A couple of weeks ago, I received a press release I hoped was parody: Netflix was buying Warner Bros. But when I checked the New York Times, there it was in black and white: The streaming giant was set to acquire the venerable studio and HBO Max for $83 billion.
For older moviegoers who will never get used to seeing Amazon’s name on the MGM lion, the news was a blow. For many in Hollywood, too. Whatever you think of streaming services — their convenience is undeniable — they are gobbling their competition at an alarming rate.
In a December 6 follow-up story, the Times talked to Hollywood players who were reeling from the announcement. Michael O’Leary, chief executive of theater trade organization Cinema United, put it bluntly: “Theaters will close, communities will suffer, jobs will be lost.” Netflix co-chief executive Ted Sarandos assured investors that Warner Bros. movies would still have exclusive theatrical runs. But industry observers quoted in the story wondered how long that could last.
Netflix’s big move looks even more ominous in light of an earlier Times story. On November 14, Brooks Barnes reported that “Hollywood Falls to New Lows.” Over the preceding three months, 25 new dramas and comedies had bombed in theaters, including star-studded films that were pegged as award contenders, such as After the Hunt, Christy, Die My Love, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere and Bugonia. Sure, maybe some of these movies just weren’t that great. But audiences didn’t seem interested in leaving the couch to find out.
It’s a vicious cycle — fewer people seeing new movies in theaters means fewer movies reaching theaters.
Meanwhile, people did go to theaters to see well-loved classics such as Back to the Future on the big screen, to sing along to the enormously popular KPop Demon Hunters (which initially had a streaming-only release on Netflix) and to enjoy their favorite anime series in movie form. (According to Box Office Mojo, the year’s 17th most popular film is Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba — The Movie — Infinity Castle, ahead of Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King.)
Horror and horror-adjacent movies, such as Weapons and Sinners, were additional exceptions to the disappointing box office pattern. So were movies that generated social media chatter, such as the timely One Battle After Another and the new Superman. And parents still take kids to theaters: Nine of the 10 top-grossing films of 2025 could be classified as family or family-friendly fare.
The conclusion seems hard to deny: These days, the average person goes to movie theaters for FOMO. If people aren’t debating a movie on your social feeds and the kids aren’t clamoring to see it, you’re likelier to wait for streaming.
The result is a vicious cycle — fewer people seeing new movies in theaters means fewer movies reaching theaters — and a strange phenomenon of people lamenting on social media that “No one makes original/good/edgy movies anymore.” Or … maybe you just didn’t notice their one-week run at your local multiplex because you were too busy arguing over whether Zack Snyder or James Gunn understands Superman better?
Vermont is no exception to these trends. Since Merrill’s Roxy Cinemas closed in downtown Burlington, it’s become harder to see indie and prestige films. Smaller art houses keep the tradition alive, however, such as Montpelier’s Savoy Theater and St. Johnsbury’s Catamount Arts. This year’s impeccably curated Vermont International Film Festival offered an advance look at a bounty of exciting fare, and VTIFF screens such films year-round. Finally, newly opened Partizanfilm shows new indie and foreign films and repertory fare around the corner from the old Roxy, catering to cinephiles for whom the theater experience remains irreplaceable.
Traditionally, for this end-of-year roundup, I bestow honors on movies in various categories with cutesy names. This year, I find myself wondering, Why bother? Most readers are still waiting to stream the award-worthy films of 2025 — or to buy tickets when those films get a bonus theatrical run after their big wins.
So this year, I’ll simply point out some 2025 movies I think are worth your time, whenever and wherever they happen to be available. Then, because we all know negativity drives engagement, I’ll add a few of my least favorites.
Movies That Took Me Back
This year reminded us that period pieces don’t have to be stuffy. Take Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet (check local theaters), which transports us to the time of William Shakespeare to steep us in the reverent calm of a sylvan setting. Instead of the biopic you might expect, it tells an intimate, heartbreaking story of family life and the women whose deeds history didn’t record.
Sinners (HBO Max, video on demand) is a horror movie, yes. But it’s also writer-director Ryan Coogler’s meticulous imagining of life in a small town in 1932 Mississippi, layered with history and lore, and his love letter to Black musical traditions. Somehow a movie about one wild night at a juke joint becomes an epic that echoes into our present.
Nia DaCosta’s Hedda (Prime Video), which screened at VTIFF but not in local theaters, updates Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler to 1950s England with a sumptuous gloss worthy of Douglas Sirk. Tessa Thompson’s diva turn earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination.
Three Globe noms also went to The Secret Agent, a Brazilian drama set in 1977 that is partly a tense thriller about corrupt cops and political refugees and partly an ode to the heyday of movie palaces. Like Coogler with Sinners, director Kleber Mendonça Filho achieves a rare degree of immersion in his setting. I was amazed by the wealth of buried memories the film unlocked with its feathered hairstyles, smoky interiors, craggy character actors, and clack-clack of typewriters and movie projectors. If you love the cinema of the ’70s and missed this one at VTIFF, try to catch it at the Savoy or elsewhere.
