2025’s Best Movie & TV Trailers: The Previews That Got Us Hyped and Hitting Replay!
A wrap-up of the most memorable trailers of 2025.
Happy New Year, everyone! It’s 2026, and as much as I might want to forget last year entirely, there’s still one thing I want to revisit before I fully turn the page.
Now, I’m sure plenty of you reading this have probably already seen or read a ton of “best films or best TV shows of the year” lists over the past few weeks. Which feels about right, considering it’s the kind of thing we all do as the year wraps up—looking back and reassessing what we liked and didn’t like. But this site is dedicated to covering new trailers, keeping moviegoers and TV watchers informed of what’s coming out in the near future. So making a best film or best TV show list feels a little counterintuitive to what we normally do around here.
That’s why I wanted to reflect on some of the best trailers of 2025—looking back at what studios got right, and what they got wrong. And just to be clear, what makes a trailer great comes down to one simple question: did it make you excited enough for the film or show that you had to watch it the day it came out? If your reaction to a new trailer is “I can wait” or “this feels like something I don’t need to watch right now,” then, frankly, the trailer failed. But the ones that really hit tend to do the opposite. When a trailer is great, it pulls you in and convinces you long before release day that this is something you absolutely can’t miss.
I should also add that a great trailer can’t make a movie excellent, nor can it guarantee you a fun experience. There were plenty of times—last year included—where I became genuinely excited for a movie or show based on its trailers, only to walk away deeply disappointed once I finally watched it. A great trailer is only there to do one thing: make you want to watch the movie or show as soon as it’s available.
So as I whittled down this list of my picks for the best trailers of 2025, understand that this in no way means these films are actually worth your time. In fact, to be honest, there are some on this list that I haven’t even seen yet—which is another reason I wanted to revisit these 2025 trailers: to remind myself why they caught my attention in the first place, why the movies and shows, themselves, felt worth anticipating… and why I should stop procrastinating and finally sit down and watch them.
⭐ Best Horror Trailers of 2025
I feel compelled to start with horror and give it its own category, as some of the best trailers in recent memory have come from horror movies and TV shows. Maybe it’s simply baked into the genre itself, as horror usually thrives on mood and atmosphere—things a great trailer can sell in minutes. Add in horror’s bold visual language, and it’s no surprise these trailers tend to hit harder, stick longer, and lodge themselves in my brain for nearly the entirety of the year. Plus, as horror has grown not only in popularity but in its willingness to tell more varied and nuanced stories, I’ve started to notice more genre blending. The result is trailers that borrow different tones, rhythms, and storytelling traits in ways that feel increasingly exciting and unpredictable.
So, in no particular order, let’s begin:
☆ The Monkey — Teaser Trailer
Now, this is a little bit of a cheat. While Osgood Perkins’s adaptation of Stephen King’s short story The Monkey did come out in early 2025, this teaser trailer didn’t. It dropped back in October of 2024, but I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. The teaser perfectly encapsulates the film’s dark humor while pairing it with genuinely stomach-turning scares. Did the film live up to what this teaser was selling? Well, maybe that’s not really the point. It did, however, exactly what it was meant to do: give a clear sense of what the film is, why it demands your immediate attention, and—just for good measure—use Shirley and Lee’s classic bop “Let the Good Times Roll” to unsettling effect.
☆ Weapons — Teaser
What can I say, other than that when you’re dealing with a question this provocative (where and why did an entire classroom of children vanish in the middle of the night?) you almost can’t lose. The first official teaser for Zach Cregger’s wonderfully morbid mystery thriller Weapons might go down as one of my favorite trailers of the year. Fully leaning into the mystery of the missing children instead of over-explaining the why, how, or who is exactly what makes this teaser work so well. The hook is so strong there’s no need to muddy it up with exposition or needless context. It just lets the dread do the talking. It’s only about 40 seconds long, yet it’s more than enough to provoke an intense curiosity. As an added bonus, the teaser ends with a website announcement (www.maybrookmissing.com), which feels like a classic throwback to the late-’90s online campaigns of The Blair Witch Project. Simple, eerie, and perfectly in the spirit of analog-era viral marketing. Perfecto!
☆ Alien: Earth — Trailer
Now this is a perfect example of how sound design is integral to making an effective trailer. This first full-length trailer for Alien: Earth arrived after a series of quick teasers that felt more like network promos than anything else—which is pretty typical for new FX shows. But once this one dropped, I was blown away by the tempo, the sound design, and the pulsating energy it creates. At a time when I thought the Alien franchise had more or less run its course, this trailer completely reawakened my love for Xenomorph-driven mayhem. I just wish the back half of the series had been as strong as its first two episodes.
