymore. Because he is doing it! He truly is the best.”

5

’28 Years Later’

June 20, 2025

Before he was winning Oscars and starring as a beloved crime boss in Peaky Blinders, Cillian Murphy was still trying to make a name for himself on the big screen and famously collaborated with director Danny Boyle in the pulse-pounding film 28 Days Later, with the 2002 horror hit following bike courier Jim as he makes the terrifying discovery that a devastating virus has ravaged the world and left its victims in a zombie-like state. 28 Years Later returns to the chilling world and picks up nearly 30 years since the Rage Virus first plagued society.

Boyle’s Epic Return to the Horror Franchise

Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Ralph Fiennes join the chilling series, with Boyle coming back to direct the sequel after being absent from 2007’s 28 Weeks Later and setting the stage for Murphy’s triumphant return as the celebrated protagonist Jim from the first flick. The upcoming installment will follow a group of survivors who venture from the safety of their heavily guarded island sanctuary into the wrecked mainland as they discover the true horrors of the virus and witness its brutality firsthand.

4

‘Jurassic World Rebirth’

July 2, 2025

A standalone sequel to the 2022 blockbuster knockout Jurassic World Dominion, the sci-fi action film Jurassic World Rebirth features a brand new cast of Hollywood greats including Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, and Mahershala Ali and takes place five years after the shocking events of Dominion in which cover operation expert Zora Bennett works closely alongside brilliant paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis and team leader Duncan Kincaid on a top-secret mission to obtain genetic material from dinosaurs capable of saving human lives.

Rebirth Lands a ‘Jurassic Park’ Screenwriting Veteran

After the massive worldwide success of Dominion, development for a follow-up was quickly underway with the studio wanting to go a new direction with a brand new cast, as screenplay writer David Koepp and executive producer Steven Spielberg were hoping to recapture the tone of the original Jurassic Park trilogy. Koepp returned to the enduring dinosaur series after a 25-year absence, explaining why he felt compelled to do so:

“The idea of starting afresh. You don’t often get that chance where they give you very few guidelines, except there must be dinosaurs in it…It was great to be able to work solely with Steven [Spielberg] and make up a story and think of all new characters and all in a different tone.”

3

‘The Naked Gun’

August 1, 2025

After making a name for himself as one of Hollywood’s most relentless and formidable action heroes, Liam Neeson is venturing into more light-hearted territory and will tackle the role of Frank Drebin Junior in the crime spoof comedy The Naked Gun, with the farce serving as the fifth entry in the enduring franchise originally featuring comedian extraordinaire Leslie Nielsen and the installment acting as a legacy sequel that will follow Neeson as Nielsen’s equally bumbling lawman son.

Seth MacFarlane Helps Reimagine the Hilarious Franchise

TV and film superstar Seth MacFarlane created the story for the reboot of the side-splitting franchise, and the Family Guy mastermind pursued Neeson to headline the flick after collaborating with him in the 2014 Western comedy A Million Ways to Die in the West. Director, producer, and The Lonely Island member Akiva Schaffer is helming the reimagining and Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, and Danny Huston are just a few notable stars who will embrace the wild and zany essence of the transcending series.

2

‘Nobody 2’

August 15, 2025

Following his sensational tenure as television’s most infamous criminal defense attorney, Bob Odenkirk shifted his focus to the big screen and served up a powerhouse performance as a former assassin-turned-family man in 2021’s Nobody, which centered on the life of the seemingly mundane office worker Hutch Mansell as he is pulled back into the dark depths of his previous career when his family is threatened by a ruthless crime lord. Nobody 2 continues Hutch’s story and explores his wife’s secret past and shady origins after he thwarts a home invasion.

Odenkirk’s Back for Another Beat Down

Nobody 2 will delve into Hutch and his loyal wife Becca’s (Connie Nielsen) mysterious background, with the sequel delving into the married couple’s early days in their relationship and how they first met. After Hutch prevents a potentially deadly attack in their home, he begins to discover the shocking skeletons hiding in Becca’s closet that makes him analyze their relationship. The film likely hopes to replicate the success of its predecessor, which grossed over $57 million and earned a solid 84% Rotten Tomatoes score from critics.

1

‘Mortal Kombat 2’

October 24, 2025

Based on the gruesome and iconically gory fighting video game series of the same name, Mortal Kombat 2 picks up where its former 2021 installment left off and will once again follow MMA fighter Cole Young (Lewis Tan) as he sets out to track down action movie star and martial arts expert Johnny Cage (Karl Urban) to help protect both their universe and preserve, Earthrealm, with Cole hoping to convince the famous actor to serve in the brutal tournament held against Outworld and their violent leader Shang Tsung (Chin Han).

Karl Urban Joins the Bold & Gory Adaptation

After the successful release of Mortal Kombat in 2021 and positive fan reaction, the studio revealed they hoped to establish a lucrative franchise surrounding the legendary video game characters, with writer Jeremy Slater holding nothing back in the bloody and intense sequel and setting out to “embrace some of [the] weirdness” while making the film “unpredictable” and keeping longtime fans of the video games on their toes. The Boys star Karl Urban will be tackling the role of the larger-than-life Cage, who will be a key character in the action-packed sequel.