ANTICIPATED
MOVIES FOR 2021
Part 1 – Mainstream
JANUARY
The Last Duel
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Starring: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer
Opening on: January 8, 2021
PLOT: Drama Ben Affleck and Matt Damon will reunite, with Killing
Eve‘s breakout star Jodie Comer filling out the cast about a woman claims she's
been raped by her husband's best friend, Jean de Carrouges. But when no one
believes her accusation, her husband challenges his friend to a duel, the last
legally sanctioned duel in the country's history.
THE 355
Directed by: Simon Kinberg
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Fan Bingbing, Penélope Cruz, Lupita
Nyong’o, Edgar Ramirez, Sebastian Stan, Diane Kruger, Emilio Insolera
Opening on: January 15, 2021
PLOT: Mystery thriller where five women band together to stop a global
organization from acquiring a weapon that could thrust the teetering world into
total chaos.
FEBRUARY
Nomadland
Directed by: Chloé Zhao
Starring: Frances McDormand, David Strathairn
Opening on: February 19, 2021 (following one-week virtual release on
December 4, 2020)
PLOT: Drama based on the nonfiction book by Jessica Bruder. The film
stars Frances McDormand as a woman who loses everything in the Great Recession
and decides to see if the van life is all it’s cracked up to be.
The Father
Directed by: Florian Zeller
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Colman
Opening on: February 26, 2021
PLOT: Drama starring two Oscar winners based on a 2012 French play Le
Père by the film’s director and co-writer, Florian Zeller. The story focuses on
an aging man (Anthony Hopkins) struggling with memory loss whose daughter
(Olivia Colman) moves into his flat to help care for him.
MARCH
Coming 2 America
Directed by: Craig Brewer
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, John Amos, James Earl Jones,
Garcelle Beauvais, Wesley Snipes
Opening on: March 5, 2021 on Amazon Prime.
PLOT: Comedy - After over three decades, it looks like Prince Akeem —
ahem, King Akeem and Semmi are returning Stateside from their homeland of
Zamunda. Much of the original cast are returning, including James Earl Jones as
King Jaffe Joffer and John Amos as Cleo McDowell, as Akeem learns that he has a
long-lost son he never knew about who might be the heir to the throne.
The Many Saints of Newark
Directed by: Alan Taylor
Starring: Michael Gandolfini, Vera Farmiga, Jon Bernthal, Billy
Magnussen, Ray Liotta, Corey Stoll,
Alessandro Nivola - Opening on: March 12, 2021, with simultaneous release on
HBO Max
PLOT: Prequel to HBO The Sopranos. Alan Taylor directs this look back
at the early years of the iconic TV mobster, with Vera Farmiga, Jon Bernthal,
and Ray Liotta in supporting roles.
APRIL
No Time To Die
Directed by: Cary
Fukunaga
Starring: Daniel Craig,
Ralph Fiennes, Rami Malek, Naomie Harris, Lea Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Rory
Kinnear, Jeffrey Wright, Ana de Armas, Lashana Lynch
Opening on: April 2,
2021
PLOT: True Detective
director Cary Fukunaga takes the reins for the 25th James Bond film, with
Daniel Craig returning for his fifth and (presumably) final turn as 007.
BIOS
Directed by: Miguel
Sapochnik
Starring: Tom Hanks
Opening on: April 16,
2021
PLOT: Tom Hanks is
back, breaking our hearts again. Here he plays a sickly inventor — and the last
human left on a post-apocalyptic earth — who creates a robot to protect the
life of his dog when he dies and keep them both company while he’s alive.
A Quiet Place Part II
Directed by: John
Krasinski
Starring: Emily Blunt,
Noah Jupe, Millicent Simmonds, Cillian Murphy, Djimon Hounsou
Opening on: April 23,
2021
PLOT: Director John
Krasinski returns to helm this sequel, which he also wrote, starring his
real-life wife Emily Blunt, as it follows up with the Abbott family after the
events of the first film.
MAY
Black Widow
Directed by: Cate
Shortland
Starring: Scarlett
Johansson, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Rachel Weisz
Opening on: May 7, 2021
PLOT: The first Marvel
property to kick off its Phase 4 will be this prequel focusing on Scarlett
Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff teaming up with her Russian sister.
Spiral
Directed by: Darren
Lynn Bousman
Starring: Chris Rock,
Samuel L. Jackson, Max Minghella, Marisol Nichols
Opening on: May 21,
2021
PLOT: The Saw franchise
officially gets revived in this new thriller, with Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II,
III, and IV) back behind the camera. This time, two cops played by Chris Rock
and Samuel L. Jackson investigate a series of gruesome murders and find
themselves at the mercy of a killer reminiscent of the past (Jigsaw copycat,
anyone?).
Cruella
Directed by: Alex
Timbers and Craig Gillespie
Starring: Emma Stone,
Joel Fry, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Paul Walter Hauser, Emma Thompson
Opening on: May 28,
2021
PLOT: Emma Stone will
star in Disney’s latest live-action remake of an old classic. In the vein of
Maleficient, Cruella will focus on the enigmatic villain of 101 Dalmatians in
her youth and show how she became obsessed with Dalmatian fur. With Emma
Thompson and Mark Strong rounding out the cast.
