As the dust settles on the last year, kids have plenty of reasons to get excited because 2025 is fully set to arrive and continue strong. Younger audiences will have the opportunity to see highly anticipated new movies, both live-action and animated, as well as continue the stories of their favorite television shows and cartoons. Meanwhile, parents can rest assured that this new pop culture content will also convey valuable messages and meaning to their kids.
Check below to learn what movies, TV shows, and cartoons kids should expect to release in the upcoming 12 months.
The Best Kids’ Movies Releasing in 2025
Family-friendly movies are taking the spotlight in 2025.
Paddington in Peru
2025 will begin with a new Paddington adventure! The third film in the live-action animated series will be the feature directorial debut by Dougal Wilson, while Ben Whishaw returns to voice the Paddington Bear for the third time.
The plot of the third Paddington movie will see him receiving a letter from his beloved Aunt Lucy who resides in a retirement home for bears in Peru. He decides to visit her in the South American nation together with his human foster family, the Browns. Yet the visit turns into an unexpected and thrilling adventure, with Paddington and the Browns trying to resolve a mystery that will include the mystical lost city of El Dorado.
Besides Whishaw as the titular character, several other actors also return to the series in the upcoming movie, including Hugh Bonneville as Henry Brown and Emily Mortimer as Mary Brown. Expect to see new faces as well, including Antonio Banderas.
Paddington in Peru is set to release in theaters on February 14, 2025.
Lilo & Stitch
The beloved animated film from 2002 is getting a live-action treatment, introducing a whole new generation of kids to the story of a lonely girl forming a friendship with a blue-colored, animal-like alien.
While there will be some departures from the original story, the remake movie will yet again explore the themes of belonging and redemptions, as well as the values of friendship and family. At the heart of the story is the six-year-old girl Lilo Pelekai from Hawaii who adopts the result of an alien genetic experiment Experiment 626, who she calls Stitch. Over the course of the plot, Stitch goes from a chaotic and destructive force to creating a deep emotional bond with the grieving girl.
Chris Sanders, who voiced Stitch in the original animated movie, will reprise the role in live-action, as the character will be made with CGI. Lilo will be played by Hawaii-native kid actress Maia Kealoha. Zach Galifianakis, Billy Magnussen and Courtney B. Vance are also set to appear in the movie.
Lilo & Stitch is set to release in theaters on May 23, 2025.
How To Train Your Dragon
2025 is gearing up to be an amazing year for live-action remakes of classic animations, as the 2010 film How to Train Your Dragon is also scheduled to receive such. The original animated trilogy's director, writer, and producer Dean DeBlois will also handle the remake.
The first ever DreamWorks Animation live-action remake will once again explore the world of Vikings and dragons at the fictional rugged Nordic isle of Berk. As Viking chief’s son Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III befriends a dragon Toothless, he defies centuries-long practices of his community.
The story has been applauded for its emphasis on the importance of compassion, understanding, and kindness towards each other, and now a whole new generation of kids will be able to discover, or possibly rediscover it.
Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III will be portrayed by Mason Thames, while his father Chief Stoick the Vast will be played by Gerard Butler, who voiced the character in the animated film trilogy as well.
How To Train Your Dragon is set to release in theaters on June 13, 2025.
Zootopia 2
It will be close to a decade since fans worldwide first got introduced to the city of Zootopia, where anthropomorphic animals of various species live and coexist in harmony. The directors of the first movie, Jared Bush and Byron Howard are back for the sequel.
The sequel to Zootopia will be a buddy cop comedy, which will see the return of Judy Hopps, the first rabbit of the Zootopia Police Department. She will now be officially partnered with the red fox Nick Wilde, who is a detective at the ZPD as well. Together they will go undercover to investigate a case involving a mysterious snake, who goes by the name of Gary.
Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman will reprise their roles as Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde, respectively. The presumed antagonist Gary will be played by Ke Huy Quan. Shakira will reprise her role in the movie as Zootopia’s pop star Gazelle, and Idris Elba will return as Judy’s and Nick’s boss at the ZPD, water buffalo Chief Bogo.
Zootopia 2 is set to release in theaters on November 26, 2025.
Exciting Kids’ TV Shows in 2025
Television in 2025 is bringing fresh content for younger audiences.
