2021 – A Look Ahead

It’s fair to say that 2020 was not a great year for cinema (or generally), and there’s no point in pretending that 2021 is going to be any better, any time soon. But while it might be foolhardy to try to predict when (or how) the backlog of blockbusters will ultimately be released, it’s worth remembering that – eventually – this will all be behind us, and we have some great films to look forward to seeing (hopefully on the big screen, and hopefully in the not too distant future).

In truth, most of the films I included in my preview of 2020 a year ago still haven’t been released – so we still have all of these films to look forward to:

• The King’s Man (originally due out November 2019). Through no fault of its own, this film has already been delayed by over a year, but as a fan of the earlier Kingsman films, I’m still very excited to see this (eventually).

• A Quiet Place: Part 2 (originally due out March 2020). The original A Quiet Place was my third favourite film of 2018 (and my favourite “original” film of that year), so I’m hoping that writer/director John Krasinski can recapture the emotional impact of that first film.

• No Time To Die (originally due out April 2020). Daniel Craig is probably my favourite Bond actor, and Casino Royale and Skyfall are probably my two favourite Bond films, so I’m really hoping that this final film in his tenure gives him the send-off he deserves.

• Black Widow (originally due out May 2020). This was to be the first instalment of Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (although now that will be WandaVision on Disney+, coming out later this month), but Black Widow will still be the first MCU film to come out following the conclusion of The Infinity Saga. No pressure there then!

• Fast & Furious 9 (originally due out May 2020). The trailer made this look like just the kind of over-the-top action film that needs to be seen on the big screen, so hopefully we’ll get a chance to do just that.

• Ghostbusters: Afterlife (originally due out July 2020). Not too much is known about this belated threequel, other than it follows on directly from the first two films, and is written and directed by Jason Reitman, son of the original films’ director Ivan Reitman.

• Top Gun: Maverick (originally due out July 2020). This belated sequel has released a trailer which gives a good idea of the tone of the film, but we still don’t really know what it’s about. That said, the involvement of Christopher McQuarrie has me intrigued.

• Free Guy (originally due out July 2020). This interesting concept has Ryan Reynolds as a non-playable-character in a Grand-Theft-Auto-style computer game world, and it looks like it could be a lot of fun.

• Jungle Cruise (originally due out July 2020). This has the potential to be a future family favourite, in the vein of the recent Jumanji films or even Romancing The Stone, and it stars the always watchable Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt.

• Last Night In Soho (originally due out September 2020). I’m interested in seeing Edgar Wright’s time-travelling psychological thriller (starring Anya Taylor-Joy and the late, great Diana Rigg), given what a great job he did with his last original film, 2017’s Baby Driver.

• Venom: Let There Be Carnage (originally due out October 2020). I’m hoping this sequel will do more justice to the character than the awful first Venom film… That said, given that Carnage is (in my opinion) one of the most one-dimensional and boring villains in comic-book history, I’m not holding my breath.

• Halloween Kills (originally due October 2020). This direct sequel to 2018’s surprisingly good Halloween sees Jamie Lee Curtis return, and is the second part of the announced trilogy, culminating in Halloween Ends.

• The Eternals (originally due out November 2020). This will be Marvel’s first “origin” film (i.e. one introducing brand new characters) since 2019’s Captain Marvel.

• Dune (originally due out December 2020). I am so excited to see Denis Villeneuve’s much anticipated, all-star version of Dune, especially after he did such a great job with Blade Runner 2049.

• Godzilla vs Kong (originally due out December 2020). I’m hoping that the mash-up sequel to both King: Skull Island and Godzilla: King of the Monsters will be a fun guilty pleasure.

Then there are also the “new” films that were announced or confirmed over the last year, such as:

• Zack Snyder’s Justice League – if there’s one new “film” we know we’ll be getting in 2021 no matter what happens with the pandemic, it’s the 4-hour mini-series of Zack Snyder’s original vision for 2017’s Justice League – that’s because it’s due to hit the HBO Max streaming service in March, with international releases expected at around the same time. If you’re not a fan of Snyder’s other DC films, this will still prove an interesting curiosity, as you can see just how different Joss Whedon’s theatrical release was from Snyder’s original version. But if, like me, you are a fan of Snyder’s other DC films, you’re no doubt hoping that this gives his trilogy the conclusion it deserved.

• Other original films coming to streaming platforms in 2021 (and which are therefore more likely not to be delayed) include Army of the Dead (Zack Snyder’s zombie action horror involving a heist on a Las Vegas casino during an undead apocalypse, coming to Netflix), Without Remorse (Michael B. Jordan first appearance as John Clark from Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan spin-off novels, coming to Amazon Prime), Red Notice (Netflix’s all-star action comedy starring Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot), and Coming 2 America (Eddie Murphy’s belated sequel, coming to Amazon Prime).

• Candyman – this belated sequel, co-written by Oscar-winner Jordan Peele, looks like it will bring new layers to the supernatural tale of racial prejudices.

• Freaky – as a big fan of the Happy Death Day films, I’m excited to see writer/director Christopher Landon’s comedy-slasher-horror take on the “Freaky Friday” genre.

• The Suicide Squad – with any luck, we should be seeing James Gunn’s sequel to 2016’s Suicide Squad, with an all-star cast and the promise of a high body count!

• Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings – if things go according to plan, we may still see this next film in Phase 4 of the MCU (which is now expected to come out after Black Widow kicks things off, but before The Eternals).

• Death on the Nile – I only recently discovered Kenneth Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express, but now I’m quite looking forward to seeing its sequel.

• Uncharted – I’m still on the fence about whether this adaptation will do the excellent video game series justice (especially as Tom Holland – as much as I love him – feels too young to play Nathan Drake), but I’ll give this prequel the benefit of the doubt for now.

• The Matrix 4 – no doubt this won’t be its final title, and almost nothing is known about the plot for the film – but whereas I was originally filled with dread at the thought of a reboot of The Matrix, the fact that original co-creator Lana Wachowski is behind this, with Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss both returning, has got me very excited.

• Spider-Man 3 and Mission: Impossible 7 – again, these are just holding titles for now, but as things currently stand, they are planning (hoping?) to release Tom Holland’s third solo Spidey film and the first of Christopher McQuarrie’s back-to-back spy sequels this year.

So that’s a selection of what we can (hopefully) look out for in 2021, and in the meantime, I’ll be working on my cinematic highlights from 2020’s admittedly limited selection...