Movies That Took Me Aback
Every year I see a lot of horror movies, but only a few make a strong impact. Weapons (HBO Max, VOD) was a fun watch. But Bring Her Back (HBO Max, VOD) hit me harder with its double whammy of gross-out body horror and heartstring-tugging emotional drama.
Speaking of body horror, if you loved The Substance, don’t miss The Ugly Stepsister (AMC+, Disney+, Hulu, VOD), the feature debut of Norwegian director Emilie Blichfeldt, which retells the Cinderella story from the title character’s perspective. This is uncensored Brothers Grimm, with a new feminist spin. Set in the 19th century, the movie has a gossamer dreaminess that only makes the shocks more shocking.
The Tim Robinson cringe comedy Friendship (HBO Max, VOD) didn’t entirely land with me, yet it was weird enough to be memorable. Same with another movie about the hazards of male bonding, Lorcan Finnegan’s bizarre parable The Surfer (Disney +, Hulu, VOD), starring (who else?) Nicolas Cage. While Eddington (HBO Max, VOD) and Bugonia (VOD) took a more direct approach to satirizing toxic internet subcultures this year, one might argue that the obliqueness of Friendship and The Surfer was more effective. Time will tell.
Movies That Are Just About People, and That’s Enough
Sentimental Value (check local theaters), from Norwegian director Joachim Trier, is a sad, funny, wonderful movie about one family’s secrets and lies, with gripping performances and a layer of commentary on the power of film itself. Recipient of eight Golden Globe nominations, it’s sure to have an Oscar presence.
A well-deserved Globe nomination also went to writer-director-star Eva Victor’s Sorry, Baby (HBO Max, VOD), which had a brief local run over the summer. The plot pivots on an off-screen sexual assault, which may have kept viewers away. But at its heart, this is a bittersweet comedy about healing and reaffirming the good parts of life (a best friend, a great sandwich) without denying the bad parts.
Movies That Take Economic Instability Dead Seriously
Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another (VOD), which seems poised to sweep the Oscars, filled viewers with unabashed revolutionary fervor.
Meanwhile, two notable Korean directors adapted novels about working stiffs into blistering economic satires. Robert Pattinson plays a prole who allows himself to be cloned and repeatedly killed off in the broad but funny Mickey 17 (HBO Max, VOD) from Bong Joon-ho (Parasite). Awaiting a Christmas release is Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice, in which a laid-off manager in a dying industry sets out to improve his chances of getting hired by murdering the competition. The movie’s blend of dark comedy and sentiment may alienate some U.S. viewers, but it’s visually enthralling, with a final scene that couldn’t be more timely.
Class conflict showed up outside prestige films, too. The uneven horror comedy Companion (HBO Max, VOD) envisions an AI underclass. In the effectively bleak Stephen King adaptation The Long Walk (VOD), young men are willing to die for a chance at prosperity. Even Disney’s smash hit Zootopia 2 had a few things to say about ethnic and colonial oppression.
Movies That Weren’t for Me
I’ll go to bat for The Conjuring and its first sequel, but The Conjuring: Last Rites (HBO Max, VOD) is only for people with a real investment in the fictional version of the demon-hunting Warren family. The draggy Honey Don’t! (Peacock, VOD) is simply not the comic neo-noir one might hope for from Ethan Coen. Jurassic World: Rebirth (Peacock, VOD) plays like a desperate effort to appeal to every demographic at once.
On the art-house side, I was frustrated with the repetitive, styled-to-perfection vision of maternal depression in Lynne Ramsay’s Die My Love, but the film resonates with some viewers in a big way. To each their own!
I Didn’t Bother, Honestly
This year I skipped most of the superhero movies — excepting only Gunn’s fun take on Superman (HBO Max, VOD) — and Wicked: For Good. Most sequels these days feel like they’re made primarily for fans rather than casual or first-time viewers, and when you’re not a fan, your opinion isn’t much use to those who are.
On My List
Among the touted films I haven’t yet managed to see are Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme (Christmas wide release); Mona Fastvold’s The Testament of Ann Lee (Christmas limited release); Cannes Film Festival-honored Sirât (likely 2026 wide release); the recent Netflix releases Nouvelle Vague, Train Dreams and Jay Kelly; and the current and upcoming VOD releases It Was Just an Accident, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You and Blue Moon.
Wishing you great movie experiences in the New Year — because yes, great movies are still out there.
The original print version of this article was headlined “Net Flicks and Net Loss | The year in film: theaters, streaming and the rise of FOMO viewing”
This article appears in Dec 24 2025 – Jan 6 2026.
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