Okay, so maybe 2020 wasn't the greatest year for Hollywood blockbusters — but the good news
is the future's looking bright. From firm franchise favorites to the most
exciting new projects, here are the must-watch movies of the next few years.
Thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 Marvel Studios had their first
year without a theatrical release in a very, very long time. That's okay, though,
because 2021 promises to be an especially robust year for Marvel's superheroes,
and it all kicks off in May with the long-awaited Black Widow.
Since her character didn't survive the events of Avengers: Endgame, Natasha Romanoff's solo
adventure will take her back in time, to the period between Captain America:
Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. After the breakup of the Avengers,
Black Widow is called back home to untangle a conspiracy with roots in her own past.
Though she's venturing out on this adventure without any of her fellow Avengers, Natasha will
be joined by a team of some of her old Russian friends, including her sister-in-arms Yelena,
her mentor Melina, and the former Russian super soldier known as the Red Guardian. Originally
slated to arrive in May 2020, Black Widow will now roll out a year later, on May 7th, 2021.
After years of rumors suggesting that his time as James Bond would be coming to a close,
it's now been confirmed that the 25th James Bond film, No Time to Die, will mark the curtain
call for Daniel Craig. Though he's made fewer films than previous title-holder Roger Moore,
Craig has now been the reigning Bond for a longer period of time than any other actor.
By the time No Time to Die hits theaters, he'll have spent a decade and a half in the role.
“The name's Bond. James Bond."
It's fitting, then, that he seems to be going out with a very big bang indeed.
Director Cary Fukunaga helms the latest Bond adventure,
which sees Craig's 007 facing off against the sinister new villain known as Safin. No Time
to Die was originally set for a November 2020 release, but was pushed back a number of times
due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It's now slated for an April 2021 release.
There have been two films in the Kingsman series so far,
and they've both focused on largely the same cast of characters.
But that's set to change in 2021, when the franchise goes back to where it all began.
The King's Man, a prequel film once again helmed by original Kingsman director Matthew Vaughn,
will venture back to the early 20th century, finding a different set of Kingsman agents as
they try to stop a team of criminal masterminds from wiping out millions of lives. Since the
movie is set a hundred years ago, you probably shouldn't expect to see Eggsy or Harry show
up — but the cast, led by Ralph Fiennes and Gemma Arterton, is pretty dazzling nonetheless.
The film was originally set to arrive in November 2019, then was pushed to February 2020, and then
again to September 2020. Things took a turn for the worse when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, forcing
another schedule shift. The film is now set to finally hit theaters on February 12th, 2021.
Frank Herbert's hugely influential sci-fi novel Dune has already been adapted to the screen twice
— once for the big screen by David Lynch and once for the small in a Syfy miniseries. Both versions
have their fans, but 2020 was supposed to bring a Dune adaptation like no other: a big-budget,
ultra-ambitious epic helmed by genre luminary and Blade Runner 2049 director Denis Villeneuve.
Sadly, the COVID-19 pandemic means Dune fans will have to wait a little longer to see whether
Villeneuve has pulled it off or not, but that doesn't make it any less exciting. The first
trailer for Dune was packed full of astonishing visuals, setting a truly beautiful stage for this
story of a doomed family and the hostile planet they make their home. Dune was originally set to
be released during the 2020 holiday season, but ongoing pandemic concerns meant that the release
date has shifted. The movie will now arrive in theaters and on HBO Max on October 1st, 2021.
It's been more than 20 years since the last film in the Candyman series, but in 2021 that's set
to change — with director Nia DaCosta's sequel to the original urban legend-driven classic.
Set long after the first movie's creepy housing projects have been torn down, the film follows
visual artist Anthony as he moves into the now-gentrified complex with his girlfriend,
and begins an art project digging into the local folklore. What begins as an intriguing idea soon
turns into a nightmare, however, as he discovers the legend of the Candyman is frighteningly real.
Candyman was originally set to be released in June 2020.
Pandemic-induced delays pushed it to the fall of the same year, however,
and then delayed the movie again to its current release date of August 27th, 2021
On July 9th, 2021, Marvel will release Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,
a superhero epic with a kung fu edge. Chinese-Canadian actor Simu Liu has landed
the title role of Marvel's Master of Kung Fu in the film, which will also star Awkwafina in
an as-yet-undisclosed role. But aside from being Marvel's first Asian-led MCU movie,
perhaps the most exciting thing about Shang-Chi is the villain.
2010's Iron Man 3 seemed to introduce the classic comic villain known as the Mandarin,
only to then reveal he was simply an actor playing a role as part of another villain's evil ploy.
"It's just a role. The Mandarin. See, it's not real."