JUNE
In the Heights
Directed by: Jon M. Chu
Starring: Anthony
Ramos, Leslie Grace, Corey Hawkins, Jimmy Smits, Stephanie Beatriz, Dascha
Polanco
Opening on: June 18,
2021, with simultaneous release on HBO Max,
PLOT: Crazy Rich Asians
director Jon M. Chu adapts Lin-Manuel Miranda’s breakout musical, In the
Heights. The show, which kicked off the Hamilton creator’s career, won four
Tony Awards in 2008, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. Chu
demonstrated real skill with spectacle in Crazy Rich Asians, and the new movie
shares similar themes of reclaiming one’s heritage – it follows the stories of
several characters in New York’s heavily Latino neighborhood, Washington
Heights, over three days.
JULY
Top Gun: Maverick
Directed by: Joseph
Kosinski
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jennifer
Connelly, Jon Hamm, Val Kilmer, Jay Ellis, Miles Teller, Monica Barbaro
Opening on: July 2,
2021
PLOT: Top Gun
sequel after 31 years! Not a whole lot is known about the movie, except that
the filmmakers have recruited a cast of some of the most in-demand young actors
in Hollywood – including Miles Teller, who will play Goose’s son – and that Val
Kilmer is officially back as Iceman.
Space Jam 2
Directed by: Malcolm D.
Lee
Starring: LeBron James,
Don Cheadle
Opening on: July 16,
2021, with simultaneous release on HBO Max
PLOT: Speaking of old
stories for new audiences, LeBron James‘long-awaited Space Jam sequel will
finally arrive in 2021. With Don Cheadle starring alongside the basketball
legend and Ryan Coogler producing.
AUGUST
The Suicide Squad
Directed by: James Gunn
Starring: Jared Leto,
Margot Robbie, Viola Davis, Joel Kinnaman, Jai Courtney
Opening on: August 6,
2021, with simultaneous release on HBO Max
PLOT: 2016’s Suicide
Squad may be rotten, but the 2021 follow-up might just redeem the series. Most
of the primary cast is returning, with Idris Elba joining in a new role. The
star-studded cast is also adding Storm Reid, Flula Borg, Nathan Fillion and
Pete Davidson
Deep Water
Directed by: Adrian
Lyne
Starring: Ben Affleck,
Ana de Armas, Tracy Letts
Opening on: August 13,
2021
PLOT: Ben Affleck and
Ana de Armas star in director Adrian Lyne’s thriller based on the eponymous
novel by Patricia Highsmith (Strangers on a Train, The Talented Mr. Ripley,
Carol), about a married couple at odds with each other who begin to play
dangerous mind games with each other, eventually leading to murder.
Candyman
Directed by: Nia
DaCosta
Starring: Yahya Abdul-Mateen
II, Tony Todd, Teyonah Parris
Opening on: August 27, 2021
PLOT: Longtime fan and
contemporary horror maestro Jordan Peele is producing this sequel to — not a
remake of — the classic 1992 horror film about the murdered son of a slave
whose ghost haunts the Chicago neighborhood where the Cabrini Green housing
projects once stood.
The Beatles: Get Back
Directed by: Peter
Jackson
Starring: The Beatles
Opening on: August 27,
2021
On the heels of his
universally acclaimed World War I documentary They Shall Not Grow Old, Peter
Jackson turns his eye towards the Fab Four. Utilizing never-before-seen footage
behind the scenes, the new documentary chronicles the Beatles as they record their
1970 album Let It Be, as well as their legendary performance on the rooftop of
Apple Records in London.
SEPTEMBER
Death on the Nile
Directed by: Kenneth
Branagh
Starring: Kenneth
Branagh, Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Annette Bening, Rose Leslie, Letitia Wright
Opening on: September
17, 2021
PLOT: Kenneth Branagh
will return as detective Hercule Poirot following the surprise success of
2017’s Murder on the Orient Express, which Branagh also directed. So far, big
names like Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Annette Bening, Letitia Wright, and Rose
Leslie have joined the whodunit.
OCTOBER
Dune
Directed by: Denis
Villeneuve
Starring: Timothée
Chalamet, Josh Brolin, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Javier Bardem, Jason
Momoa, Dave Bautista, Zendaya
Opening on: October 1,
2021
PLOT: Acclaimed
director Denis Villeneuve (Sicario – Arrival – Blade Runner Sequel) takes on
the massive challenge of re-adapting Frank Herbert’s sprawling sci-fi epic more
than 30 years after David Lynch attempted the same.
Uncharted
Directed by: TBD (Ruben
Flesicher wanted by Sony)
Starring: Tom Holland,
Mark Wahlberg
Opening on: October 8,
2021
PLOT: This Indiana Jones-styled action-adventure
film, based on the popular video game series of the same name. Mark Wahlberg
also signed on to co-star, and the latest report is that Sony is eyeing
Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer to replace Knight as director.
