As expectation defying as 2020 has been, it was an interesting experiment to go back and look at my list of movies for this year and see how many of them were even released in any format at all. Five out of the ten were pushed to 2021 or later and out of the five that were released, I only saw one in the movie theater. (To be honest, I did see Tenet in the movie theater twice so I tried my best.) Putting together a list for 2021 seems like a fool's errand at this point. Looking back at this list in December 2021, how many of these movies might be moved on to 2022? How many will be released in movie theaters vs released exclusively on streaming services?
Based on the box office revenue for Tenet and even Wonder Woman, not everyone is ready to return to the movie theater. I can admit that for an introvert who doesn't like people talking over the movie, watching movies in my house instead of the theater has its draw. What the streaming experience can't offer, however, is the shared experience of laughing, cheering or crying together with a group of strangers all taking in a movie together. Earlier this year, a tweet went viral reminding people what it felt like to be in the crowd of people seeing Avengers Endgame for the first time together. So, while I won't push people to go back to the movie theaters before they feel ready, I'll be there as often as I can find something worth seeing so that I can enjoy a movie with a group of people, even if I have to shush a few people along the way.
Here's hoping that these 10 will be among those we can enjoy together this upcoming year:
1. Spider-man 3ish (December 17th)
Out of all of the non-Avengers Marvel Cinematic Universe films, the two Spider-man movies are my favorite. They do such a great job of portraying Peter Parker as a kid still figuring life out and the twist ending to Spider-man: Far from Home sets this movie up to be really interesting. Combine that with casting reports that I won't share here since it'd probably be nicer to be surprised, and this movie has the potential to top the first two! One final reason to look forward to this movie-- it might be impossible to remember back all the way to 2019 but there was a brief period of time where Marvel and Sony weren't going to make this until they came together on an agreement.
2. No Time to Die (April 2nd)
This is one of those movies where it seems like it'll never actually come out. It was scheduled for Spring 2020, moved to Fall 2020 only to be moved again to April 2021. At one point it was being shopped to streaming services instead. James Bond is the type of movie that seems to demand a movie theater experience, however.
3. Mission: Impossible 7 (November 19th)
If there's one thing I've learned about Tom Cruise, it's that he's real serious about wearing masks. If there's another thing I've learned it's that he takes the Mission: Impossible movies seriously and as a result ends up topping his death defying stunts every time. Mission: Impossible Fallout involved Tom Cruise actually sky diving out of an airplane so I can only imagine what he has planned next.
4. Black Widow (May 7th)
This is another movie that should have already come out a couple of times. Like I mentioned above, I miss the feeling of watching a Marvel movie together with a large crowd of people. I'm not sure where Marvel is heading next but this will feel almost like nostalgia to watch a character we haven't seen since... 2019.
5. In the Heights (June 18th)
One of the highlights of movies that were released in 2020 was that Hamilton got to be released early on Disney+ instead of waiting until 2021. While I'd still love to watch it on the big screen, I'll take Lin-Manuel Miranda's earlier musical as an acceptable substitute. I'm pretty sure we saw this trailer over 30 times in 2019 and it'll be nice to finally see the movie as well.
6. Raya and the Last Dragon (March 5th)
While it seems like we keep getting remakes and sequels as the majority of the movies being produced, original movies like this one stand out all the more. I'm not really sure what the movie is about but Disney has a pretty solid track record going and the cast is A+.
7. Jungle Cruise (July 30th)
The Rock had to let down all of the world early in the pandemic when he announced that this movie was being delayed until 2021. Little did we know then that almost all movies scheduled for 2020 would end up being delayed but this one looks like it'll be worth waiting for. It's like Mary Poppins and Jumanji came together for a mashup and I'll definitely be there to see the results.
8. Dune (October 1st)
When it seemed like movie theaters might be reopening in time for Christmas, Dune finally came out with a trailer that stuck out to even the non-Dune fan like myself. Having been described to me as Star Wars meets Tremors, I'm really not sure what the plot of this movie will be like but when it comes to big-budget sci-fi, if there's no Star Wars to see I'll give something as strange looking as this a try!
9. Encanto (November 24th)
I'll admit that I know even less about this movie than perhaps any other movie on the list. All Wikipedia has to offer is "A
Colombian girl named Mariana grows up as the only non-magical member in
her family." Well, it also offers that it's directed by the same duo that
made Zootopia and that the music is by the previously mentioned in the list
Lin-Manuel Miranda. Even if you somehow don't like Hamilton, the Moana
soundtrack has to be one of the best that Disney has had in recent years,
especially if you don't want to Let It Go!
10. The Matrix 4 (December 22nd)
Last, and hopefully not but possibly least, they're making another Matrix movie! This is on the list because The Matrix was such a fun movie and I was very excited for the sequels when I was in high school. Each one of those movies was worse than the last, however, so I'm not holding by breath that they've figured out what went wrong but I am at least interested to see where they plan on taking the story next after fairly clearly ending it in the last movie.
