AFI Includes 'Hamnet,' 'One Battle After Another' and 'Sinners' in Annual Top 10 List.

The American Film Institute has unveiled its annual list of the 10 best films of 2025, spotlighting Hamnet, One Battle After Another, Sinners, Frankenstein, and Marty Supreme. Other entries on the prestigious list include Avatar: Fire and Ash, Bugonia, Jay Kelly, Train Dreams, and Wicked: For Good.

The lineup blends blockbuster spectacles like the latest installments of Avatar and Wicked with critically acclaimed works such as One Battle After Another and Marty Supreme, alongside smaller, intimate dramas including Train Dreams.

Three films from NetflixFrankenstein, Jay Kelly, and Train Dreamsmade the list. Meanwhile, several highly anticipated films did not appear, including F1, Weapons, A House of Dynamite, Wake Up Dead Man, and Sentimental Value.

The AFI also presented a special award to Jafar Panahis acclaimed thriller It Was Just an Accident. Panahi, a Palme dOr winner at Cannes, has also received recent recognition from the Gotham Awards and the New York Film Critics Circle.

On the television side, the AFI recognized the years top programs: Adolescence, Andor, Death by Lightning, The Diplomat, The Lowdown, The Pitt, Pluribus, Severance, The Studio, and Task.

The AFI announcement is a significant nod for Chloe Zhaos Hamnet, which had previously not been acknowledged by the New York Film Critics Circle or the National Board of Review despite winning the Toronto Peoples Choice award.

Since 2000, the AFI has honored outstanding films annually, adopting the current format of 10 films and 10 television shows in 2002. Historically, nearly 80% of AFI Top 10 films have earned an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, though the two lists do not always align perfectly.

The honorees are selected by juries composed of scholars, filmmakers, actors, historians, journalists, and critics. Recipients will be celebrated at a luncheon on Friday, January 9.

AFI Motion Pictures of the Year

• Train Dreams
• Wicked: For Good
• Avatar: Fire and Ash
• Frankenstein
• Jay Kelly
• Marty Supreme
• One Battle After Another
• Rental Family
• Wake Up Dead Man

AFI Television Programs of the Year

• Adolescence
• Death by Lightning
• The Diplomat
• The Lowdown
• Severance
• The Studio

AFI Special Award

It Was Just an Accident

Author: Olivia Parker