☆ Good Boy — Trailer
Sometimes it’s simply the concept itself that does the heavy lifting for you, and the smartest trailers know better than to get in the way of clearly conveying that to an audience. Good Boy came in with a substantial amount of buzz after its SXSW debut, and its official trailer makes sure you understand exactly why. It’s a horror-ghost story told entirely from the perspective of a normal dog trying to protect its owner. There’s no way to hide that hook—so the trailer doesn’t. The result? Enough online buzz that the studio was forced to shift its distribution plan from a limited release to a wider theatrical rollout. And that’s exactly what a successful trailer can do for a movie. Mission accomplished.
☆ Final Destination Bloodlines — Teaser Trailer
There’s nothing better than going in with low expectations and coming out completely surprised by how much it worked. Final Destination: Bloodlines caught me off guard, not just by how fun and tense it was for a legacy reboot, but by proving those Rube Goldberg–style death traps can still land with brutal creativity. The teaser leans all the way in, dedicating nearly its entire runtime to a single elaborate sequence, fully aware that what audiences really care about is watching those dominoes line up... and waiting for that moment where everything goes horribly wrong.
There were so many good horror trailers in 2025 that I didn’t want to leave them out, so here’s a quick rundown of the ones that really stuck with me.
☆ Sinners — Trailer #2
I prefer the second trailer for Ryan Coogler’s genre-bending vampire flick, as it really leans into the swampy Southern atmosphere of this horror tale about twin gangsters (Michael B. Jordan) battling blood-sucking demons. With a good portion of the film set inside a barn-turned–dance hall, the trailer nails the mood—equal parts claustrophobic nightmare and sweaty, dirt-under-your-nails grindhouse horror.
☆ The Rule of Jenny Pen — Trailer
John Lithgow dances around with a creepy hand puppet, taunting a wheelchair-bound Geoffrey Rush. Enuff said. The trailer for The Rule of Jenny Pen dropped early in 2025, and I loved it. But I still haven’t gotten around to checking out the film itself, making this list just as much a reminder to finally catch up on some of the 2025 films I missed.
☆ Together —Trailer
Whoever (or whichever trailer house) handles the horror previews for NEON has been absolutely on a roll. Together had an excellent trailer campaign in 2025, and looking at its entire promotion, it might’ve been one of my favorites of the year... second only to Weapons.
☆ The Ugly Stepsister — Trailer
No one should sleep on Shudder either, whose horror trailers consistently felt sharp, creative, and refreshingly unafraid to lean into pure genre vibes. The Ugly Stepsister (which, to be fair, might be more twisted fairy tale than straight horror) perfectly illustrates how striking imagery, paired with smart sound design and a few bold title cards, can be more than enough to sell a movie.
☆ Dangerous Animals — Trailer
Sometimes a good trailer can simply revolve around a strong performance. Jai Courtney’s wild turn as a sadistic predator in Dangerous Animals does most of the lifting here, selling it on his unhinged energy in just a few perfectly chosen moments.
☆ Ash — Trailer
Cosmic space horror is not an easy genre to convey in a two-minute video. Yet this trailer manages to turn Flying Lotus’s sci-fi head-scratcher into something hypnotic and unnerving. Too bad the film itself didn’t quite live up to the promise of the trailer.
☆ The Plague
This is another example of how much mood and tension factor into delivering an effective trailer, which is exactly why horror previews so often come off more memorable than just about any other genre.
⭐ Best TV Trailers of 2025
Not to be overly biased toward film, but TV trailers have always felt more straightforward to me. They’re mostly direct, get to the point rather swiftly, and don’t tend to indulge in mood-building or misdirection the way great movie trailers often do. It’s a broad generalization, sure, but that’s not to say I didn’t see a few TV trailers in 2025 that impressed the hell out of me.
So, here’s a quick list of my favorite TV previews of 2025. And just to be clear, these picks are strictly about the trailers themselves, and NOT a ranking of my favorite shows of the year, even if a few of them did end up on this list.
☆ The Lowdown — Trailer
When it comes to TV trailers, FX might be the best in the game, as they’re usually far more focused on selling the tonal essence of a show. The trailer for The Lowdown, from Sterlin Harjo and starring Ethan Hawke as a shaggy Oklahoman historian-slash-hippie cowboy journalist, demonstrates this perfectly as it leans hard into its pulpy neo-noir vibes, right down to the retro title cards and stylized lettering.
