This will be my fifth year covering SXSW for The Pop Break (and sixth overall). This year looks to be the biggest as I will also bring readers video coverage of the premiere festival through my new YouTube channel — Drawn To Film — to give you deeper looks at the hottest tickets in Austin and engage with the best movies and TV shows on a deeper level.
Here are the most exciting projects coming to Austin running March 7-14 at the SXSW Film & TV Festival.
Movies
Death of a Unicorn
Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega headline an all-star cast for the latest from A24. Will Poulter, Tea Leoni, Richard Grant, and Anthony Carrigan all make up for Death of Unicorn being helmed by first-time director Alex Scharfman.
He’s produced plenty of movies – none that I’ve seen – but the concept of a horror movie with a vengeful unicorn along with its stacked cast is something to get excited about all on its own.
Oh, and its music is composed by John Carpenter along with his son and godson. Yeah, THAT John Carpenter. He scored all of his movies like Halloween, so I’m very intrigued to see what he does with a movie like this.
Friendship
I have absolutely no idea what to make of the trailer for A24’s Friendship. It feels like a parody trailer concept of a comedy being turned into a thriller with Paul Rudd torturing his new friend Tim Robinson. It feels a bit like Dinner for Schmucks but with Tim Robinson’s I Think You Should Leave humor.
Whatever the case, I’ve avoided spoilers but other critics have said it’s one of the funniest movies of recent memory. Easily one of the most exciting movies of 2025.
I missed this movie in Toronto, but after A24 swooped in following its big reception at TIFF, I knew it would be coming back on the festival circuit to SXSW.
Holland
Nicole Kidman suspects Tom from Succession is living a double life in their new movie HOLLAND. Rumor is Matthew Macfadyen is playing her serial killer husband and when you bring in two of the most exciting performers today from HBO with Big Little Lies and Succession, it’s even more exciting.
It’s directed by an upcoming Mimi Cave who explored one side of a psychotic killer in a fascinating way with Sebastian Stan and Daisy Edgar-Jones just a few years ago. Really curious to see how this is explored from a new POV.
The Surfer
I think Nicolas Cage has reached a new era in his career where it’s justifiable to be excited about anything he’s working on.
Yes, I’m very excited to see Spider-Man Noir in live-action later this year, but seeing Cage get into a wild mess in Australia sounds like a really fun time in The Surfer. From all the early looks, it seems like a throwback to sunburnt technicolor ’60s surfing movies but with more panic attacks and violence.
It holds an 88% score on Rotten Tomatoes coming into SXSW, and Cage looks to be in top form. An easy movie to get excited about.
Together
A body horror movie with Alison Brie sounds like one of the best movies coming out in 2025, and it will be a perfect midnight movie at SXSW.
Along with husband Dave Franco, Together sounds more like David Cronenberg than anything he’s done in the past three decades, with their on-screen couple encountering a “supernatural force that begins an extreme transformation of their love and their bodies.”
Honorable Mentions
- The Rivals of Amziah King (Matthew McConaughey, Kurt Russell)
- The Accountant 2 (Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal)
- Another Simple Favor (Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively)
TV
The Studio (Apple TV)
Seth Rogen is an Austin staple, having brought a number of projects to SXSW over the years including Neighbors and The Disaster Artist. Now his Apple TV vehicle premieres opening night, promising to be a blistering sendup of the town he works in. He plays a studio exec who is out of his depth, but from all early looks, will not hold back from pointing out the issues from the bottom-up, from TikTok influencers changing the media landscape, to diva actors. For better or worse, there’s lots of hype around how Rogen and the crew got so much of Hollywood to not only guest star but be on their worst behavior. Hopefully, it’s not a Sausage Party: Foodtopia situation.
Government Cheese (Apple TV)
A surrealist family comedy set in 1969 San Fernando Valley, Government Cheese looks like it could be a quirky look at the world, with David Oyelowo in the lead, described as a man “unfettered by the realities of the world” after he’s released from prison. That’s enough for me to take a look.
Happy Face (Paramount+)
Dennis Quaid has some serious range these days. Just last year he played a wild role in one of the most unique and daring movies in The Substance and made a controversial biopic of Ronald Reagan. Now he stars as one of Canada’s most prolific killers, Keith Hunter Jesperson who would draw smiley faces on his letters to authorities. The show is based on Jesperson’s daughter’s podcast about her father and relationship.
