A number of new movies will be released this week, including the following films opening in theaters or debuting via video on demand on various streaming platforms:
‘Free Guy’
Genre: Science fiction, action and comedy
Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Lil Rel Howery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Joe Keery, and Taika Waititi
Director: Shawn Levy
Rated: PG-13
In “Free Guy,” a bank teller who discovers he is actually a background player in an open-world video game, decides to become the hero of his own story … one he rewrites himself.
Now in a world where there are no limits, he is determined to be the guy who saves his world his way —before it is too late.
The film is scheduled to be theatrically released Aug. 13 by 20th Century Studios.
‘Respect’
Genre: Biographical drama
Cast: Jennifer Hudson, Forest Whitaker, Marlon Wayans, Audra McDonald, Marc Maron, Tituss Burgess, Saycon Sengbloh, Hailey Kilgore, Skye Dakota Turner, Tate Donovan, and Mary J. Blige
Director: Liesl Tommy
Rated: PG-13
Following the rise of Aretha Franklin’s career from a child singing in her father’s church’s choir to her international superstardom, “Respect” is the remarkable true story of the music icon’s journey to find her voice.
The film is scheduled to be released theatrically Aug. 13 by United Artists Releasing/Universal.
‘Don’t Breathe 2’
Genre: Horror
Cast: Stephen Lang, Brendan Sexton III, Madelyn Grace, Adam Young, Bobby Schofield, Rocci Williams, and Steffan Rhodri
Director: Rodo Sayagues
Rated: R
The sequel is set in the years following the initial deadly home invasion, where Norman Nordstrom (Stephen Lang) lives in quiet solace until his past sins catch up to him.
The film is scheduled to be released Aug. 13 by Sony Pictures Releasing.
‘The Kissing Booth 3’
Genre: Teen romantic comedy
Cast: Joey King, Joel Courtney, Jacob Elordi, Taylor Zakhar Perez, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Meganne Young and Molly Ringwald
Director: Vince Marcello
Not rated
It’s the summer before Elle (Joey King) heads to college, and she’s facing the hardest decision of her life: whether to move across the country with her dreamy boyfriend Noah (Jacob Elordi) or fulfill her lifelong promise to go to college with her BFF Lee (Joel Courtney). Whose heart will Elle break?
The film is scheduled to be released on Netflix Aug. 11.
‘Beckett’
Genre: Thriller
Cast: John David Washington, Boyd Holbrook, Vicky Krieps, and Alicia Vikander
Director: Ferdinando Cito Filomarino
Not rated
While vacationing in Greece, American tourist Beckett (John David Washington) becomes the target of a manhunt after a devastating accident.
Forced to run for his life and desperate to get across the country to the American embassy to clear his name, tensions escalate as the authorities close in, political unrest mounts, and Beckett falls even deeper into a dangerous web of conspiracy.
The film is scheduled to be released Aug. 13 by Netflix.
‘Homeroom’
Genre: Documentary
Director: Peter Nicks
Not rated
In “Homeroom,” Oakland High School’s class of 2020 confronts an unprecedented year.
Anxiety over test scores and college applications gives way to uncertainty springing from a rapidly developing pandemic. Efforts to eliminate the school district’s police force unfold against the backdrop of growing nationwide demands for systemic change.
The film is scheduled to be released on Hulu Aug. 12.
‘CODA’
Genre: Drama
Cast: Emilia Jones, Eugenio Derbez, Troy Kotsur, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Daniel Durant, and Marlee Matlin
Director: Sian Heder
Rated: PG-13
Gifted with a voice that her parents can’t hear, 17-year-old Ruby (Emilia Jones), is the sole hearing member of a deaf family — a CODA, Child of Deaf Adults.
Her life revolves around acting as interpreter for her parents (Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur) and working on the family’s struggling fishing boat every day before school with her father and older brother (Daniel Durant). But when Ruby joins her high school’s choir club, she discovers a gift for singing and finds herself drawn to her duet partner Miles (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo).
Encouraged by her enthusiastic, tough-love choirmaster (Eugenio Derbez) to apply to a prestigious music school, Ruby finds herself torn between the obligations she feels to her family and the pursuit of her own dreams.
The film will be released in theaters and through the Apple TV+ streaming service Aug. 13.
‘The East’
Genre: War drama
Cast: Martijn Lakemeyer, Marwan Kenzari and Jonas Smulders
Director: Jim Taihuttu
Not rated
During the post-WW2 Indonesian War of Independence, a young Dutch soldier joins an elite unit led by a mysterious captain known only as “The Turk.” When the fighting intensifies, the young soldier finds himself questioning — and ultimately challenging — his commander’s brutal strategy to stop the resistance.
The film is scheduled to be released Aug. 13 through Magnet Releasing.
‘The Meaning of Hitler’
Genre: Documentary
Cast: Martin Amis, Yehuda Bauer, and Richard Evans
Directors: Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker
“The Meaning of Hitler” is a provocative interrogation of our culture’s fascination with Hitler and Nazism set against the backdrop of the current rise of white supremacy, the normalization of antisemitism and the weaponization of history itself.
