Happy New Year! To kick off 2025, we are taking a look at some of our favorite “new” films from the past year. Although the top 10 films at both the domestic and worldwide box offices in 2024 were either sequels or adaptations of existing works, there were myriad original gems released in the last year worth checking out. Take a look at a few that are certified "fresh" by critics and audiences alike on Rotten Tomatoes.

"A Real Pain"

Kieran Culkin is generating Oscar buzz for his supporting role in the dramedy "A Real Pain," written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg. Eisenberg and Culkin star as cousins David and Benji who have very little in common aside from their family history. The unlikely pair explore that history as they travel across Poland to honor their recently deceased grandmother.

"Abigail"

Not since 2011's "Black Swan" has a film about a ballerina been so jarring…and bloody. Alisha Weir plays the titular Abigail, a 12-year-old ballerina who is kidnapped and held for ransom. To the horror of her kidnappers, Abigail is not your typical young girl. Her father is a mysterious and dangerous crime figure, and she is not so innocent herself.

"Anora"

This year's Palme d'Or winner stars Oscar frontrunner Mikey Madison as Ani, a Brooklyn stripper who impulsively marries the immature, hard-partying son of a Russian oligarch. When his parents find out, they send henchmen to force the couple to annul the marriage. But things don't go according to plan, leading Ani and her captors to race around New York City in search of her missing husband.

"The Brutalist"

Adrien Brody stars as the Hungarian-Jewish architect László Tóth, a Holocaust survivor forcibly separated from his wife who emigrates to the United States to start over. He settles with a cousin in Philadelphia and pursues the American Dream, encountering xenophobic and antisemitic attitudes along the way. "The Brutalist" is up for seven Golden Globes and is expected to dominate the awards season.

"Ghostlight"

In this cathartic tearjerker, a grieving construction worker begins the process of healing after spontaneously joining a community production of "Romeo and Juliet." As tragic elements of the play mirror recent events in his life, he and his family are forced to confront their shared pain.

"His Three Daughters"

Carrie Coon, Elizabeth Olsen, and Natasha Lyonne play three very different sisters who are forced to come together when their cancer-stricken father is nearing the end. Lifelong tensions surface as the women, stuck in the confined space of their father's New York City apartment, rattle each other's nerves and argue over how to care for him in his final days.

"Hit Man"

Glen Powell turns up the charm as the seemingly vanilla college professor Gary Johnson, who unbeknownst to his students spends his spare time helping the police by impersonating a hitman in sting operations. Everything changes when he falls for a beautiful young woman who is looking to hire someone to kill her abusive husband.

"Juror #2"

Clint Eastwood's latest film is a legal thriller starring Nicholas Hoult as a juror who knows more than he lets on about the crime at the center of the murder trial that he and 11 of his peers are deciding. Can he sway his fellow jurors toward the correct verdict, or will he stand in the way of justice being served?

"Monkey Man"

In his directorial debut, Dev Patel stars as an underground fighter barely making ends meet in the Mumbai-esque fictional city of Yatana. When he isn't being beaten up for the crowd's entertainment while wearing a monkey mask, he is busy plotting his revenge on the corrupt police chief who massacred his village and brutally killed his mother when he was a child.

"My Old Ass"

If you could go back in time and implore your younger self to make different choices, would you? That is the question at the heart of the coming-of-age dramedy "My Old Ass," starring Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza as Elliott at 18 and 39 respectively. When teenage Elliott takes shrooms, she is visited by her future self who offers advice that could change her life forever.

"Sing Sing"

Though technically adapted from an article that ran in Esquire, "Sing Sing" offers an original and personal look at the lives of prisoners in Sing Sing Maximum Security Prison. Former inmates Clarence Maclin and John "Divine G" Whitfield, who participated in the prison's Rehabilitation Through the Arts program, are credited with developing the story. Maclin plays himself in the film while Colman Domingo portrays Whitfield, who was imprisoned for nearly 25 years for a crime he didn't commit.

"Thelma"

In her first leading film role, nonagenarian June Squibb plays the titular Thelma, a spirited grandmother who seeks revenge after falling for a phone scam. Teaming up with her friend Ben, played by the legendary Richard Roundtree in his final role, Thelma sets course on a motorized scooter in a quest to get her money back while steering clear of her daughter, son-in-law, and grandson who are frantically searching for her.

"Wicked Little Letters"

Based on an unbelievable but true story of feuding neighbors in 1920s England, "Wicked Little Letters" stars Olivia Colman as the God-fearing spinster Edith Swan who lives next door to unconventional single mother Rose Gooding, played by Jessie Buckley. When Swan receives vulgar, hateful letters in the mail, she directs the police toward Gooding. All of the constables are eager to lock Gooding away, except for one – the town's lone female officer.

We encourage you to check out these fresh, new films in 2025! Enjoy!

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