Stranger Things
The 1980s neon-soaked teen adventure that is Stranger Things is set to culminate with its fifth season. As the Duffer brothers have been crafting the finale of their hit TV series for the last three years, the fans have been patiently waiting to see how the story of the adventures of Eleven and her friends will conclude.
The plot of the final season will revolve around the series' main antagonist Vecna trying to open the final portal between the dimensions which could lead to unforetold consequences for everyone involved. The stakes will be the highest they have ever been for the heroes of the series, all while also dealing with their own personal relationships and struggles.
Of course, Millie Bobby Brown’s Eleven, Finn Wolfhard’s Mike, Gaten Matarazzo’s Dustin, Caleb McLaughlin’s Lucas, and Sadie Sink’s Max all return for the one final ride at the small town of Hawkins and the horrifying dimension of the Upside Down. The final eight episodes will also see David Harbour, Winona Ryder, and the other adult characters appearing.
Season 5 of Stranger Things is set to premiere in 2025 on Netflix.
The Summer I Turned Pretty
The romantic teen drama with Isabel "Belly" Conklin as its main focus will be back this summer, as she continues to transition from being a teen into young adulthood. The upcoming season will be the longest in the series yet, with an overall of 11 episodes.
The third season of the TV show will be an adaptation of the third and final book in Jenny Han’s novel series, We’ll Always Have Summer. Important to note that there has not been any confirmation that this will be the final season, as there have been hints of the story expanding beyond the original source material.
Viewers can expect a time jump of two years from the second season, as the plot will revolve yet again around the love triangle - Belly’s feelings towards the Fisher brothers, Conrad and Jeremiah, and her inevitable decision between both of them.
Lola Tung will continue to portray Belly, while other main cast members like Christopher Brineyas as Conrad, Gavin Casalegno as Jeremiah, Sean Kaufman as Steven, Rain Spencer as Taylor, and Jackie Chung as Laurel also return to continue the stories of their respective characters.
Season 3 of The Summer I Turned Pretty is set to premiere in the summer of 2025 on Amazon Prime Video.
Outer Banks
Another beloved teen television series is coming to an end in the upcoming months. Set in a coastal town on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, this TV show explores themes such as seeking freedom, gaining control, family, friendship, love, and adventuring.
The final season is set to end the rivalry between the Kooks, the teens of wealthy seasonal resident families, and Pogues, the local teens of working-class families. Following the events of Season 4, the conclusion of Outer Banks is set to start with seeking revenge and justice while dealing with grief.
As with the various smaller storylines throughout the previous four seasons, the search for the legendary treasure that has been a key plot point since the very beginning of the series is also still yet to be resolved one way or another.
The main cast is set to return for the final season, including Chase Stokes as John B. Routledge, Madelyn Cline as Sarah Cameron, Madison Bailey as Kiera Carrera, Drew Starkey as Rafe Cameron, and Carlacia Grant as Cleo.
Season 5 of Outer Banks is set to premiere in 2025 on Netflix.
The World of Cartoons in 2025
Cartoons are getting even more creative in 2025.
- What If…?
- Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
- The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
- Marvel Zombies
- The SpongeBob Movie: The Search for SquarePants
What If…?
The year will end, or potentially start depending on how fast kids get on with the “One Final Watch” over the Holiday season, with a bang as Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) animated series What If…? returns with its third and final season.
Over the course of the final eight episodes, the series will once again explore various alternative versions of events we have seen in the MCU movies and TV series. According to the showrunners, the series is concluding due to reasons related to the MCU overall but they did not rule out the possibility of What If…? getting revived in the future.
Amongst the episodes featured in the series' concluding third season will be a western-themed episode that sees Shang-Chi and Kate Bishop, voiced by Simu Liu and Hailee Steinfeld respectively, teaming up to fight a common foe. An anime episode that will have the Avengers, formed by Captain America, Black Widow, Moon Knight, and others, facing up against a horde of Hulk monsters is also confirmed for Season 3. The final season will even have a 1930s-inspired musical episode, with the witch Agatha Harkness, played once again by Kathryn Marie Hahn, as its main character.