Shot in nine countries, the film traces Hitler’s movements, his rise to power and the scenes of his crimes as historians and writers, including Deborah Lipstadt, Martin Amis, Sir Richard Evans, Saul Friedlander, Yehuda Bauer, and famed Nazi hunters Beate and Serge Klarsfeld, weigh in on the lasting impact of his virulent ideology. As fears of authoritarianism and fascism now abound, the film explores the myths and misconceptions of our understanding of the past, and the difficult process of coming to terms with it at a time in our history when it seems more urgent than ever.
The film will be released in select theaters and on demand Aug. 13 through IFC Films.
On a post-apocalyptic earth, a robot, built to protect the life of his creator’s beloved dog, learns about life, love, friendship and what it means to be human.
Director:
Miguel Sapochnik |
Stars:
Tom Hanks,
Caleb Landry Jones,
Skeet Ulrich,
Lora Martinez-Cunningham
After more than a year of pushed-back release dates, ever-evolving release plans, and a raft of virtual festivals and other in-home viewing pivots, the release date calendar is looking a touch more normal these days. While many things are still in flux, the fall of 2021 is shaping up to offer one of the more stacked seasons in recent memory. From festival favorites to awards contenders, scrappy indies and dark horses, this autumn might still contain its own surprises, but one thing is for sure: movie-goers are in for some serious treats at the multiplex and beyond.
Some of these titles were moved off of 2020, including “No Time to Die,” “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Dune,” “Eternals,” and other big budget Blockbusters, while other films have only recently emerged as major contenders (we’re looking at you, Cannes heavyweights like “Titane,” “Bendetta,” and “Lamb”), but all of them hint at a stacked season with offerings sure to appeal to everyone. Streamers like Netflix and Amazon Prime aren’t resting on their laurels either, rolling out a bevy of big films and festival favorites, both in theaters and in the comfort of home, while Warner Bros. will continue to offer its packed slate in both theaters and on HBO Max.
This list includes films that have currently set a firm release date or are definitely expected in 2021, though many of IndieWire’s most-anticipated 2021 films have yet to announce release plans, including titles like “Memoria,” “The Worst Person in the World,” and a variety of other films set to bow on the fall festival circuit. At 45 titles now, this list offers a wide variety of choices for audiences, but we’re expecting to add still more as the months roll on.
Of course, everything remains in flux, and as plans continue to change, this list will be updated. Whether that includes changing release dates, the method of a film’s release, or adding in some of those anticipated titles that have locked in an official date in 2021, this preview remains particularly fluid. For now, however, these are the films we are most excited to see in the coming months.
Eric Kohn, Anne Thompson, Christian Blauvelt, David Ehrlich, Zack Sharf, Ryan Lattanzio, Jude Dry, and Tambay Obenson contributed to this article.
September
“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” (September 3, theaters)
Simu Liu stars as the Marvel Comics warrior in the film kicking off the MCU’s Phase 4, which looks to be a breakthrough in representation for the franchise: the film boasts an all-Asian or Asian-American cast — including Awkwafina, Michelle Yeoh, and Ronny Chieng — especially significant after the whitewashing controversies Marvel brought upon itself with “Doctor Strange” and Netflix’s “Iron Fist” series. Liu’s title character is a martial artist taught to be an assassin for a secret criminal society, the Ten Rings, led by his father Wenwu (Tony Leung Chiu-wai).
After 10 years of trying to lead a “normal” life in San Francisco, Shang-Chi’s life is disrupted when his father reenters the picture. Directed by Asian-American filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton (“Short Term 12,” “Just Mercy”), the movie seems to have a lot of the CGI spectacle that defines most Marvel Studios efforts, but with a different kind of Oedipal story anchoring it. At the very least: no abundance of superheroes in masks! Because he’s visible the whole time, Simu Liu ended up doing a lot of his own stunts for “Shang-Chi.” —CB
“Language Lessons”
YouTube/screenshot
“Language Lessons” (September 10, theaters)
The coronavirus pandemic and its attendant lockdowns and quarantines have already inspired a wide variety of scrappy slices of entertainment, from “Songbird” and “Malcom Marie” to “Locked Down” and “How It Ends,” and that’s just in the narrative arena. While the desire to keep creating as usual production options are on hold is understandable (heck, even admirable), it’s led to a mixed bag of final products, even the best of them hampered by the restrictions of the era. In short, a year into this thing, “Zoom fatigue” is very real, and getting an audience excited to watch a film that plays out almost entirely via video conferencing and messaging is no small ask.
Fortunately, Natalie Morales’ winning “Language Lessons” offers one of the best uses of the format yet, a “Zoom film” that utilizes its constraints to craft an intimate, expressive two-hander, no fatigue in sight. Morales also stars in the film alongside her co-writer, Mark Duplass, who first conceived of the film’s relatively simple idea before pitching it to Morales as a workable lockdown project; the pair’s obvious creative harmony helps the film stay afloat even during some (scattered) rough moments. The film’s clever use of the format is hardly its most refreshing element: told any way, the heart of “Language Lessons” would be moving and well worth exploring. Built on seemingly familiar tropes, Morales’ film resists the usual expectations of what might happen when two strangers bond intensely and under cute-sounding constraints. —KE
“The Card Counter” (September 10, theaters)
At 75, veteran director Paul Schrader shows no sign of slowing down or changing directions. Following his mesmerizing religious guilt eco-thriller “First Reformed,” Schrader continues his “man-in-a-room” trope with this intriguing look at a gambling war veteran (Oscar Isaac) who attempts to talk the son of his old war buddy (Tye Sheridan) out of exacting revenge on a man who destroyed their lives.