NOVEMBER
Untitled Elvis Film
Directed by: Baz
Luhrmann
Starring: Austin
Butler, Tom Hanks
Opening on: November 5,
2021
PLOT: Austin Butler
beat out tons of hopefuls to win the role of the famed King of Rock and Roll
for this biopic from Warner Brothers. With Baz Lurhmann on board to write and
direct, it’s bound to be a lush cinematic experience. Tom Hanks is also
attached in a supporting role.
Eternals
Directed by: Chloé Zhao
Starring: Angelina
Jolie, Salma Hayek, Kumail Nanjiani, Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kit Harington,
Brian Tyree Henry
Opening on: November 5,
2021 (formerly February 12, 2021)
PLOT: The second film of Marvel’s Phase 4 goes
cosmic again with the Eternals. Much of the cast was announced in bits and
pieces, with a big reveal at Comic-Con 2019 and a key addition made in August.
In brief, the Eternals are powerful immortals who helped shape humanity and
history on Earth.
Mission: Impossible 7
Directed by:
Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise
Opening on: November
19, 2021
PLOT: Tom Cruise will
be back in action for the seventh installment in the franchise that showcased
his willingness to engage in death-defying stunts. Christopher McQuarrie will
also be back as writer and director after serving those roles in the last two
films.
DECEMBER
West Side Story
Directed by: Steven
Spielberg
Starring: Rita Moreno,
Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler
Opening on: December
10, 2021 (formerly December 18, 2020)
PLOT: Steven
Spielberg’s new adaptation of the famous Broadway musical of the same name,
which is itself an alternative take on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
The Matrix 4
Directed by: Lana
Wachowski
Starring: Keanu Reeves,
Carrie-Anne Moss, Jada Pinkett Smith, Lambert Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II,
Nei Patrick Harris, Jonathan Groff, Jessica Henwick, Priyanka Chopra
Opening on: December
22, 2021 (formerly April 1, 2022), with simultaneous release on HBO Max
PLOT: Somehow, some
way, Neo and Trinity are set to return to the world of The Matrix, as Lana
Wachowski is set to bring us another sci-fi action-adventure set in the world
digital world she helped create way back in 1999. We won’t get Agent Smith or
Morpheus this time around, but people like Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Neil Patrick
Harris, Jessica Henwick, and Priyanka Chopra are joining the cast.
The French Dispatch
Directed by: Wes
Anderson
Starring: Timothée
Chalamet, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Léa Seydoux, Benicio Del Toro,
Saoirse Ronan, Bill Murray, Jeffrey Wright, Owen Wilson
PLOT: Initially
reported to be a musical, Wes Anderson’s next film will be a drama that brings
to life a handful of stories from a magazine created by an American living in a
fictional city in France. The film’s press release calls it a “love letter to
journalists,” and it brings together several regular collaborators in a
massive, star-studded cast.
Stillwater
Directed by: Tom
McCarthy
Starring: Matt Damon,
Abigail Breslin, Camille Cottin
Opening on: TBD
(formerly November 6, 2020)
PLOT: Matt Damon stars
in this thriller about an Oklahoma oil-rig worker who travels to Marseille,
France to unravel a mystery and clear his daughter’s name when she is
imprisoned for a crime she says she didn’t commit.
Wicked
Directed by: Stephen
Daldry
Starring: TBD
Opening on: TBD
(formerly December 22, 2021)
PLOT: It feels like
fans of the musical have been waiting forever for a screen adaption of Wicked,
and in 2021, they’ll finally get their wish. No cast details have been
announced yet, but with a legacy like Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth to
live up to, the lucky ladies who get the gig will have enormous shoes to fill.
Blazing Samurai
Directed by: Chris
Bailey, Mark Koetsier
Starring: Samuel L.
Jackson, Michael Cera, Michelle Yeoh, George Takei, Gabriel Iglesias, Djimon
Honsou
Opening on: 2021
PLOT: Originally slated
for release in 2017, the star-studded animated feature will finally see the
light of day in 2021. Inspired by Mel Brooks‘classic western Blazing Saddles,
the cast includes Michael Cera, Samuel L. Jackson and Ricky Gervais.
The Power of the Dog
Directed by: Jane
Campion
Starring: Benedict
Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Paul Dano
Opening on: 2021
PLOT: In her follow up
to Top of the Lake: China Girl, Jane Campion will reunite with Elisabeth Moss
for Netflix’s The Power of The Dog, based on the 1967 novel of the same name.
Also starring Benedict Cumberbatch, the film centers on two brothers on a ranch
whose relationship shifts when one falls in love with a local widow.
Pinocchio
Directed by: Guillermo
del Toro, Mark Gustafson
PLOT: This has been one
of Guillermo del Toro’s long-in-development passion projects, and it will also
be his first foray into animation. The stop motion-animated adaptation of the
classic tale will reportedly be a tad darker than we may be accustomed to, with
del Toro calling it a “brutalist fable.”
