Back in 2024 I said the major studios had a bad case of franchise fever. In other words I thought they were not putting out enough original films and I was worried in particular about Hollywood’s lack of creativity and fear of trying new things. That’s pretty much true every year to be honest, but 2025 has left me a bit more optimistic about the future of cinema when compared to 2024.

A lot of interesting developments happened this year. The Mission: Impossible series finally came to an end, the Predator series went in exciting new directions, anime killed it at the box office (even in America) thanks to Demon Slayer and Chainsaw Man, the Safdie Brothers split up and directed their own films (which has led many to conclude that Josh Safdie is the better director), and fans of every genre got something they wanted. For laugh-out-loud comedy there was The Naked Gun, for traumatizing horror there was Bring Her Back, for feel-good entertainment there was Superman, for emotional science fiction featuring inhuman characters having an identity crisis, there was Companion, Thunderbolts*, Frankenstein and even Lilo & Stitch! Plus there were plenty of overlooked gems out there that many cinephiles loved but didn’t receive the mainstream attention they deserved, including Sorry, Baby, Black Bag, Novocaine, Sketch, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl and Bugonia.

Family-friendly blockbusters have always been popular at the box office, as evidenced by the success Universal had with How to Train Your Dragon, Jurassic World Rebirth, Wicked: For Good and the animated films of Dreamworks Animation, not to mention the success Disney had with Lilo & Stitch, Freakier Friday and Zootopia 2 (in fact, despite the commercial failures of Snow White, Elio and Tron: Ares, this has been Disney’s best year financially since pre-pandemic times). But no one has had a better year than Warner Bros. They hit box office gold with A Minecraft Movie, Sinners, Final Destination: Bloodlines (which became the most critically and commercially successful Final Destination movie), F1, Superman, Weapons and The Conjuring: Last Rites. Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another was one of WB’s few commercial disappointments in 2025 but even that is being hailed as one of the best movies of the year.

Of course underlying all this is the fact that Netflix has just acquired Warner Bros., which understandably has a lot of people nervous since Netflix is famously averse to theatrical releases, although Netflix has claimed that they are going to allow Warner Bros. to retain its operations as a theatrical business. That may very well be true, especially since they are probably aware that killing WB would likely damage their reputation in Hollywood. But I have my eye on them and so should everyone else who cares about the theater business.

As for the television shows and video games of 2025, they were killing it on the creative and commercial side as well, although those two industries have had their own shenanigans to deal with.

Creativity is always under threat when companies like Netflix and Warner Bros. merge, but also when they embrace AI, which video game companies seem to be doing way too often these days, often under the guise of creative efficiency, even though we all know it’s a cost-cutting measure. Of course Nintendo, a Japanese company that famously marches to the beat of its own drum, has rejected the practice and still managed to hit the jackpot with their summer release of the Nintendo Switch 2, despite that console costing over $400. Proof as usual that they are clearly doing something right.

And then there’s the fact that the FCC tried and very nearly succeeded at getting Jimmy Kimmel’s talk show yanked from ABC in an alarming act of anti-freedom of speech. That event was tied to an annoyingly common level of government interference in the world of art and entertainment from people who know nothing about art or entertainment (a slew of performers like Issa Rae and Lin-Manuel Miranda even cancelled their shows at the Kennedy Center because of their opposition to politically charged overreaches like this). Although if you’ve been watching South Park this year (and I pray to God you were not) you see that creativity sometimes thrives in the face of fascism.

So basically, movies are under the threat of corporate greed, television is under the threat of government censorship and video games are under the threat of AI. But despite all that, I still have optimism. Why? Because historically none of these things have ever been a match for the creative spirit of human beings. As evidenced by this list I made of my favorite entertainment of 2025. Here are all the things from this year I enjoyed the most.

Dog Man

Not many people will include this movie from DreamWorks Animation on their best of the year lists, but this film, which channeled the spirit of the studio’s 2017 film Captain Underpants (of which the Dog Man books are a spin-off), embraced sheer silliness in a way that neither sacrificed its heart nor overshadowed the sharpness of its humor, which I thought was an impressive balancing act for a movie that could have easily leaned into overly juvenile territory. Instead, this entertained me and made me laugh out loud just as much as any adult-oriented comedy this year.