Set against the backdrop of smoky Vegas casinos and taut hotel room confrontations, “The Card Counter” is poised to return to Schrader’s most engaging fixations on alienated, angry men so frustrated with the world around them that they eventually decide to do something crazy to fix it. (Yes, that tradition goes all the way back to his “Taxi Driver” script.) It’s also one of several showcases for Isaac’s talent this fall, but unlike “Dune,” could provide the actor with more intimate, relatable material to foreground his ability to inject even the slightest glance with intense connotations. Tiffany Haddish also co-stars as a potential romantic interest for Isaac, and a woman with a few gambling schemes of her own. —EK
“The Nowhere Inn” (September 17, theaters)
This experimental film collaboration between friends (and exes) Carrie Brownstein and Annie Clark is sure to upend expectations. The film is a scalpel-sharp critique of the nature of celebrity and the madness of fame, and what’s set up as a straightforward documentary about Grammy winner St. Vincent and her career soon devolves into a psychological thriller.
In his Sundance 2020 review, IndieWire’s Eric Kohn described the film as “absurd and eerie, ridiculous and deep. Pitched somewhere between traditional rockumentary tropes and a heap of zany Adult Swim shorts, it dips into the deadpan folksy satire of Brownstein’s ‘Portlandia’ before veering into a shapeshifting psychological thriller worthy of vintage De Palma.” It may not sound like the most commercial fare, but between the diehard fans these two both inspire — it shouldn’t matter one bit. —JD
“Blue Bayou”
Focus
“Blue Bayou” (September 17, theaters)
The over-cranked by achingly heartfelt “Blue Bayou” is by far the biggest film that writer-director and leading man Justin Chon (“Ms. Purple”) has made so far, and while it lays on the treacle even thicker than his previous work, it also unfolds with the kind of emotional sweep and moral urgency that suggests Chon will be a major force in the movies for a long time to come. The crux of this issue-driven melodrama hinges on the immigration status of this country’s foreign-born adoptees; a bill was passed in the year 2000 that granted them American citizenship, but that long-overdue change didn’t retroactively apply to anyone who was brought to this country before that.
It’s a legal quirk so illogical that it’s never even occurred to Korea-born New Orleans tattoo artist Antonio LeBlanc (Chon, directing himself in a tender performance that goes for it and then some), who was spirited away to the United States by an abusive foster couple when he was three years old, but it’s also one so devastating that it threatens to destroy the family he’s made with his pregnant wife Kathy (Alicia Vikander) and their young daughter from her first marriage (Sydney Kowalske). It’s bad enough for Antonio that Kathy’s ex is a possessive cop, and even worse that his partner is a virulent ultra-racist played by Emory Cohen. Needless to say, things get out of control in a hurry.
Schmaltzy and improbable as this tear-jerker gets, Chon’s performance never allows you to fully disengage from the fact that actual stories like it are happening every day of the week for no other reason than because we allow them to. That verisimilitude is bolstered by the film’s exquisite casting, costume design, and sense of place. It’s because of these subtler flourishes that “Blue Bayou” allows you to sink into its depths, and leaves you lingeringly heartbroken that so many people have been allowed to drown there. —DE
“Everybody’s Talking About Jamie” (September 17, streaming on Amazon Prime Video)
Ever since a certain reality competition show made drag America’s new favorite pastime, the next generation has traded dreams of pop stardom for visions of drag superstardom. This fall, we get a glitzy musical movie about a British teen with drag dreams, the latest evidence that drag has permeated fully into the mainstream. Based on the stage musical of the same name, “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie” follows a 16-year-old outcast who pursues his dreams against all odds.
Newcomer Max Harwood stars alongside exciting supporting cast members Richard E. Grant as Jamie’s drag mother and Sharon Horgan as his teacher. With a pop-inspired original score and the killer combo of musicals and drag, it could very well be the fall hit to gag for. —JD
“The Eyes of Tammy Faye”
Searchlight
“The Eyes of Tammy Faye” (September 17, theaters)
Michael Showalter’s “The Big Sick” rode a wave of festival acclaim out of Sundance to an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay, and Focus is surely hoping Showalter’s upcoming directorial feature “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” follows the same trajectory. Launching at the Toronto International Film Festival, “Tammy Faye” stars Jessica Chastain as the eponymous televangelist and Andrew Garfield as her husband, Jim Bakker.
The supporting cast includes Cherry Jones, Fredric Lehne, Louis Cancelmi, Sam Jaeger, Gabriel Olds, Mark Wystrach, and Vincent D’Onofrio. All eyes are on Chastain, who appears physically transformed in the film, thanks to prodigious makeup and prosthetic work. Chastain spent four hours each day in the makeup trailer transforming into Bakker with help from her longtime makeup artists Linda Dowds and Stephanie Ingram, plus Justin Raleigh. —ZS
“Dear Evan Hansen” (September 24, theaters)
The hit 2015 musical will finally reach the masses, with original star Ben Platt reprising his Tony-winning role as a teenager with social anxiety. When a popular kid at his school dies by suicide, Evan Hansen fabricates a friendship with his former classmate, becoming further entangled in his web of lies. Directed by “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” author Stephen Chbosky (who also helmed his book’s successful film adaptation), “Dear Evan Hansen” playwright Steven Levenson adapted his original Tony-winning script.
