Movies in 2021 — At Home or in the Theater, Something to Look Forward To

Happy new year! I wish all of you a year of health, happiness, and maybe some un-socially distant activities like going to the theater and giving some hugs.

2021 looks like a good year for movies, even at home. Right now, the Warner Brothers movies originally scheduled for theaters are going to be released streaming on HBOMax with no additional charge for subscribers. That may change, if everyone gets vaccinated and COVID-19 numbers go down fast enough, but right now, the films we can expect to see at home include:

The Little Things: Oscar winners Denzel Washington, Jared Leto, and Rami Malek star in this mystery about a search for a serial killer.

Judas and the Black Messiah: Those of you who saw “The Trial of the Chicago 7” or the documentary “Nationtime” got a glimpse of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, killed by police at age 21. This is his story, with a powerful cast including Daniel Kaluuya, LaKeith Stanfield, Martin Sheen, and Jesse Plemons.

The Many Saints of Newark: This prequel to “The Sopranos” has Michael Gandolfini as Tony, the role played by his late father in the HBO series.

Godzilla v. Kong: You know the monsters. Now watch them fight. The human characters are played by Alexander Skarsgard, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, and Eiza González.

In the Heights: Before “Hamilton,” Lin-Manuel Miranda won his first Tony for this lively musical about life in Washington Heights.

Dune: The first try at filming this classic sci-fi novel was an expensive failure. This time Denis Villenueve directs, starring Timothee Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Stellan Skarsgard, Josh Brolin, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Zendaya, Chang Chen, Jason Momoa, and Javier Bardem.

Plus: Sequels to “Space Jam” and “The Matrix,” a “Mortal Combat” movie, and a live action “Tom and Jerry.”

Also coming this year:

Series, sequels, remakes, and prequels!

We will see a prequel to “Kingsmen” called “The King’s Man,” with Ralph Fiennes, Gemma Arterton, Rhys Ifans, Matthew Goode, Daniel Brühl and Djimon Hounsou, another James Bond film, “No Time to Die,” with Rami Malek as the villain, and Eddie Murphy returns as Prince Akeem (and a bunch of other characters” in “Coming 2 America.” The ultra-scary “A Quiet Place” gets a sequel (An Even Quieter Place?) and the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) will finally come out, co-starring Florence Pugh and Rachel Weisz. Dom’s “I don’t have friends; I have family” crew is back in “F9” and the original cast returns for a new “Ghostbusters” movie. Mav still feels the need for speed in “Top Gun: Maverick.” And Hercule Poirot still feels the need to solve murders, again played by Kenneth Branagh in “Death on the Nile.”

Steven Spielberg’s remake of “West Side Story” is coming out in 2021, and Chloé Zhao, director of this year’s small-scale awards favorite “Nomadland,” has also directed a superhero movie, “The Eternals,” with Angelina Jolie. Richard Madden, Salma Hayek and Kumail Nanjiani.

We’re also getting Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in a medieval story called “The Last Duel.”

As always, I end the list of upcoming films by looking forward to what we cannot anticipate now. Every year, there is some performer or filmmaker who surprises us and becomes an instant favorite. That’s what I look forward to most.