Every year, Hollywood takes a crack at bringing video game franchises to life on the silver screen to mixed results, and 2024 was no different. On one hand, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 closed out the calendar year on a high note, displaying impressive numbers at the holiday box office behind another set of good reviews. On the other hand, many wish to forget about the Borderlands movie that left a bad taste in gamers’ mouths worldwide.
With the big calendar flip, the question becomes, what should video game fans expect from the movie business in 2025? Luckily, we’ve got a comprehensive list with a couple of big movies related to video games expected to hit the big screens sometime this year.
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A Minecraft Movie
Release date: April 4th, 2025
New year, a new big-time video game franchise is taking a swing at bringing its world to life in theaters. A Minecraft Movie has been teased for quite some time now, and first fans of the sandbox juggernaut got word of the cast filled with a couple of diamonds, like Jack Black playing the titular Steve and Jason Momoa as Garrett “The Garbage Man” Harrison.
The film was delayed by about six months due to the SAG/AFTRA strike of late 2023, but has since wrapped filming. Fans were curious how director Jared Hess would combine real-life actors and the always blocky world of Minecraft. Now there are two trailers readily available to the masses, with the second trailer doing a cool job showcasing Minecraft’s Overworld, fan-favorite items in use like Enderpearls, mobs aplenty at nighttime, and even a tease at the big bad of the movie.
Critics have not yet had a chance to see A Minecraft Movie, but with an early April release date, fans should begin to get a better idea of what to expect. It will be interesting to see how Hess and the rest of the team approach the overall story of the film, considering Minecraft is a game that has a ton of rich history fans have latched onto over the years. A Minecraft Movie has been in production now for over a decade. And with the track record many video game movies have with a title as massive as Minecraft, the pressure is sky-high for this movie.
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Five Nights at Freddy’s 2
Release date: December 5th, 2025
Speaking of dominating video game franchises in the movie market, Five Nights at Freddy’s second installment is slated for a late 2025 release date. Everyone is set to return to their previous roles behind Emma Tammi’s directing, including Matthew Lillard as the evil William Afton and Josh Hutchenson as our protagonist and son of William Afton, Mike.
When the first installment of Five Nights at Freddy’s hit the big screens in October of 2023, it was a roller coaster of reactions. Originally, critics who got an early look at the film had many issues with it, leading to a 32-percent score on Rotten Tomatoes critic score. However, once the movie hit theaters and streaming services simultaneously and got into the hands of fans who know the lore, the vibe completely switched. The fan score shot up to a great 86 percent, with many reviews praising Tammi and company for adapting the vast lore of the franchise well.
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With a December release date, there’s still a good chunk of time before FNAF fans can rush to theaters for the next installment. The latest news came from Matthew Lillard himself, talking about his love for the script and how he’d begun filming last November. There’s no word whether Lillard has a different shooting schedule than the rest of the cast, but it does seem like a decently quick turnaround for Blumhouse. So far, all that fans have gotten on social media was an October teaser image announcing the release date, with a trailer hopefully popping up sometime early in 2025.
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Until Dawn
Release date: April 25th, 2025
Some video games can be nightmares to turn into viable movies. Until Dawn is not one of those video games. The 2015 horror game from Supermassive Games was widely praised specifically for its world-building, engaging cinematic story, and stellar performances from its actors, notably Rami Malek, who is unfortunately not a part of the actual movie. In many ways, Until Dawn the game is as close to an interactive movie horror games tend to get, so with a great story turning it into a movie feels like a no-brainer for Hollywood.
Fans should be even more excited knowing that David F. Sandberg signed on to direct the film, who first broke onto the scene with Light’s Out and Annabelle: Creation. Two successful horror movies with widely different budgets show that Sandberg can work with a little or a lot to make a terrifying film for viewers. Much like Until Dawn the game in 2015, the cast for the film is filled with lesser-known actors looking to break out with this performance. Ella Rubin from The Idea of You, Maia Mitchell from Teen Beach Movie, and Odessa A’zion from Hellraiser are all signed on, interestingly, with their roles yet to be revealed.
Filming wrapped on Until Dawn in early October 2024 by Sandberg. Until Dawn has a feeling of optimism around its movie release as a less beloved franchise in the gaming world with an already strong story for Sandberg to pull from. April looks to be the big month to watch out for if you’re a gamer and movie fan.
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Mortal Kombat 2
Release date: October 24th, 2025
Nearly six months after Until Dawn hits theaters, our next video game movie adaptation will hit theaters with Mortal Kombat’s second silver-screen appearance. After the somewhat shocking success of Simon McQuoid’s first Mortal Kombat, despite premiering on streaming in 2021. The second film is on the way with even bigger firepower behind and in front of the camera.
Jeremy Slater, the scriptwriter/producer of Moon Knight and Death Note, is the new addition to the pen and paper. In front of the lens, Karl Urban, fresh off his performance as Billy Butcher on The Boys, will play the legendary Johnny Cage. What is particularly interesting about these two newcomers is that they should be able to directly impact two main critiques from the first Mortal Kombat: acting and story.
As of now Mortal Kombat 2 has already wrapped filming and begun the intensive visual effects process. Many fans are eager to see the franchise’s second installment lean back into the lore more, with many calling for an actual tournament finally happening along with ties to the very important Outworld. One important piece to the plot came from producer Todd Garner last Halloween, posting a shadowy silhouette to X that may confirm the big-bad for MK2 being the Shao Kann and his iconic helmet.
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The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep
Release date: February 11th, 2025
If you just can’t wait until April to get your video game movie fix, fear not because Netflix and The Witcher franchise have you covered. As the hype for season 4 of The Witcher builds, Sirens of the Deep will bring Witcher fans back to an earlier time in the life of Geralt of Rivia and his illustrious monster-hunting abilities. The Witcher as a franchise has had a difficult time establishing a solid timeline across the games, the live-action show, and animated films, but Netflix, during their Geekd Week last year, made it clear that Sirens of the Deep takes place in between episodes five and six of season one.
With so many actors signed on for different parts of The Witcher universe, many were curious how the cast for Sirens of the Deep would shape up. It was confirmed in a teaser for Sirens of the Deep that Doug Cockle would voice Geralt once more after previously doing so in the Witcher 3 video game. Live-action Witcher star like Anya Chalotra will lend her voice to Sirens of the Deep as Yennefer of Vengerberg alongside Joey Batey once again as Jaskier.
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The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep aims to further piece together the somewhat fractured timeline of The Witcher franchise while continuing to build hype for the live-action show heading into its two final seasons.
