Something Popped started in 2025 was an early & mid look into the year. Well, we’re now into the following year of 2026, so let’s look back and “Recap” the year of 2025.
Were my top 10 predictions correct? What surprises occurred? Misses, swings & hits. Let’s get into it!
Let’s start with my top 10 predicted vs officials.
Predicted Top 5: Avatar 3 | Wicked 2 | Black Phone 2 | Bad Guys 2 | Superman |
Top 10: Love Hurts | Lilo & Stich | Ballerina | Train Your Dragon | Jurassic World |
Ouch! Let’s start with my misses! – Love Hurts, seriously hurts to see this on my top 10 list when I gave it a 4.5. Ballerina, sadly, I fell asleep, so I don’t have a review of it, and never re-watched it to catch the middle parts I missed. Jurassic World & Black Phone 2 were fine movies with a mixture of good & bad elements.
The remainder were good to great, with scores ranging from 7.5 to 8.5.
So what’s my actual top 10 for 2025: (Not Actually Listed 1 through 10)
| Ranking 2025 – Top 10 | Movie Title |
| 1 | Ne Zha 2 – 9/10* – #1 Oscar Animated Feature |
| 2 | Bring Her Back – 9/10* |
| 3 | Sinners – 9/10* |
| 4 | Better Man – 9/10* |
| 5 | Sarah’s Oil – 9/10 |
| 6 | Song Sung Blue – 9/10 |
| 7 | David – 9/10 |
| 8 | The Life of Chuck – 9/10 |
| 9 | F1 – 9/10 |
| 10 | One Battle After Another – 9/10 |
Ne Zha 2 came out of no where. Like, wasn’t even on my radar and seriously loved this movie and watched the first & second movie over 3 times each. First one probably closer to 5/6.
Same with Bring Her Back – Watched this twice and thoroughly enjoyed it. Was surprised placing a horror movie into my top 10 but then Sinners feels so right in here :D.
Better Man I’ve watched twice and thoroughly loved the nostalgia of the story, setting & music.
True stories were big for 2025 and Sarah’s Oil & Song Sung Blue were incredible. Moved me emotionally and tales I’d re-watch again.
Life of Chuck is one of those movies you’ll sit and ponder. Reflecting and taking in what the movie meant to you individually. A lot can be broken down by this. Love to hear your thoughts.
One Battle After Another vs Sinners are my two best picture plays. Haven’t re-seen OBAA yet but Sinners, I loved even more the second watch.
Dark Horses of 2025:
Captain America | Looney Tunes | Mickey 17 | Minecraft | Until Dawn | M3GAN 2.0 | Fantastic Four | Mortal Kombat 2 |
Minecraft blew up with Chicken Jockey. Captain America came out same time as Ne Zha 2. You can read my thoughts on those in their respected “Reviews”. Mortal Kombat 2 got pushed to 2026 so let’s hope it actually releases this year. Once again in my Dark Horse but I’m backing Street Fighter based on their trailers.
Looney Tunes was a lot of fun but didn’t do great. Hopefully Coyote vs Acme performs this year. Until Dawn & M3gan 2.0 flopped. With Mickey 17 not being my cup of tea but did decent. Fantastic Four faired better than Captain America but I’m hoping Doomsday is worth this recent era of Marvel :S…..hopefully….
Here’s to a solid year of movies for 2026! Looking forward to seeing how wrong I am again :P. Honestly this year has so many good movies I’d be surprised not seeing my predicted list being a little closer than my 2025 list was :D.
Next Popped Date to be end of January when we discuss the Oscar Nominations! Snubs, potential winners & my disappointment for Ne Zha 2 not being nominated based on how it’s going with Critics Choice & Golden Globes.
Until next time though fellow movie-goers – Happy Watching 😀
Popped! 
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