☆ Andor: Season 2 — Trailer #2
One of the best shows of 2025, and this trailer gets exactly why: the tone, the attitude, and the spirit of rebellion. Just when you thought Star Wars had been bled dry, this comes along to prove the galaxy still has a few sharp, meaningful stories left to tell. And none sharper than Andor.
☆ Love Death + Robots: Volume 4 — Trailer
It’s hard to fail when a show features some of the best visual effects in the business, designed and created by some of the most talented artists working today. It’s pure eye candy! And more than enough to base an entire trailer around.
☆ English Teacher: Season 2 — Trailer
Okay. I’m a sucker for a little Depeche Mode, but using the ’80s track Just Can’t Get Enough as the rhythmic backbone for this FX comedy about frustrated high school teachers might be the single smartest tonal choice the trailer could’ve made. Too bad FX canceled the show just as it was getting into its groove.
☆ Shifty — Trailer
English filmmaker Adam Curtis has a bold visual identity that blends experimental techniques with dense archival footage, creating a hypnotic collage. The trailer for his latest five-part docuseries on Thatcher-era hyper-individualism gets right to the heart of what makes Curtis so singular. It also helps that the preview is set to Young Fathers’ hypnotic, New Wave-tinged track Wow. This was a BBC exclusive, but if you’re interested, you can catch it on YouTube for the time being.
☆ The Studio — Teaser (DUHPOCALYPSE)
The old fake-trailer gag gets me every time. Seth Rogen’s hit Hollywood satire series The Studio got the ball rolling with this trailer-within-a-trailer stunt that perfectly captured what the show ultimately became: a purely, ridiculously silly spoof of Hollywood, where the jokes are broad, the targets obvious, and somehow that low-hanging fruit still lands harder than expected.
⭐ 2025 Trends
Okay, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty. But before I dive into my favorite trailers of 2025, I want to first acknowledge a few trends that emerged throughout the year. Some were holdovers from past years, but felt a little more prominent this time around.
Period Pieces Relying on Modern Music in Trailers
Using contemporary music tracks as a shortcut to attitude or emotional tone instead of relying on era-appropriate needle drops has long been a trailer staple, but it felt especially effective this year. Two great examples were Timothée Chalamet’s 1950s ping-pong drama Marty Supreme and Netflix’s limited series Death by Lightning, which chronicles the events leading up to President James Garfield’s assassination.
For Marty Supreme, the choice was Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears, an ’80s pop classic that instantly reframed the story around ambition and swagger. Meanwhile, Death by Lightning leaned on I’d Love to Change the World by Ten Years After, a ’70s protest anthem that injected the historical drama with modern urgency.
☆ Marty Supreme — Trailer
☆ Death by Lightning — Trailer
Documentaries about Beloved Childhood Stars
Nostalgia was also big in 2025, perhaps even more so in the documentary space. There was a flood of films profiling some of our favorite stars who have sadly passed on. And even though I know a lot of these docs are pure nostalgia bait, I couldn’t help but be deeply affected by two previews in particular that really struck a chord and stuck with me right in the old corazón.
I’m a man of a certain age, so both John Candy and Paul Reubens, aka Pee-wee Herman, were substantial figures in my childhood, and hearing about their deaths still lands with a quiet weight that never quite goes away. Watching the trailers for their retrospective biographies—let alone the films themselves—was genuinely moving. And I don’t think I was alone in feeling that way.
☆ John Candy: I Like Me — Trailer
☆ Pee-wee as Himself — Trailer
Studios Taking a Few Chances with their Promotional Campaigns... If Only Just a Little
If you haven’t heard, the box office numbers for 2025 weren’t great. And every few weeks it felt like the trades were writing yet another postmortem about how Hollywood was in trouble, audiences weren’t showing up, and the theatrical model was supposedly on life support. But out of that anxiety came a few genuine surprises that rethought what a trailer could look and feel like.
Marvel Studios even tried something a little different with Thunderbolts, briefly touting it as a movie with an indie-cool edge. It leaned less on the Marvel brand and more on a curated, off-kilter tone. One online trailer in particular leaned hard into that moody sensibility, openly chasing an A24-style vibe instead of the usual Marvel playbook. Marvel also attempted to court fans of The Fantastic Four with a retro-inspired trailer built around a ’50s and ’60s aesthetic.
