Most of 2025’s most anticipated films delivered. A Minecraft Movie was the year’s top domestic earner at $423.9 million, Superman relaunched DC with $616.6 million worldwide, and Jurassic World Rebirth passed $868 million worldwide. 28 Years Later was the quiet one. Here is how each film on our list actually did.
Updated November 1, 2026.
I’ve followed enough trailer-to-release cycles to know which teasers are hiding something. Wall-to-wall quick cuts with no dialogue usually means a thin script. A teaser that lets one scene breathe, even for ten seconds, usually means somebody trusts the movie. Most of us have watched a trailer, gotten hyped, and walked out feeling like the best parts were already in the trailer. Just like with last year’s most anticipated summer movies, the trailers told you a lot before a single review ran.
Superman Relaunched the DC Universe
The film announced as Superman: Legacy came out simply as Superman on July 11, 2025. James Gunn directed it, with David Corenswet as Clark Kent and Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane. It follows Clark as he juggles his job as a newspaper reporter with life as a superhero. It took $347.3 million at home in the US and Canada and $616.6 million worldwide, per Box Office Mojo, third-biggest at home for the year. That was a clear win for the rebooted DC slate. The film treats Clark’s newspaper job and his alien roots from Krypton as equally real, and that’s the choice that sets it apart from the best Superman movies before it.
28 Years Later Brought Danny Boyle Back
Danny Boyle went back to the Rage virus he unleashed in 28 Days Later (2002). That film was followed by 28 Weeks Later in 2007. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer and Ralph Fiennes lead a story set nearly three decades after the outbreak, with survivors living in a Britain still overrun by the infected. It took $70.4 million at home and $151.3 million worldwide, per Box Office Mojo. That is the smallest total on this list. It is also a stranger, smaller film than the marketing suggested, and the numbers show that mismatch.
Fantastic Four: First Steps Finally Got the Team Right
Matt Shakman’s film opened July 25, 2025, with Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Marvel’s first family: Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic), Susan Storm (Invisible Woman), Johnny Storm (Human Torch) and Ben Grimm (The Thing). It took $257.9 million domestically and $521.9 million worldwide, per Box Office Mojo, and scored 86% on Rotten Tomatoes. Setting it in a 1960s world with retro-future gadgets, on its own Earth, was the smart move. The three earlier live-action films (2005, 2007 and 2015) all tried to fit the team into the present day. Most of us have sat through at least one superhero movie that retold a story we already knew by heart, so a fresh setting goes a long way.
How to Train Your Dragon Made the Live-Action Leap
Dean DeBlois, who directed the animated trilogy, remade his own film in live action. It follows the young Viking Hiccup and his dragon Toothless, and it’s all about friendship and bravery. It earned $262.6 million domestically and $636.1 million worldwide, per Box Office Mojo. Anyone who grew up on a cartoon knows the nervous feeling when someone says it’s getting remade with real actors. Having the original director redo his own story, instead of handing it to someone new, kept Hiccup and Toothless feeling like the same characters.
Thunderbolts* Got Marvel’s Warmest Reviews Here
Jake Schreier’s film puts Florence Pugh, David Harbour and Sebastian Stan on a team of Marvel characters nobody would call heroes. The group includes Yelena Belova, Red Guardian, John Walker (U.S. Agent), Ghost and Taskmaster, and they take on dangerous missions for the government. Alliances shift, and the characters face hard choices about what’s right. It took $190.3 million domestically and $382.4 million worldwide, per Box Office Mojo. That is the smallest Marvel number here. Its 88% on Rotten Tomatoes is the best of the two Marvel films on this list, though, built on a script that lets its characters be miserable instead of just cracking jokes.
Jurassic World Rebirth Kept the Dinosaurs Earning
Gareth Edwards directed this one from a David Koepp script, with Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailey in a brand-new cast. It is the first film in the series with no returning actors, and its story is set in 2027. That is five years after Jurassic World Dominion, and the few dinosaurs left can only survive in hot places near the equator. It took $335.8 million domestically and $868.6 million worldwide, per Box Office Mojo, second only to A Minecraft Movie among these eight. A fresh cast didn’t scare anybody off.
A Minecraft Movie Had the Biggest Opening on This List
Jared Hess’s adaptation, with Jason Momoa and Jack Black, drops a group of characters into the blocky world of Minecraft, where they have to fight to save it. Even people who’ve never played Minecraft know what that blocky world looks like. The movie opened April 4, 2025, to $162.8 million. That beat The Super Mario Bros. Movie for the biggest opening ever for a video game film. It finished with $423.9 million domestically, the top domestic total of 2025, and $957.9 million worldwide, per Box Office Mojo.
Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning Held Its Ground
Christopher McQuarrie’s eighth Mission: Impossible film puts Tom Cruise back in Ethan Hunt’s shoes. Hunt’s past catches up with him, and he has to make dangerous choices to protect the world. It took $197.4 million domestically and $598.8 million worldwide, per Box Office Mojo. That is up from the seventh film, Dead Reckoning Part One, which made $172.6 million at home and $571.1 million worldwide, per Wikipedia. The stunts are still the reason to buy a ticket.
Most Anticipated Films of 2025: Common Questions
Which of these 2025 films made the most money?
A Minecraft Movie, by a wide margin. It earned $423.9 million in the US and Canada and $957.9 million worldwide, per Box Office Mojo. Jurassic World Rebirth was next worldwide at $868.6 million. Superman made $616.6 million worldwide, which is less than How to Train Your Dragon’s $636.1 million but more than every Marvel film on this list.
Did A Minecraft Movie really have the biggest opening weekend?
Yes, of the films on this list. A Minecraft Movie opened to $162.8 million domestically on April 4, 2025. That was the biggest opening of 2025 at the time and the biggest ever for a video game movie, ahead of The Super Mario Bros. Movie. It went on to finish at $423.9 million domestically.
How did Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning do?
Better than the film before it. The Final Reckoning took $197.4 million in the US and Canada and $598.8 million worldwide, per Box Office Mojo. Dead Reckoning Part One, the seventh film, made $172.6 million domestically and $571.1 million worldwide. It finished ninth at the domestic box office for 2025.
Which Marvel film on this list got better reviews?
Of the two Marvel films here, Thunderbolts* has the higher Rotten Tomatoes score, 88% from 385 reviews, against 86% for The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Thunderbolts* also has a 93% audience score. Its script lets a team of former villains and antiheroes stay flawed instead of fixing everything with a joke.