In addition to Platt, the all-star cast features Julianne Moore, Amy Adams, Kaitlyn Dever, and Amandla Stenberg. The music hails from “The Greatest Showman” and “La La Land” composers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. The film is launching the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival as the event’s opening night pick, which gives it plenty big shoes to fill: previous editions of the festival have leaned into musical offerings, including last year’s “American Utopia” from Spike Lee. —JD
October
“Titane” (October 1, theaters)
During the first half of Julia Ducournau’s Palme d’Or-winning “Titane,” it’s hard to tell if you’re watching the most fucked up movie ever made about the idea of found family, or the sweetest movie ever made about a serial killer (unforgettable newcomer Agathe Rousselle) who has sex with a car, poses as the adult version of a local boy who went missing a decade earlier, and then promptly moves in with the kid’s still-grieving father. During the second half, it becomes obvious that it’s both — that somehow it couldn’t be one without the other.
Following the cannibalistic “Raw” with another ravenous film that pushes her fascination with the hunger and malleability of human flesh to even further extremes, Ducournau has made good on the promise of her debut and then some. Whatever you’re willing to take from it, there’s no denying that “Titane” is the work of a demented visionary in full command of her wild mind; a shimmering aria of fire and metal that introduces itself as the psychopathic lovechild of David Cronenberg’s “Crash” and Shinya Tsukamoto’s “Tetsuo: The Iron Man” before shapeshifting into a modern fable about how badly people just need someone to take care of them and vice-versa. —DE
“The Many Saints of Newark” (October 1, theaters and streaming on HBO Max)
The long-awaited prequel to HBO’s Emmy-winning drama series “The Sopranos,” David Chase’s “The Many Saints of Newark” tracks the relationship between a young Tony Soprano (played in the prequel by Michael Gandolfini, son of the late James Gandolfini) and his uncle, Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola). Dickie is the father of Christopher Moltisanti, played by Michael Imperioli in “The Sopranos.” The narrative setup is irresistible for “Sopranos” fans, as is the chance to watch the late Gandolfini’s son step into the role made iconic by his father.
Joining Gandolfini and Nivola in the cast are Leslie Odom Jr., Jon Bernthal, Corey Stoll, Michael Gandolfini, Billy Magnussen, John Magaro, Michela De Rossi, Ray Liotta, and Vera Farmiga. The film was written by Chase, the creator of “The Sopranos” who wrote and directed the series’ pilot episode and series finale, and directed by Alan Taylor, a franchise veteran who directed nine episodes of “The Sopranos” and won the 2007 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for the sixth season episode “Kennedy and Heidi.” —ZS
“Lamb” (October 8, theaters)
Where to begin with the batshit crazy premise of “Lamb”? The main appeal of the story is a spoiler, though one that distributor A24 has already included in the trailer. Still, anyone sufficiently intrigued by an icy Icelandic drama about a pair of aspiring parents and sheep farmers who encounter a bizarre opportunity to fulfill their dreams might want to stop here. First-time writer-director Valdimar Jóhannsson has been schooled in the eloquent atmospheric horror of “The Witch” and “Hereditary” to such a precise degree that “Lamb” may as well exist as a spin-off.
Still here? OK, here goes: “Lamb” is about a young couple, María (Noomi Rapace) and Ingvar (Hilmir Snaer Gudnason), who adopt a child with the head of a lamb as their daughter. That’s right: One night, while helping their animals give birth, they discover one of them has delivered a child with the body of a human infant attached to a head that looks not unlike the furry, dead-eyed critters roaming around in the pen. As they begin to care for it, the couple at first seem to have found the idyllic family life that has eluded them. When Ingar’s brother shows up, his own response to the odd dynamic leads to a whole new set of complications, while an ominous force watches from afar. In spite of its main ridiculous twist, “Lamb” amounts to a rather grounded look at a relationship on the rocks, parental anxieties, and the vindictiveness of the natural world. All of which means that no measly spoiler can ruin the atmospheric intensity of this striking debut. —EK
“No Time to Die”
Nicola Dove
“No Time to Die” (October 8, theaters)
Knock on wood, but at long last, after countless delays (pandemic-related and otherwise) dating back to fall 2019, the 25th outing in the Bond universe is upon us. Cary Joji Fukunaga takes the reins from Sam Mendes, bringing the unique stamp he set with viscerally engulfing films like “Beasts of No Nation” and “Sin Nombre,” and mystery-unraveling TV such as “True Detective” to Daniel Craig’s swan song as 007.
As one of the first major releases to see the plugged pull on its release at the onset of Covid, “No Time to Die” (along with studios MGM and United Artists) has a lot of pressure on its shoulders to deliver the goods a year and a half later. “No Time to Die” finds James Bond reckoning with his legacy, now retired from the MI6, but of course, he’s called back to the demimonde of international espionage by a cast of adversaries and allies alike: from Rami Malek as the shadowy Lyutsifer Safin, to Lea Seydoux as psychiatrist (and Bond’s love interest) Madeleine Swann, Lashana Lynch as new 00 agent Nomi, Naomie Harris as Eve Moneypenny, Christoph Waltz as Ernst Blofeld, and Ben Whishaw as MI6 Quartermaster Q. Bringing a new look to the Bond universe is Oscar-winning “La La Land” cinematographer, and 007 newbie, Linus Sandgren. —RL
“Bergman Island” (October 15, select theaters)
A triple-layered meta-romance about a filmmaker who flies to Sweden with her partner and pitches him a screenplay about her first love — Mia Hansen-Løve’s “Bergman Island” is such a rare and remarkable movie for the very same reason that you wouldn’t expect it to exist in the first place. Set on the remote skerry in the Baltic Sea that Bergman adopted as his home and began to terraform with his artistic persona after making “Through a Glass Darkly” there in 1961, Hansen-Løve’s zephyr-calm story of loss, love, and artistic reclamation draws such an extreme contrast to the scorched Earth films that have become synonymous with Fårö that even its nighttime scenes reveal the shadows that fiction has the power to cast across reality.
