2025 in film

2025 in film is an overview of events, including award ceremonies, festivals, a list of country- and genre-specific lists of films released, and notable deaths. Shochiku and Gaumont celebrated their 130th anniversaries; 20th Century Studios and Republic Pictures celebrated their 90th anniversaries; and Studio Ghibli celebrated its 40th anniversary. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's first musical film The Broadway Melody (1929), known for being the first sound film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, entered the public domain this year.

Highest-grossing films

Box office records

• Ne Zha 2 surpassed The Battle at Lake Changjin to become the highest-grossing non-English language film. It became the 57th film overall, and 14th animated film to pass $1billion and the seventh film to pass $2billion. It became the highest-grossing animated film of all time as well as the 5th highest-grossing film overall. It became the second ever non-Hollywood film production to become the highest-grossing film of the year, following ' in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• It surpassed Inside Out 2 (2024) as the highest-grossing animated film, breaking Disney's 14-year streak with the title after regaining it with Toy Story 3 (2010). Doing so, Enlight Pictures became the first non-Hollywood studio to hold this distinction.
• It became the first non-English language film to gross $1billion and $2billion worldwide.
• It surpassed ' to become the highest-grossing film ever in a single market. It also became the first film to earn $1billion and $2billion in a single market.
• On March 2, thirty-three days after release, Ne Zha 2 surpassed $2billion, the first animated film in history to do so. It is the seventh film overall to achieve this milestone.
• It set the records of highest-grossing worldwide opening for an animated film and highest-grossing worldwide opening of the year, up until these records were surpassed by Zootopia 2 later the same year.
• Zootopia 2 became the 59th film overall, the 15th animated film, and the second-fastest animated film (at 17 days, behind Ne Zha 2’s 12 days) to gross $1 billion worldwide.
• It claimed the fourth highest-grossing worldwide opening of all time ($560.3million), placing behind ' ($1.2billion), ' ($641million), and ' ($601million).
• It set the records of highest-grossing worldwide opening for an animated film, and highest-grossing worldwide opening of the year, surpassing Ne Zha 2 in both instances. It is also the highest-grossing worldwide opening of any animated film in Disney history, surpassing Moana 2.
• On 12 December, seventeen days after release, Zootopia 2 became the fastest MPA animated film, and PG-rated film, to reach $1billion, surpassing Inside Out 2’s 19 days in both instances.
• On 31 December, thirty-six days after release, Zootopia 2 surpassed Frozen 2 to become Walt Disney Animation Studios' highest-grossing film.
• On 18 January, fifty-four days after release, Zootopia 2 surpassed Inside Out 2 to become Disney's highest-grossing animated film of all time, the highest-grossing MPA animated film of all time, and the highest-grossing PG-rated film of all time.
• The Zootopia film franchise surpassed $2.8billion with the release of Zootopia 2.
• ' became the 60th film overall to gross $1billion worldwide.
• The Avatar film series surpassed $6billion with the release of Avatar: Fire and Ash.
• Lilo & Stitch became the 58th film overall, and the first MPA film of 2025 to gross $1billion worldwide.
• It became the second best first-day ticket pre-seller for a Disney live-action remake, behind the 2019 photorealistic animated The Lion King.
• It also set the record for the biggest opening weekend for a live-action animated film, surpassing Detective Pikachu.
• It became the highest-grossing live-action animated film, surpassing The Smurfs (2011), as well as the first live-action animated film to globally gross at least $1billion.
• The Lilo & Stitch film series has grossed more than $1.3billion with the release of the live-action remake, with the latter contributing roughly 79% of that figure.
• ' grossed about $780million worldwide to become the highest-grossing Japanese film of all time, surpassing its predecessor '.
• Worldwide, it became the highest-grossing Japanese film and the highest-grossing anime film of all time. It is also the first Japanese film to cross $600million worldwide.
• In Japan, it had the biggest opening weekend of all time with Â¥5.52billion in three days. It passed Â¥10billion in eight days, becoming the fastest‑grossing film ever in Japan.
• In the US, its $70million opening weekend was the biggest opening for an international film, R‑rated animated film, and September animated release. It went on to set US records for the highest-grossing anime film (surpassing '), highest-grossing Japanese film, first anime film to cross $100million, and highest-grossing international film (surpassing Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon).
• In other international markets, the film had the biggest opening weekend for an animated film in the Philippines, South Korea, and India. It became the all-time highest-grossing anime film in Brazil, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Spain, and Thailand.
• The ' franchise became the first R-rated animated film series to surpass $1billion with the release of Infinity Castle.
• It became the highest-grossing hand drawn animated film in its initial release, surpassing the initial gross of The Lion King (1994), which grossed $763million in its initial release and held the record for 31 years.
• The How to Train Your Dragon franchise surpassed $2billion with the release of the live-action remake of the same name. It became the highest grossing film in the franchise, surpassing How to Train Your Dragon 2.
• F1 achieved Apple Studios's highest-grossing opening weekend at $144million worldwide, and passed Napoleon to become the producer's highest-grossing film worldwide.
• With the release of Superman, the Superman franchise surpassed $3billion.
• The Marvel Cinematic Universe became the first film franchise to gross $32billion with the releases of ', Thunderbolts*, and '.
• With the release of ', the Fantastic Four franchise surpassed $1billion.
• The Wicked film series surpassed $1billion with the release of '.
• ' had a $194million opening weekend worldwide, surpassing Its record ($190million) for the largest opening weekend for a horror film.
• Nobody became the highest-grossing 2D animated film in China and the highest-grossing Chinese 2D animated film.

Golden Bear (75th Berlin International Film Festival):

Palme d'Or (78th Cannes Film Festival):

Golden Lion (82nd Venice International Film Festival):

People's Choice Award (50th Toronto International Film Festival):