Meanwhile, NEON offered something far more intimate for Together, cutting a family-photo-album–styled trailer that smartly centered on its two stars—and real-life couple—Dave Franco and Alison Brie, letting personality and chemistry do the selling. To be honest, none of these trailers were exactly groundbreaking, but I was genuinely pleased to see the effort and a willingness to experiment instead of playing it completely safe.
☆ Thunderbolts — A24-inspired Trailer (ABSOLUTE CINEMA)
☆ The Fantastic Four: First Steps — Retro Trailer
☆ Together — ‘Photo Album’ Trailer
⭐ Best Movie Trailers of 2025
Okay, without further ado, here’s my list of my favorite movie trailers of 2025, based purely on how much they grabbed me and how excited they made me to see the final product, as all good commercials should.
☆ Tornado — International Trailer
Here’s something I’ve learned over the years: the international trailer for a movie is usually miles better than the domestic U.S. version. Maybe it’s due to looser restrictions, or maybe they’re simply less reliant on star power and more willing to sell mood, rhythm, and pure cinematic appeal. The international trailer for this East-meets-West period thriller Tornado is a perfect example of that, as it doesn’t spare us the violence or soften the edges, letting the brutality, tension, and stark imagery speak for themselves.
☆ The Surfer — Trailer
Nicolas Cage in a sunbaked surf thriller about a turf war between a father and Aussie locals sounds like a freakin’ tough sell. But somehow this trailer makes it work, leaning into Cage’s raw intensity, the blistering coastal atmosphere, and a sense of menace that creeps in like heatstroke. Props go out to the late Julian McMahon, who was the perfect foil to Nicolas Cage’s over-the-hill surfer character, whose buttons get pressed again and again until whatever restraint he has left completely snaps.
☆ F1 — Trailer
Sometimes all a trailer has to do is get you fired up. And so, this trailer for Brad Pitt’s racing drama F1 does exactly that. And in a lot of ways watching it feels like a race itself, full of twists and turns, peaks and valleys, low moments followed by adrenaline-spiking highs. It’s a fist-pumping treat, and easily one of my favorite movies of the year as well.
☆ Bob Trevino Likes It — Trailer
I debated with myself about whether to put this trailer on the list, as it’s admittedly not all that extraordinary. And maybe a little too saccharine for some tastes. But I also think it’s worth remembering that sometimes movies (and trailers, too) can feel like warm hugs, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. The film itself is also one of my favorites of the year, and I hope more people seek it out.
☆ Mickey 17 — Trailer 2
Looking back now, this trailer pretty much nailed the tone of Bong Joon-ho’s sci-fi space romp Mickey 17, in which Robert Pattinson plays an “expendable” maintenance worker whose job is essentially to die over and over again performing the most dangerous tasks, only to be cloned each time he’s killed on the job. Was it a perfect film? No. Did the trailer get me excited to watch it? Absolutely. And dare I say, it might just grow into a cult hit over time.
☆ Steppenwolf — Teaser Trailer
There are some trailers (and movies too) that come out of nowhere and instantly grab your attention, shaking you awake in the best way. This was one of those cases. No pretext. No expectations. I was just completely mesmerized by the images and the tone unfolding here. It also taps directly into my love of off-kilter foreign action films that are as grim and gloomy as they are relentless. I still haven’t seen this movie yet, but I’m actively seeking it out as we speak.
☆ One Battle After Another — Trailer
Hands down one of the best trailers of the year. And one of the best films of 2025 as well. My obsession with the image of Leonardo DiCaprio’s Bob, rocking a handlebar mustache, dark shades, and a knit beanie, definitely started here. It was months before the movie’s release, and I’m pretty sure the trailer burned that now iconic look straight into my brain.
☆ Weapons — Trailer
Weapons had the best promotional campaign of the entire year. The trailer editors were smart enough to know when to hold back and when to tease something genuinely exciting, never revealing too much and never spoiling the experience in the process. There are times when trailers go too far, but the previews for Weapons never once crossed that line. Well done.
Okay, that’s ‘bout does it for my little wrap-up of 2025. I know I’ve missed a few good trailers, but these were the ones that stuck with me, lingered in my head, and reminded me why I love trailers so much. It’s that feeling of anticipation—wanting a movie or TV show to be great, even knowing there’s always the risk it won’t live up to its promise. But it’s the hope that the next movie or show will offer something special that keeps me coming back every time.
So here’s hoping 2026 brings even more surprises and buzz-worthy previews that get us all talking about why movies still matter! Happy New Year, everyone. Be safe.