In other words, Hansen-Løve’s film isn’t really an homage to Bergman at all — at least not one that worships at his altar with the kind of orthodox piety required for Paul Schrader to refract “Winter Light” into “First Reformed.” While the iconic Swedish artist is amusingly inescapable in “Bergman Island” (his films are name-checked in almost every scene, many of which take place on the exact spots where they were shot or in the house where he wrote them), this supple puzzle-box is more interested in him as a means to an end. —DE
“The Last Duel” (October 15, theaters)
One of two major Ridley Scott-directed period pieces hitting theaters this fall (along with “House of Gucci”), “The Last Duel” returns to the filmmaker to the blood-soaked, embattled territory of his biggest epics, including “Gladiator” and “Exodus.” And it also returns screen pals Matt Damon and Ben Affleck to writing, and starring in, their material: here, the story of a knight (Damon) avenging his wife’s sexual assault (Jodie Comer), committed by a squire who also happens to be his closest friend (Adam Driver).
Affleck (playing a count with, as the trailer indicates, possibly bleach-blond hair) and Damon also brought aboard savvy indie writer/director Nicole Holofcener to co-write the script based on “The Last Duel: A True Story of Trial by Combat in Medieval France,” and bring this “Rashomon”-esque story of warring perspectives a female point of view. Based on a true story, the battle between the two men became the last legally sanctioned duel in France. —RL
“Halloween Kills” (October 15, theaters)
David Gordon Green’s latest plunge into the horror universe established by John Carpenter, “Halloween Kills” gets the classy burnish of a Venice Film Festival world premiere in September before going wide in the U.S. this October, right in time for its namesake holiday. Last we saw Michael Myers in 2018’s “Halloween,” he was trapped and burning (alive?) in Laurie Strode’s (Jamie Lee Curtis) basement. Alas, anyone familiar with the Michael Myers cycle of life knows he will rise (and kill) again, this time in a movie that reportedly digs deeper into Laurie’s post-traumatic stress disorder from nearly half a century of being terrorized by the masked killer.
Green wrote the film with comedian Danny McBride and Scott Teems. The cast brings back not only Curtis, but also Judy Greer as her daughter Karen, Will Patton as Deputy Frank Hawkins from both the 1978 and 2018 “Halloween,” and they’re joined by the likes of ‘80s icon Anthony Michael Hall and even “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Kyle Richards, reprising her role from the 1978 movie. —RL
“Luzzu”
Sundance Film Festival
“Luzzu” (October 15, theaters)
The list of films shot or produced on location in Malta is a short one, with the island’s shimmery Mediterranean beauty primarily the backdrop for swords-and-sandals epics. A rare locally-produced film that is also about Malta itself, and features actual Maltese people, “Luzzu” marks the debut of director Alex Camilleri with a vérité fishing drama populated by nonprofessional actors. Léo Lefèvre’s granular cinematography, meanwhile, provides a dreamy complement, casting the coast in rich blues and the city with an almost dusty, world-worn quality.
A neorealist telling in the tradition of the Dardenne brothers, who also work with locals on their films, “Luzzu” is beautifully shot, if at times emotionally restrained, in its centering around a man who’s occasionally hard to read. But it boast a true discovery in the casting of Jesmark Scicluna, a real fisherman who plays a version of himself, and here playing a struggling parent trying to eke out a living along the docks. —RL
“Venom: Let There Be Carnage” (October 15, theaters)
Tom Hardy seems hellbent on delivering the oddest superhero moviegoers could possibly see on any screen these days. This sequel to the 2018 film about a human male (Hardy) merging with an alien symbiont begins in full buddy-comedy mode — if your best friend happens to live inside you and pop out at comically inconvenient times. Hardy’s Eddie Brock is greeted with “Hi, Eddie; hi, Venom” when he enters his local convenience store. But at a moment’s notice, Venom threatens to eat the clerk.
The buddy-comedy shenanigans are something this sequel’s director Andy Serkis wants to play up. He told IGN, “They are now what is, in effect, the ‘Odd Couple’ stage of their relationship. … They’ve been together for a year and a half, say, since the last story. And they’re figuring out how to be with each other. And it’s like living with this maniac toddler.” Of course, a supervillain has to enter the mix: Woody Harrelson seems properly deranged as a death row inmate who gets superpowers and becomes the being Carnage…on account of the experimental drugs being pumped into him for his execution by lethal injection. How’s that for an origin story? —CB
“Dune” (October 22, theaters and streaming on HBO Max)
The wait for Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” finally ends on October 22, and here’s hoping the film fares better with critics and moviegoers than David Lynch’s infamous 1986 adaptation. Villeneuve has been wanting to make a film adaptation of Frank Hebert’s science-fiction novel since he was a teenager, and the footage that has been released so far in trailers promises eye-popping set design and breathtaking action.