Jeffrey Wright will be back as the Watcher, both a character in the plot and the narrator of the series. The same as the previous two seasons, many of the live-action MCU actors will be back to reprise their roles in the animated series as well. In the third season amongst those appearing will be Mark Ruffalo as Hulk, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Josh Brolin as Thanos, Oscar Isaac as Moon Knight, Taika Waititi as Korg, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, and many more.
Season 3 of What If…? is set to premiere on December 22, 2024 on Disney+.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
The series formerly titled as Spider-Man: Freshman Year will web swing on the screens of children worldwide at the top of the new year. While formally a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) Phase Five, this will be an alternate version of Spidey than the one Tom Holland portrays in live-action films. A new timeline, or multiverse, where other beloved Marvel characters featured in the series are also new and different versions of them, in other words.
The story of the new series will show Spider-Man’s earliest origins, yet the journey will be different from what we have seen before. That will include 15-year-old Peter Parker learning the ropes of being a superhero while being mentored by Norman Osborn.
Spider-Man will be voiced by Hudson Thames which fans will already recognize from appearances as the character in the aforementioned What If…? series, while Colman Domingo will take on the role of Osborn. Many of the Spider-Man villains are set to appear, including Venom, Lizard Chameleon, Scorpion, Rhino, and others. As far as heroes go, expect to see appearances by Iron Man, Doctor Strange, and Daredevil, who will be portrayed by the same actor who plays him in the live-action MCU series and films, Charlie Cox. The second season is already in the works as well.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is set to premiere on January 29, 2025, on Disney+.
The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
Generations of kids come and go but the lore of the Looney Tunes remains as awesome to the children as it ever was. The franchise’s first full-length animation film to premiere on the big screens is connected to the Looney Tunes Cartoons animated TV series and will be paying homage to various classic sci-fi films, such as The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Thing from Another World, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
This time Daffy Duck and Porky Pig will take center stage, as they will uncover a secret conspiracy that involves aliens planning to invade Earth through mind control. The hilariously dynamic duo will try to work out their quirky differences in order to save the world from a full-blown invasion from extraterrestrial threat.
Eric Bauza will not only reprise his role as Daffy but also is set to take the voicing duties of Porky as well. Meanwhile, other voice actors appearing in the movie will be Wayne Knight, Candi Milo, Fred Tatasciore, and Laraine Newman.
The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie is set to release in theaters on February 28, 2025.
Marvel Zombies
The young fans of What If…? will be excited to learn that one of the concepts introduced in the series will be returning as a full-fledged miniseries. During Season 1’s episode 5, What If… Zombies?!, an alternative Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) timeline was shown, where beloved superheroes became zombies and the zombie apocalypse took over the Earth.
Continuing in the timeline of the events of the episode, the four-episode miniseries is set to follow a group of survivors, who look for a cure while facing up against zombies, which will include previous members of the Avengers.
Many MCU’s live-action characters are set to appear, including Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, David Harbour as the Red Guardian, Awkwafina as Katy, Florence Pugh as Black Widow, and Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel. Meanwhile, new zombie versions of previous characters will include Wanda Maximoff, Steve Rogers, Hawkeye, Captain Marvel, and many more.
Marvel Zombies is set to premiere on October 3, 2025 on Disney+.
The SpongeBob Movie: The Search for SquarePants
The year will end with a bang, as the fourth theatrical film about SpongeBob arrives on the big screens, following The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run. Derek Drymon, the director, writer, or producer of numerous SpongeBob episodes, as well as the previous three movies, will now take the helm as the director of the fourth animated film.
This time SpongeBob SquarePants adventures will take him to the very depths of the ocean where he aims to confront the horrifying ghost pirate ship, the Flying Dutchman. The rest of the plot, including the reason the series hero must face off against such a threat, is currently kept under wraps.
All the series regular voice actors are set to return, including Tom Kenny as SpongeBob SquarePants, Clancy Brown as Mr. Krabs, Rodger Bumpass as Squidward Tentacles, Bill Fagerbakke as Patrick Star, Carolyn Lawrence as Sandy Cheeks, and Mr. Lawrence as Plankton. Mark Hamill will debut in the franchise as the villain of the new film.
The SpongeBob Movie: The Search for SquarePants is set to release in theaters on December 19, 2025.
