The summer of 2025 is one to remember, as it was filled with cinema, ranging from sequels to new original movies that blew us all away. Some were box office hits, reaching new heights in cinema, and others were slightly disappointing.
Starting with the summer movie misses, we have two highly anticipated superhero movies from DC and Marvel: Superman and Fantastic Four: First Steps. While both received good reviews, they underperformed and failed to meet their high expectations. Not enough people made the effort to watch these movies; therefore, the results were considered a little disappointing. Along with that, the highly anticipated finale to the Mission Impossible series, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, also struggled to reach the same level of popularity as earlier films. This movie, too, received excellent reviews from loyal Mission Impossible fans, but it was not watched enough by the general public to be considered a success. Lastly, Disney’s original Elio was a significant disappointment, becoming one of Pixar’s lowest box office totals ever. This was an extreme loss as Disney has not been doing very well with their originals, and this further deepened that sentiment.
Moving on, we have our 2025 summer movie hits! While recent Disney live-action remakes
haven’t done too well, Lilo & Stitch has been an extreme success, grossing more than $1 billion worldwide! Unlike the Mission Impossible series, the Jurassic Park series obtained much success after the release of Jurassic World: Rebirth. It went above and beyond, producing $855 million globally. The next successful movie was unexpected. While many horror movies are released closer to the Halloween season, the horror movie Weapons was released and surprisingly did extremely well. From the director of Barbarian, Weapons was not only low-budget but also an original story, making its success even more impressive. Lastly, F1: The Movie did remarkably well and exceeded its low expectations. This was also an original story, though it was reported to have a high budget. However, it still produced over $600 million globally and hit the top ten charts for box office in 2025.
Overall, all these movies have created memorable moments in our 2025 summer. These movies, whether successful or not, brought us entertainment we will never forget!