Common Side Effects

This highly addictive animated Adult Swim series about government conspiracies, fugitives on the run and a miracle drug that can change the world has the kind of offbeat tone and smart writing that at this point I have come to expect from a show produced by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels. Gets my vote for the best animated series of the year.

Daredevil: Born Again

Seeing Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio return together as Daredevil and Kingpin seven years after the Netflix Daredevil series ended was one of the most euphoric moments of the year for me but the show was also just as good as the Netflix series was, so major props to showrunner Dario Scardapane for understanding the appeal of these characters and the tone of that show. I also can’t wait to see how other long dormant Marvel characters like Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and the Punisher factor into Marvel’s future now that they officially exist in the same universe as the Avengers.

Split Fiction

I’m a sucker for a good cooperative multiplayer game. Some of my favorite video games are Mario Kart: Double Dash and It Takes Two (which was made by Hazelight Studios, the same studio behind this game). But this has a premise that is very ripe for creativity, as two women, a sci-fi writer named Mio (voiced by Kaja Chan) and a fantasy writer named Zoe (voiced by Elsie Bennett) get sucked into their fictional worlds and must figure out how to get back to the real world.

The Studio

Seth Rogen’s Apple TV comedy follows the career of a Hollywood CEO (Rogen) as he aspires to make great cinema, but the business side of the movie business often gets in the way of his dreams, to often hilarious and chaotic results as he navigates his way through celebrities, film shoots, awards shows and more. The fact that many real celebrities play themselves in this show makes these situations all the more funny.

Sinners – Eli’s Favorite Movie of 2025

No film this year entertained me, moved me and satisfied me on the same level that Ryan Coogler’s horror film Sinners did. Set in Great Depression-era Mississippi, the first part of the movie is more grounded as it draws you in with deeply rich and compelling characters who are just trying to build a life for themselves in America, but once the supernatural elements kick in and vampires enter the picture, their pursuit of the American dream becomes a fight for survival. Coogler (who has never made a bad film yet) adds all kinds of creative touches to the experience that mesmerized me and made me think “this is a classic in the making.”

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – Eli’s Favorite Game of 2025

I rarely see video games like this. Ones that make me think “Every single thing about this is executed really well.” This game is impressive on multiple levels, from the fact that the company who made it, Sandfall Interactive, is an independent software developer not from Japan or America but from France, to the fact that it has disproven the myth that modern RPGs can’t have turn-based battles because they’re seen as old-fashioned. In fact, if you have brilliant designers who know how to keep those battles interesting with a wide variety of moves and customization combined with elements of real-time combat, it is evidently possible for that game to be a critical, commercial and award-winning hit in the year 2025. But what really made me love this was that on top of all that, this features some of the best writing, acting, animation and art design I’ve ever seen in a video game. And when I say it looks good, I’m not just talking about the visual effects and the photo realism. I mean the characters talk, move and behave with all the subtleties and imperfections of real people. And the story goes deep with the drama and the tragic themes in ways that never felt hollow and always felt authentic. All those things are why this is my favorite game of the year.

Friendship

Tim Robinson going from his popular Netflix sketch comedy I Think You Should Leave to this equally surreal and cringe-inducing comedy about a socially awkward guy (Robinson) who does everything wrong while trying to connect with his new neighbor (Paul Rudd) was a natural development for him, as was his HBO series The Chair Company. It may not be on everyone’s comedic wavelength but if you like absurdist comedy and Tim Robinson’s stupidity makes you laugh, this is non-stop entertainment.

Duster – Eli’s Favorite Series of 2025

This HBO Max crime thriller series from the minds of J.J. Abrams and LaToya Morgan (a writer and producer who previously worked on shows like Shameless, Parenthood and The Walking Dead) set in 1972 and centered around the FBI’s first Black female agent (Rachel Hilson) was just plain fun. The writing was smart, suspenseful and funny too and I can’t think of a more well-crafted and captivating original series this year that reached this level of perfection, so it’s my favorite series of 2025. I also liked finally seeing Josh Holloway nab a series role as good as his role in Lost and finally seeing a show that reminded me of why I first became a J.J. Abrams fan. The last good show he created was Fringe and that ended in 2013.

