2020 was a relatively quiet year for movies, with many big releases pushed back into 2021 in order to minimize the impact of the pandemic on box office takings. While this may have made for a somewhat mediocre twelve months though, it does mean that we're now in for one hell of a year when it comes to big-budget blockbusters.
Some of the movies coming out in 2021 have been in development for quite some time, which will have hopefully allowed the people working on them to tweak and tailor them as required. A lot of them will also be releasing simultaneously on streaming platforms like HBO Max and Netflix, meaning that people will be able to enjoy them from the comfort of their own homes without having to resort to piracy.
Updated January 22, 2021: With the delay of the Uncharted Movie into 2022, this article has been updated with a new title. Other films including Ghostbusters and the latest Bond have also been delayed. The new dates for these have been corrected as well.
10 DELAYED To 2022: Uncharted (Originally July 16)
Nathan Drake is one of the most iconic characters to have ever graced the PlayStation, but whether he'll be able to have quite the same impact on the silver screen remains to be seen. Uncharted could end up being the next Raiders of the Lost Ark, but, then again, it could just as easily fall into Crystal Skull territory instead.
The movie has been in the works for more than a decade now, but it's only in the last few years that the gears have been fully in motion. Tom Holland will play the intrepid explorer, with Mark Wahlberg taking on the role of Sully. Ruben Flesicher, whose previous works include 2018's Venom and the Zombieland movies, directs.
9 Dune (October 1)
Frank Herbert's Dune novels have spawned numerous adaptations over the years, including the 1984 classic movie of the same name and a plethora of games and television series. Dune (2021) will cover half of the original 1965 novel with a second movie that rounds out the story releasing somewhere further down the line.
The movie's ensemble cast includes plenty of big names with Oscar Isaac, Rebecca Ferguson, and Timothée Chalamet set to play Leto and his family. It looks set to be one hell of a movie; although this should perhaps be expected given its monstrous $165 million budget.
8 Mortal Kombat (April 16)
That New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. were willing to greenlight another Mortal Kombat movie following the car crash that was Mortal Kombat: Annihilation is somewhat surprising. Given director Kevin Tancharoen's experience with the franchise though, if anybody can make it work, it's him.
The young director has had plenty of time to plan and prepare for the project as well, with the movie first announced all the way back in 2011. So far though we remain somewhat in the dark when it comes to the plot of Mortal Kombat, although Shang Tsung's appearance probably tells us all that we need to know.
7 Top Gun: Maverick (July 2)
Tom Cruise reprises the role that made him a household name in the long-anticipated sequel to the 1986 classic, Top Gun. Val Kilmer will also return as Iceman while big names like Jon Hamm and Jennifer Connelly also star. Some of Hollywood's best young talent rounds out the cast; which - on paper, at least - has everything needed to make Top Gun: Maverick a success.
If that wasn't enough excitement for Tom Cruise fans, the movie lands just a few months before the seventh installment of the Mission Impossible franchise, in which the veteran actor will once again play IMF agent Ethan Hunt. The prospect of yet another sequel might not be quite so enthralling, but the action scenes alone are usually worth the price of admission.
6 The Matrix 4 (December 22)
Fans of the John Wick series will have to wait until next year for the expert assassin's fourth outing. Thankfully though, The Matrix 4 should provide more than enough Keanu Reeves goodness to hold us over until then. He'll be joined by many of the original cast too, as well as some new faces.
Two actors who won't be returning, however, are Laurence Fishburne and Hugo Weaver; who played Morpheus and Agent Smith respectively in the original trilogy. Daniel Bernhardt will reprise the role of Agent Johnson though, which suggests that the agents will once again play an important part in the movie's narrative.
5 No Time To Die | New Date: October 8 (Originally April 2)
No Time To Die will be Daniel Craig's final appearance as 007 and is one of many movies to have been heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. It's been delayed three times already and - with rumors of the movie's release being pushed back further still currently making the rounds - is fast becoming the Cyberpunk 2077 of movies. Let's just hope that it's not quite as messy when it finally arrives!
Craig will once again be joined by Ralph Fiennes and Naomie Harris, while Rami Malek will play the movie's main villain, Saffin. With a budget somewhere in the region of a quarter of a billion dollars, expectations will be sky-high. Bond movies do have a history of performing well at the box office though - with the last four having brought in more than $3 billion between them.
4 Space Jam: A New Legacy (July 16)
That it's now been a quarter of a century since the release of the first Space Jam movie is enough to make any of us who remember it feel incredibly old. The hope is though, that once again seeing Bugs co-starring alongside some of the biggest names in basketball might be enough to make us feel young once more; albeit for just one fleeting moment.
LeBron James, Damian Lillard, and Anthony Davis are amongst those who will be taking to the court and will be joined by MCU star Don Cheadle who will play an evil computer algorithm. It's hard to imagine this one not being a big hit, although only time will tell whether it will be able to recapture the magic of the original.
3 Ghostbusters: Afterlife | New Date: November 11 (Originally: June 11)
Lacking both the charm and humor of the first two movies, Ghostbusters (2016) never really felt like anything more than a cheap imitation conceived solely to cash in on peoples' nostalgia. Thankfully, a once promised sequel to the aforementioned dumpster fire was scrapped and Ghostbusters: Afterlife was greenlit in its stead.
The return of Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Ernie Hudson is by no means a guarantee that the movie will be successful, but it should certainly bolster its chances. The same could be said of Oscar-nominated director Jason Reitman; whose father directed the first two movies and returns as producer this time around.
2 Black Widow (May 7)
It's set to be yet another busy year for the MCU, with Black Widow kicking off its fourth phase in early May. Natasha Romanoff's debut outing has certainly been a long time coming, although, given the events of Endgame, it's hard to get too excited about it.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Eternals are also scheduled for release this year, but the biggest MCU title dropping in 2021 is undoubtedly the as-yet-untitled Spider-Man flick due out in December. Rumors suggest that we may see multiple versions of the web-slinger as well as some of the series' most iconic villains. Venom probably won't be one of them though as the sinister symbiote will be appearing in Venom: Let There Be Carnage which is due out in June.
1 The Suicide Squad (August 6)
The DCEU still has some way to go in order to catch up with Marvel's offerings, but Warner Bros. will be hoping that Suicide Squad can at least bring the two cinematic universes a little closer to parity. It's a big ask though, especially when considering critics' lukewarm response to the 2016 title of the same name.
Margot Robbie and Jai Courtney are among those who'll be returning from that one although there's no room in the script for Jared Leto's Joker this time out. Will Smith is another notable absentee with Idris Elba originally stepping in for the role of Deadshot before later being chosen to play Bloodsport instead.