2025 was one of the biggest years in the past decade for films and TV, with a particular emphasis on fiction and sci-fi. With blockbusters like “Avatar: Fire and Ash” grossing 1 billion in its first three weeks out, and TV shows like “Pluribus” logging 6.4 million hours watched during the first week. If we look at the sci-fi genre for 2025, more content was made than almost every year since the ‘80s, with hits like “Aliens,” “E.T.,” and, of course, “Star Wars.” The content of 2025 includes big names in both TV and theaters, such as Emmy Award winner, “Andor,” a spinoff of Star Wars that has surpassed the achievements of the movies and other spin-offs like the new trilogy and the solo movie. Additionally, there is another Emmy Award winner, which is the final season of “Severance.”
On the other hand, we have shows and movies debuting in 2026 that already have fans and viewers pre-ordering movie tickets and waiting all year for movies to come out. For example, movies like, “Marvel Avengers: Doomsday,” which is one of the most anticipated superhero movies in the past 10 years, easily beat the hype for last year’s superhero movies. “The Mandalorian” & Grogu is a talked-about Star Wars spin-off that might not be as critic-friendly, but it definitely can make more money at the box office than “Andor.” With new sci-fis like “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping,” and a movie that has already garnered the attention of millions, Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey.”
In order to compare the movies coming out this year and the movies and shows of last year, we gotta break it down into three categories that garner the most attention from audiences. We’ll look at two pieces of media from each of the following categories- one from 2025 and an awaited 2026 release- comedy and sci-fi. We will look at five different topics per category that include social media hype, collaborations with different consumer brands, marketing and actors/actresses, the uniqueness of the film and whether the general public is familiar with or anticipating each project. The category with the majority of the categories will win, and eventually, we will see the winner of the competition when the year with the most liked and hyped media has the majority, best out of 2.
The first category is Comedy movies. The invention of comedy in film and television is one of the oldest tropes in film, with the movie “L’Arroseur Arrosé,” also known as “Watering the Gardener” or “The Sprinkler Sprinkled,” released in 1895. Since then, the genre has improved and incorporated itself into many other forms. Such as Action-comedy, Rom-com, Sit-com and almost every other genre in films and television. Today, we are going to look into animated adventure comedy. A perfect example of this genre that is still relevant and released in 2025 is “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants.” On the other hand, a highly anticipated sequel coming in 2026 is “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.” Both films already star pop-culture icons, including Mario and SpongeBob, with Mario being created by Universal Pictures and SpongeBob created by Paramount Pictures. The first topic that we can look into is social media hype. If you have been on TikTok in the recent months, you’ve probably seen the trend “Big Guy” with a song from the SpongeBob movie. This trend has garnered over 5 million views and has seen big influencers take part in it. The trend started before the movie was released due to the song being released first in hopes that it would go viral. whilst on the other hand the only social media attention that Mario has gotten is fans of the game combing over trailers in order to find old references and hidden details, these videos have gotten millions of views in their own right, but for every one born after 2005 who don’t get the nostalgic feel of the game won’t really resonate with the social media presence of the videos. On the other hand, a TikTok dance trend is loved and could be done by anyone of any age. This gives SpungeBob the first point.
The second topic is collaborations. When we look at collaborations with animated movies, we usually see them in consumer foods. Since a lot of consumer food logos or mascots are already cartoons, it’s easier to compensate by just slapping a PNJ on a box, color it differently, and go on with the year. In the case of Mario, we can see collaborations with Lucky Charms and Trix Cereals, as well as the Pillsbury cookies. In the food marketing world, this is a good idea, but so minuscule when it comes to the SpongeBob marketing with Burger King. The SpongeBob meal quickly became one of the most popular Burger King collaborations, with its items selling out from store to store. This amount of marketing and consumerism easily gives SpongeBob another point, making the score 2-0.
The third topic is the actors and actresses playing in the film. Much like sports people have a favorite player and usually once the player switches teams the fans will keep up with their progress even if it’s not their team, or even go the lengths to see a game just to watch their favorite player play. Just like sports in the film world, many people have favorite actors or actresses, and when their name is on a movie poster instantly makes it a must watch. In the SpongeBob movie, some of the top names are Ice Spice, Mark Hamill and George Lopez. Whilst Mario has some of the biggest names in comedy voice acting, like Chris Pratt, Jack Black, Brie Larson, Anya Taylor-Joy and Keegan Key. By just the roster alone, this point is going to Mario giving the movie its first point 2-1.
