Theater-Adjacent Movies for Broadway Fans in 2025

Over the next few months, theatre is heading to Hollywood. In addition to seeing the release of movie musicals like Kiss of the Spider Woman and Wicked: For Good, 2025 is also the year of other exciting titles that shine a spotlight on the wonderful world of theater and performance.

Some of the films are modern adaptations of classic plays, while others are dramatizations of true events and people in Broadway history. To celebrate the release of movies like Blue Moon, Hedda, and more, BroadwayWorld has put together a guide to five new titles that are sure to appeal to Broadway fans. 

Check out our list below to find out why you should check out these new movies when they arrive in theaters!

Blue Moon
Limited Release Date: October 17, 2025
Wide Release Date: October 24, 2025

Blue Moon is the new cinematic portrait of famed Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart. Directed by Richard Linklater, the majority of the film takes place at Sardi's Restaurant on the opening night of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! in 1943.

For those who have spent time in Sardi's, it is a treat to see the theater staple completely recreated for this era of theater history. Broadway fans will also want to look out the inclusion of "Little Stevie," Hammerstein's young protege, who grew up to be composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim.

The plot itself follows Hart as he confront his shattered self-confidence as his former collaborator, Richard Rodgers, begins a successful new collaboration with Hammerstein. The movie features a starry cast including Ethan Hawke as Hart and Andrew Scott as Richard Rodgers, along with Margaret Qualley and Bobby Cannavale. Check out our interview with the stars of the film, who discuss the bond between Rodgers and Hart.

Rodgers and Hart helmed such musicals as Babes in Arms and Pal Joey, in addition to the 1934 hit ballad "Blue Moon" from which the film gets its title. Rodgers and Hammerstein went on to create several hits themselves, with South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music among them.

Hedda

Limited Release Date: October 22, 2025
Prime Video Release Date: October 29, 2025

Hedda is Nia DaCosta's new film adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler. Starring Tessa Thompson as the title character, the movie is a modern reworking of the acclaimed 1891 stage play.

In the film, Hedda (Thompson) finds herself torn between the lingering ache of a past love and the quiet suffocation of her present life. Over the course of one charged night, long-repressed desires and hidden tensions erupt, pulling her and everyone around her into a spiral of manipulation, passion, and betrayal.

The cast also includes Imogen Poots, Tom Bateman, Nina Hoss, Nicholas Pinnock, Finbar Lynch, Mirren Mack, Hamilton's Jamael Westman, Saffron Hocking, and Kathryn Hunter. This marks DaCosta's fourth feature as director, following Little Woods, Candyman, and The Marvels. 

In the original play, Hedda Gabler, the daughter of a general, arrives home from her honeymoon already bored and filled with contempt for her husband and the respectable life he represents. When the reappearance of an old flame threatens both her husband’s career prospects and her stability, Hedda contrives to manipulate everyone in her orbit, becoming the architect of her own destruction. 

Over the years, the role has been personified by some of the most distinguished actresses of all time, including Annette Bening, Ingrid Bergman, Cate Blanchett, Judy Davis, Eleanora Duse, Jane Fonda, Isabelle Huppert, and Mary-Louise Parker, among others.

Hamnet
Limited Release Date: November 27, 2025
Wide Release Date: December 12, 2025

Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet tells a fictionalized story of playwright William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes. Starring Paul Mescal and Olivier Award-winner Jessie Buckley as the couple, the movie follows their relationship during the 16th century, along with that of their beloved son Hamnet. Eventually, however, tragedy strikes the family, during which time the heartbroken Shakespeare works to create his play Hamlet.

The film is based on Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 New York Times bestselling novel, which has sold 2 million copies in the UK and US and has been translated into 40 languages. O'Farrell worked with Zhao on the film's screenplay. The book has also been adapted for the stage by Lolita Chakrabarti, and recently played in the West End in a production directed by Erica Whyman. 

In a Vanity Fair article, it was revealed that the movie recreates Shakespeare’s Globe theater during 1600, the year in which the original production of Hamlet takes place in the film. “For the first two days in the Globe, I was genuinely lost. I felt untethered,” said Jessie Buckley, who plays Agnes Shakespeare. “You’re at the mecca of where Hamlet is born—everything that we’ve gone through was culminating to this point.” 

Song Sung Blue
Release Date: December 25, 2025

Song Sung Blue marks Hugh Jackman's first onscreen musical since 2018's The Greatest Showman. In the film, the Tony winner and Kate Hudson star as two down-on-their-luck performers who form a Neil Diamond tribute band.

Though not a "book musical", Jackman and Hudson will perform some of Diamond's best-known songs in the film as the band members "Lightning" and "Thunder." The worlds of Neil Diamond and musical theater previously collided in Broadway's A Beautiful Noise, the 2022 jukebox musical featuring his vast catalogue.

Craig Brewer, whose directorial credits include the 2011 remake of Footloose, has written directed the movie, which is based on a true story and Greg Kohs' 2008 documentary of the same name. Rounding out the star-studded cast are Michael Imperioli, Fisher Stevens, Jim Belushi, Ella Anderson, King Princess, Mustafa Shakir, and Hudson Hilbert Hensley.

The Testament of Ann Lee
Release Date: December 25, 2025

The Testament of Ann Lee is a new music-driven drama film from The Brutalist's Mona Fasvold and Brady Corbet. Amanda Seyfried leads the movie as Mother Ann Lee, the founding leader of the Shaker Movement. During her rise during the eighteenth century, followers believed Lee to be a female representation of God and were known for their jaunty musical worship during religious services. 

Though not a traditional musical, the film features a heavy use of Shaker hymns, which have been transformed into ecstatic “movements" by composer Daniel Blumberg, along with choreography from Celia Rowlson-Hall. Blumberg has also written one original composition that plays over the end credits. The final sound mix is a combination of studio recordings and live singing from Seyfried and the cast. Seyfried is no stranger to the latter, having performed the role of Cosette live during the filming of 2012's Les Misérables. 

The movie also stars Thomasin McKenzie, Lewis Pullman, Christopher Abbott, Tim Blake Nelson, Stacy Martin, Matthew Beard, Scott Handy, Viola Prettejohn, David Cale, and Jamie Bogyo. 

The Testament of Ann Lee had its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival on September 1, 2025, and was also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. For its theatrical release in December, attendees will have the chance to watch a 70mm cut in select theaters.