“Dune” stars Timothée Chalamet in his first leading Blockbuster role as Paul Atreides, whose family has ownership of the dangerous desert planet Arrakis. The planet is the home of the world’s most valuable resource, a drug called spice that extends human life and gives its users super-human abilities. By taking ownership of Arrakis, the Atreides family becomes an enemy of the rival Harkonnen empire and the planet’s natives, known as the Fremen.
The supporting cast includes Oscar Isaac, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Jason Momoa, Charlotte Rampling, Josh Brolin, Dave Bautista, and Javier Bardem, among others. “Dune” world premieres at the Venice Film Festival before its October release. —ZS
“The French Dispatch” (October 22, theaters)
A freewheeling three-part salute to old-school journalism in general — and The New Yorker in particular — Wes Anderson’s charming sketchbook of stories about American expatriates in France delivers a welcome salute to storytelling as a way to make sense of the world. While its central publication is based in the fictional French city of Ennsui-sur-Blasé and serves an audience across the globe in Kansas, there’s no doubting the inspiration behind the scenes. “The French Dispatch” closes with a dedication to everyone from William Shawn to James Baldwin and Lillian Ross, all treasured writers from The New Yorker history books whose work inspired the eccentric tales within.
Molding elements of their work into his standard ironic cadences, Anderson explores topics as far-reaching as an imprisoned painter (Benicio del Toro) subjected to the absurdity of the art world, student revolutionaries (including Timothée Chalamet) in the sixties, and a convoluted kidnapping plot that involves both food porn and animation (and stars Jeffrey Wright). Closer to a French New Wave experiment than the more controlled ensemble stories in his repertoire, “The French Dispatch” is an endearing, liberated, and ridiculously star-studded explosion of Andersonian aesthetics that doesn’t always cohere into a satisfying package, but never slows down long enough to lose its engrossing appeal, and always retains its purpose. —EK
“Last Night in Soho”
Focus
“Last Night in Soho” (October 29, theaters)
The air of mod London glamour and otherworldly detachment emanating from Anya Taylor-Joy in the first trailer for Edgar Wright’s “Last Night in Soho” brings to mind the immortal words of a certain Brit rock classic from The Zombies: “Her eyes were clear and bright/But she’s not there.” Indeed, she doesn’t seem quite all there. And neither does Thomasin McKenzie, who plays a fashion student inexplicably transported to the 1960s, and into the body of her idol, a singer named Sandy (Taylor-Joy).
From “Shaun of the Dead” to “Baby Driver,” Edgar Wright has established himself as a technically skilled filmmaker capable of catering to both the cinephile crowd (can you catch all the references?) and mainstream audiences (who cares?) alike. For “Last Night in Soho,” he digs back into his bag of tricks (and endless well of movie knowledge) to conjure a movie inspired by crimson-colored, giallo sensibilities, with a dash of Polanski paranoia, for a time-hopping, body-jumping tale of women on the collision course to a psychological meltdown. Whatever Wright is up to, this is sure to be a trippy ride. —RL
Check out the rest of our fall preview, including November and December releases and more, on the next page.
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It’s been well over a year since the coronavirus pandemic first closed movie theaters and threw Blockbuster release dates into turmoil, but theaters have cautiously reopened in the US and elsewhere. Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings, Dune and James Bond adventure No Time to Die are among the postponed films coming soon. It’s been tough to keep up to date with all the changes, but we’ve got you covered with the latest theatrical and streaming movie release dates for 2021 and beyond.
Here is this year’s revised box office calendar to show when (or if) 2021’s big movies arrive in movie theaters (and/or online). These dates are still in flux, but we’ll let you know about the latest changes as new dates are announced.
Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson take a cruise in the jungle, although Disney has pushed their departure date back a whole year. The film will stream on Disney Plus on July 30, the same day it cruises into theaters.
Original release date: July 2020
The Green Knight (July 30, 2021)
Dev Patel is mythic knight Sir Gawain, King Arthur’s headstrong nephew, in this medieval fantasy epic from A24.
This video game-themed action-comedy starring Ryan Reynolds was slated for 2020 but will now open this summer.
Original release date: July 3, 2020
Don’t Breathe 2 (Aug. 13, 2021)
This horror sequel sees the return of The Blind Man.
PAW Patrol: The Movie (Aug. 20, 2021)
Parents get it.
Candyman (Aug. 27, 2021)
This horror remake directed by Nia DaCosta and written by Jordan Peele has been moved a few times, but the hook-handed slasher looks like it’s filled with chills.
Original release date: June 12, 2020
The Beatles: Get Back (Aug. 27, 2021)
Peter Jackson charts the making of the Beatles’ 1970 album Let It Be in a documentary set to be released by Disney.
Original release date: September 2020
Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings (Sept. 3, 2021)
Marvel’s martial arts action movie starring Simu Liu as mystical fighter Shang-Chi has been kicked back a few months by Disney.
The Many Saints of Newark is a ’60s-set prequel to classic TV series The Sopranos, in which Michael Gandolfini takes on the role of Tony Soprano made famous by his father, James Gandolfini. The original series ushered in the era of prestige TV and enshrined HBO’s reputation, so it’s appropriate the new film will stream on HBO Max.