The fourth topic is a tie or nothing, which is the uniqueness of the films, including the art story and originality. When looking at both films or any animated films in general the eye-catching art is supposed to be the center point of the movie. When you look at and compare the art of the first mario movie, which is the same animation company and style as the new one, and Spongebob, its not surprising to say that the Spongebob movie’s art was inspired by the first Mario. If we look at both stories as well, we can see that neither of them is that original. The plot of the Mario movies is based on the game “Mario Super Galaxy,” and the plot of the SpongeBob movie is based on previous episodes of the mysterious ghost, the flying Dutchman. Then we could look at how unique each film has made itself or will make itself. The use of in-game items and a fleshed-out adventure with a deeper plot make Mario a more unique movie. Many could argue that SpongeBob is very unique itself. But the slapstick humor and countless fart jokes make it as basic as any other children’s comedy movie. This gives Mario another point, evening out the score 2-2.
The final topic to see who wins the comedy category is how excited the general public is with the film, and for this, it was pretty simple. All I had to do was create a Google Form for each movie. After a day of the form being up on multiple social media sites, 70% of all answers said they don’t plan on watching SpongeBob, whilst over 40%, which was the majority, voted on planning to see the Mario movie. This ends the tie between the two, giving Mario the lead. This concludes the first category, giving the first win to movies in 2026.
The next category that we will cover is Sci-fi, specifically television. In 2025, there were so many great Sci-fi shows that premiered with the likes of the final season of “Stranger Things,” “Andor” season 2, “Pluribus,” and “Fallout” season 2. The anticipation for shows in 2026 is also very large, with not that many originals but a large amount of additional seasons, like the final season of “The Boys,” “X-Men ’97 season 2.” The comparison that I want to make is between “Pluribus” (2025) and the upcoming “The Boys,” season 5 (2026).
When comparing the two shows, the first subject that we must look at is social media hype. For “The Boys,” this is the fifth and last season. The boys is a comic-based super hero show with a twist to the classic hero trope. Where the heroes are more like villains and corrupt behind closed doors. The show has kept relevance each season even inspiring spin offs like an animated short, and a college based super hero spin off called “Gen-V”. The social media hype due to the long running time of the show is greater. On the other hand “Pluribus” is only in its first season with an original idea that we will get into later, although it is one of the most not is the most watched television series on Apple Tv, the demographic is limited to 20-40 year olds with a specific likeness to sci-fi. When looking online “The Boys” social media is a lot more on top of marketing even making mock posts of current political events. Thus giving the first point to “The Boys.”
The next comparison that we can make is the collaborations that each show has had with other components, and how well those collaborations have flushed out. For this comparison the show “Pluribus” will most likely lose due to their lack of collaborations or marketing. The only way people can find out about this show is either word of mouth, a few billboards in L.A. or by tv ads. “The Boys” have had many collaborations with other forms of media reaching the demographic that would like the show the most. With characters from the boys appearing in “Call of Duty,” “Mortal Kombat 1” and “PUBG.” These games are some of the most played games in the gen z age from 15-26 in a combined total due to these collaborations millions of people have seen these characters and have learned about the show, in turn this gives another point to “The Boys” making the score 2-0.
To see if “Pluribus” could make a comeback we will compare the actors and writers of the show to see who has bigger names, better acting skill and writing. When looking at “Pluribus,” we see the lead actress put on a phenomenal show of skill with almost every emotion represented in the show, from grievance, to happiness to even intoxication and lust. Rhea Seehorn, has been seen in other works of television like “Better Call Saul” the Breaking Bad spin off. Though she is an amazing actress, it is a very solitary show with some episodes just showing her journey with background support actors. When we look at “The Boys,” their cast is very diverse and has big names throughout the show. With the likes of Karl Urban, Antony Starr, Jensen Ackles, Jack Quaid and Chace Crawford. This is just the tip of the iceberg for the actors on the show with all these names starring or co-starring in blockbuster movies that are just one google search away. This unfortunately brings the score of the battle 3-0, this doesn’t give “Pluribus” any room to win, ending this battle very shortly with an over-bearing win from “The Boys.”
When looking at the film industry as a whole from year to year it constantly evolves and morphes based on the consumer likeness. This is why social media presence, and liked actors/ actresses are so important. It also shows that no matter how creative your ideas are, if the movie or show isn’t known about before release or has bad marketing it can quickly turn a multi million dollar investment into a bad stock. When we compare the hype and excitement people have about movies and TV in 2025 to 2026, it appears a lot more people are excited and ready for what 2026 has instore, and though 2025 was one of the best years for media and television, 2026 might one up it and be a generational year, the media this year will most likely be passed onto the next generation like our parents with media and television did with us solely based off of the excitement and quality of the media. This is why (2026) has one the hype contest and now all they have to do is the hardest part of the job, live up to the hype.