Grandma, No!

A video game that kind of has to be seen to be believed. Not because of how deep or life-changing it is but because of how deeply stupid it is. You play as a grandma who is tasked with babysitting her grandson, and this soon leads you to explore the house to complete other domestic tasks. Sound boring so far? Now imagine the grandma is a totally incompetent Nicktoons character and the controls are intentionally sluggish and crappy. Maybe not the kind of game that you think is worth its price but I’m a sucker for absurdist humor and I have to reward it.

KPop Demon Hunters

Based on the sheer level of popularity that this movie has achieved I feel the urge to brag that I loved this movie long before it was cool to do so. Back when it first dropped on Netflix I said it was one of the best animated films I’ve ever seen because you can clearly see the passion and talent on screen in the beautiful animation, the great characters, the heartfelt story and the catchy music. I didn’t know what to expect from this, but I did not expect it to become my favorite animated film of the year.

Superman

I had high expectations for this based on what I know about James Gunn as a writer and it might even be my personal favorite Superman film of all time, surpassing the one from 1978. Perhaps I’m making a hyperbolic statement because I’m still coming down from the state of euphoria I felt while watching this, but this did a lot of things right. Including getting the character of Superman’s optimistic and simplistic good vs. bad personality down in a way that was not corny but actually inspiring, while at the same time contrasting it with the complexity of real-world politics. When Superman starts asking questions like “Why are we politicizing the fact that I save lives?” all I could think was “Yes. YES.”

Donkey Kong Bananza

This Nintendo Switch 2 game was the first third-person Donkey Kong platformer since Rare’s 1999 game Donkey Kong 64. Although it feels more like a spiritual sequel to the 2017 Switch platformer Super Mario Odyssey but with a very different gameplay mechanic that takes advantage of DK’s physicality by making every single part of the environment you explore possible to destroy as you dig your way to the center of the earth searching for buried Golden Bananas. There’s something incredibly fun about embracing your inner Tasmanian Devil and destroying everything in sight as you explore these huge worlds and as someone who missed a good DK platformer, this was well worth the wait.

The Naked Gun

This was the most pleasant surprise of the year. I absolutely love the original Naked Gun and a modern reboot starring Liam Neeson, directed by a Lonely Islander and produced by Seth MacFarlane could have gone either way. Fortunately it seems like everyone involved in this film is not only a Naked Gun fan but also understands what makes absurd humor so funny. It’s not the absurdity – it’s everyone’s reaction to it. The straight man in a silly world style of comedy you see in things like Monty Python, Blazing Saddles and The Naked Gun is a style that I rarely see anymore and one that I feared Hollywood no longer knew how to make. That is, until I watched this.

Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound

One of the best side-scrolling platformers of the year was this action-packed hack and slash game from Spanish developer The Game Kitchen in which you play as both a ninja and the ninja spirit who possesses him (both have different fighting styles and both have different abilities to help each other progress through each level). The key word to remember while playing this game is “timing.” Because this game tests your reflexes more than any game I’ve played as the enemies constantly come at you from every side of the screen. A challenging game but one that’s deeply satisfying when you conquer it.

Time Flies

This humorous puzzle adventure game from the mind of Swiss artist Michael Frei and programmer Raphaël Munoz puts you in control of a housefly who only has a short amount of time to live but has a bucket list to complete. Your objective is to complete every single item on the fly’s bucket list before it kicks the bucket. And every single time you die, the game starts over from the beginning. It’s simple but requires a surprising amount of focus and efficiency to complete. Thankfully it entertains along the way.

Weapons

I really love the tonal balance Zach Cregger strikes with this horror film about a group of school children going missing at night. It’s hilarious at times without feeling like it’s trying to be, but also well-written and well-acted enough that you get invested in the drama of the story, even as it dabbles in otherworldly terror. But it’s also well-paced, with a central mystery that gradually reveals itself as the film peels back more layers, leaving me deeply captivated by everything that happens as a result.

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