This slasher sequel is in the awkward situation that the release date is sort of in the title. You can’t really bump a movie named “Halloween” to February, can you? So Universal pushed it back a whole year to 2021 — which has a knock-on effect for planned threequel, Halloween Ends, now expected in October 2022.
Wes Anderson returns with more idiosyncratic art-housery in The French Dispatch, starring Timothée Chalamet, Bill Murray, Saoirse Ronan, Tilda Swinton and Frances McDormand. At first, Disney bumped this Fox Searchlight film to October 2020, but then in July took it off the schedule. It will premiere at this year’s Cannes film festival before sauntering into theaters in October.
Jason Reitman‘s small town-set Ghostbusters resurrection stars Paul Rudd. I ain’t afraid of no postponement!
Original release date: July 10, 2020
Top Gun: Maverick (Nov. 19, 2021)
Tom Cruise feels the need for speed. We’ve waited over 30 years for a sequel to the original 1986 Top Gun, so what’s a few more months?
Original release date: June 2020
King Richard (Nov. 19, 2021)
How do you tell the story of perhaps the greatest ever women athletes? Make it about their dad! Will Smith plays the father of real-life tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams in this HBO Max film.
Original release date: November 2020
Encanto (Nov. 24, 2021)
Disney’s magical musical from Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda will cast a spell on Thanksgiving.
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (Nov. 24, 2021)
Steven Spielberg‘s remake of the legendary musical was originally supposed to fill Disney’s traditional big-money holiday movie slot in 2020, plugging the fallow year between the last Star Wars trilogy ending in 2019 and the Avatar sequels kicking in. Now everything’s been pushed back a year, West Side Story will be Disney family Blockbuster for the holidays in 2021.
Keanu Reeves returns to the Matrix in a new cyberpunk action thriller from one of the creators behind the original trilogy, Lana Wachowski. The film will stream on HBO Max too.
Original release date: May 2020
The King’s Man (Dec. 22, 2021)
Ralph Fiennes suits up for The King’s Man, a World War I-era prequel to the sharp-dressed Kingsman series.
There was much excitement when it was announced that Kill List and Rebecca director Ben Wheatley would helm a new adventure for video game superstar Lara Croft. Originally scheduled for March 2021, the sequel starring Alicia Vikander was then taken off the calendar by MGM.
Original release date: March 2021
Finch (unspecified)
Tom Hanks is the last man on Earth, hanging out with his faithful robot in this post-apocalyptic drama. Previously titled Bios, it’ll stream on Apple TV Plus.
Original release date: October 2020
Tick, Tick… Boom! (unspecified)
Lin-Manuel Miranda makes his big screen directorial debut with an adaptation of the autobiographical musical by Rent creator Jonathan Larson. Andrew Garfield stars as a young theater composer who isn’t gonna miss his shot in a New York ravaged by the AIDS epidemic in 1990.
Samaritan (unspecified)
Sylvester Stallone is an aging superhero in this dark take on superheroics.
Sony’s Spider-Man spinoff features Jared Leto as Marvel vampire Morbius.
Original release date: July 31, 2020
Death on the Nile (Feb. 11, 2022)
Kenneth Branagh once again fires up his moustache and little grey cells as Agatha Christie’s detective Hercule Poirot in a follow-up to 2017’s Murder on the Orient Express.
Original release date: December 2020
Uncharted (Feb. 18, 2022)
When 2020’s films began to be reshuffled, Uncharted was the first 2021 film to be moved. Fans are hyped for Sony’s video game adaptation stars Tom Holland, although the release date has jumped around more than Nathan Drake exploring a temple.
Original release date: December 2020
Rumble (Feb. 18, 2022)
WWE’s movie studio tag teams with paramount for this animated movie in which giant monsters are superstar athletes in professional wrestling.
The Batman (March 4, 2022)
Robert Pattinson dons the batsuit for this delayed DC adventure. It’s a Warner Bros film but there are currently no plans to stream it on HBO Max — only 2021 films will be released online.
Original release date: June 25, 2021
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (March 25, 2022)
Fans of Doctor Strange, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, will have to wait until 2022 before entering the Multiverse of Madness thanks to Marvel’s reshuffles.
Original release date: May 2021
John Wick: Chapter 4 (May 27, 2022)
Keanu’s other all-action franchise also returns for a fourth outing.
Baz Luhrmann‘s Elvis tribute became an early high-profile casualty of the pandemic when Tom Hanks, who appears in the film as Col. Tom Parker, contracted the coronavirus. He and his wife, Rita Wilson, have now recovered, and the film will be delayed only a month.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2 (Oct. 7, 2022)
Halloween Ends (Oct. 14, 2022)
The Flash (Nov. 4, 2022)
Captain Marvel 2 (Nov. 11, 2022)
Aquaman 2 (Dec. 16, 2022)
Avatar and Star Wars (December 2022 onward)
Christmas 2021 was supposed to see the long-awaited arrival of James Cameron’s Avatar sequel, which would be followed by a new Star Wars trilogy the following year. The two franchises would then alternate each holiday season until Avatar 5 in 2027. But as the coronavirus shoved more and more Blockbusters into 2021, Disney decided in late July to shift all seven movies back a year. So Avatar 2 will arrive in 2022, Avatar 3 in 2024, Avatar 4 in 2026 and Avatar 5 in 2028. Three Star Wars movies then fill in the odd-numbered years.
Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor are a troubled couple who take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to pull off a jewelry heist in an empty store. How topical! It’s streaming on HBO Max.
Outside the Wire (Released Jan. 15, 2021)
Marvel star Anthony Mackie is an android with attitude in Netflix’s near-future action thriller.
Coming 2 America (Released March 5, 2021)
Eddie Murphy already waited more than 30 years to come back to America for this long-awaited sequel to his ’80s classic, so we didn’t mind a delay of a few months. Amazon Prime Video acquired Coming 2 America in November, a month before it was set to be released in theaters, and it’s streaming now.
Original release date: Dec. 18, 2020
Chaos Walking (Released March 5, 2021)
Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley cause chaos on a planet where all the women have died and thoughts are visible. Even before the pandemic this delightfully weird-sounding film was delayed by reshoots.
Raya and the Last Dragon (Released March 12, 2021)
Arguably one of the most-delayed films on the list, this reworked and significantly longer version of 2017’s Justice League re-teams Wonder Woman, Batman and Superman in the hands of the film’s original director Zack Snyder. All four hours of the Snyder Cut stream on HBO Max after a long-running online campaign.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (Released March 19, 2021)
Nicolas Cage plays himself in suitably over-the-top style in this bonkers comedy.
Abbi Jacobson and Maya Rudolph’s wacky family take on a robot uprising led by Olivia Colman makes for a heartwarming and anarchic Netflix animated adventure from the producers of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
Without Remorse (April 30, 2021)
Michael B. Jordan stars in this adaptation of a Tom Clancy espionage novel, which is remorselessly shuffled to Amazon Prime Video.
Amy Adams plays an agoraphobic child psychologist who witnesses a horrific crime through the window of her New York apartment. Based on the bestseller by Tracy Letts, this Netflix film also stars Gary Oldman, Anthony Mackie, Wyatt Russell, Brian Tyree Henry, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Julianne Moore.
Emma Stone stars as a young Cruella De Vil in Disney’s latest live-action prequel, this time putting a new spin on animated classic 101 Dalmatians. It streamed on Disney Plus the same day it opened in theaters.
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (June 4, 2021)
Action man Mark Wahlberg headlines the eternal story of a man who learns that his hallucinations are actually visions from past lives. It’s streaming on paramount Plus.
This adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes’ Tony-winning musical is helmed by Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu, and stars Anthony Ramos from the Broadway cast of Hamilton.
Starring Vin Diesel, John Cena and Charlize Theron, the ninth Fast and Furious film was one of the first to reschedule, taking the bold step of moving F9 nearly a year to April 2021 — a date previously earmarked for the next film in the Fast Saga. There’s no word yet on when that 10th and final film will be released.
Chris Pratt headlines this original sci-fi action film about a time-traveling warrior, which streams on Amazon Prime Video instead of opening in theaters as planned.
Based on RL Stine’s horror series with amped-up scares, Netflix’s spooky trilogy tells a linked story across different eras. Fear Street Part 1: 1994 arrives July 2, 2021. Fear Street Part 2: 1978 follows July 9, 2021. And Fear Street Part 3: 1666 streams July 16, 2021.
Scarlett Johansson headlines Marvel’s Black Widow delving into the Russian super-assassin’s origins. Originally scheduled for May 2020, it’s been been pushed back in a reshuffle of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe schedule. That pushed back sequels for Captain Marvel , Thor and Doctor Strange over the next couple of years. Black Widow arrives in theaters and on Disney Plus the same day.
It’s true: there’s a long-awaited sequel to the basketball-themed 1996 cartoon/live-action Space Jam. Basketball star LeBron James, writer Ryan Coogler and Bugs Bunny lead the Looney Tunes cartoon characters onto the court when the film streams on HBO Max.
Cinderella (July 16, 2021)
Sony is not having a fairy tale year, delaying this live-action musical.
Original release date: February 2021
Snake Eyes: GI Joe Origins (July 23, 2021)
Henry Golding and Samara Weaving toy with the idea of headlining Snake Eyes, a ninja-focused spinoff from the GI Joe series of toys and movies.
M. Night Shyamalan writes and directs a new supernatural chiller based on French graphic novel Sandcastle about a group of people who discover a dead body on a beach.
(Photo by Walt Disney Pictures, Warner Bros., Marvel Studios, A24)
We didn’t get much of a summer movie season in 2020, for coronavirus reasons, so a lot of the year’s biggest titles got shifted to 2021. While this impacted previously set plans for other 2021 films — which then got pushed even further back as well — we now have a wealth of the most buzzworthy movies hitting theaters and, in some cases, streaming at the same time. We’re finally getting F9, Black Widow, and Candyman. We have horror sequels (Spiral, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It), exciting animated films (Vivo, Luca), fun family fare (Jungle Cruise, Space Jam: A New Legacy), action comedies (Free Guy, The Suicide Squad), and even a couple of very different origin stories (Cruella, Snake Eyes). There’s a little something for everyone, and we’re all probably dying to get back to the theater sometime this year, so begin your planning… now!
The story of a man who leverages his single, invented name into a worldwide fashion empire that’s synonymous with luxury, sex, status and fame, literally defining the era.
Stars:
Ewan McGregor,
Rebecca Dayan,
David Pittu,
Krysta Rodriguez