But the MCU later hinted that the real Mandarin is still out there — and now,
it seems, his time has come. The genuine Mandarin will make his MCU debut in Shang-Chi,
as played by the legendary Hong Kong actor Tony Leung.
Every once in a while, Disney will take a couple of bankable stars, throw a bunch of money at them,
and send them on a crazy, standalone adventure. And sometimes it even works out.
Based on the Disney theme park ride of the same name, Jungle Cruise pairs Dwayne "The
Rock" Johnson alongside Emily Blunt, as they set out on an adventure into the heart of the jungle,
searching for the mythical Tree of Life. The Commuter's Jaume Collet-Serra's takes
directing duties on the film, which was originally set to be released on July 24th,
2020. For reasons that should be obvious at this point, the film was delayed,
and is now due to hit theaters on July 30th, 2021.
In 2018, the Halloween franchise returned to the silver screen in a big way. Featuring the
return of Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, the movie ignored every previous sequel to John
Carpenter's 1978 original, setting the scene for a showdown between Strode and Michael Myers that was
four decades in the making. But, as it turns out, it wasn't their last.
In July 2019, Carpenter and Curtis announced that two more sequels are coming,
chronicling the continued struggles of Laurie Strode and her family against the specter of
the Shape. Curtis will return, of course, as will the previous movie's director, David Gordon Green.
The two sequels were originally set to arrive one year apart, in October of 2020 and '21, but
like so many other releases, they fell victim to a reshuffling. The first sequel, Halloween Kills,
will now land in theaters on October 15th, 2021. The second, Halloween Ends, hasn't been given a
firm release date, having been bumped from 2021 by its predecessor. Whenever it does arrive, however,
you can expect that final movie to provide a fitting end to the tale of Laurie Strode.
It's been a long road already for the Uncharted movie,
and, unfortunately, it seems like the road just keeps getting longer.
Active development on a film based on the hit game series can be traced back to at least 2010, and
over the course of a decade the project has seen a number of writers and directors come and go.
The movie finally landed on Venom's Ruben Fleischer as director,
and will star Tom Holland as a younger version of the video game series' hero,
Nathan Drake. Uncharted is set to explore Drake's early days as a treasure hunter,
and will co-star Mark Wahlberg as the young adventuerer's partner, Victor Sullivan.
In January 2020, Deadline reported that Sony Pictures had bumped the
film from its previous release date of December 18th, 2020 to March 5th,
2021. There was still one more delay in store, however, when industry reshuffling
in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic saw Uncharted pushed to July 16th, 2021.
In 2018, MGM decided it was time to bring the beloved video game franchise Tomb Raider back
to the big screen — with a new take that hewed closer to the more recent installments of the game
series. Starring Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft, the film dove into Croft's first treasure hunt as
she followed in the footsteps of her father. Tomb Raider grossed $275 million worldwide,
which proved more than enough to set development of a sequel in motion.
Vikander will return to her starring role as Lara Croft,
and cult genre director Ben Wheatley will sit in the director's chair. The screenplay has
been written by Wheatley's longtime partner Amy Jump, who co-wrote the director's other films,
including High Rise and Free Fire. Tomb Raider 2 was first slated for release on March 19th,
2021, but has now been delayed indefinitely as a result of the pandemic.
For more than a decade, Dwayne Johnson has been pushing for the
development of a superhero movie that sits particularly close to his heart. And soon,
he'll finally make his big-screen super-debut.
Starring in the movie of the same name, Johnson will play Black Adam,
a character first introduced as a villain for the superhero now known as Shazam.
Adam had previously wielded Shazam's powers, but was corrupted into villainy — before long,
however, the character was later retconned to be more of an antihero.
Adam was originally supposed to be a villain in the first Shazam! movie, but Johnson's commitment
to the role and his view of Adam as a heroic, misunderstood figure won out, and the character
will now be getting his very own movie. Black Adam is currently awaiting a new release date,
after being bumped from its originally scheduled release of December 22nd, 2021.
"All of you around the world right now watching,
I can promise you this. I give you my word. We are gonna go beyond your wildest expectations."
In late 2018 and early 2019, Warner Bros. did a lot of work to try and inject some fun into the DC
Extended Universe. That effort began with Aquaman, which was a massive box office hit
over the 2018 holiday season, and continued with Shazam!, which arrived in early 2019 and proved
equally successful with fans and critics. The movie never quite reached the box
office heights of Aquaman, but it still hauled in a decent $366 million worldwide.
Then, in late 2019, Warner Bros. announced that a Shazam! sequel is on the way. Zachary
Levi is set to return in the film's title role, with director David F. Sandberg
also set to return behind the camera. In 2020, the title was revealed to be Shazam!
Fury of the Gods. There's no word yet on exactly what the plot will be, but the original film
set up plenty of opportunities for new foes, including the potential introduction of Black
Adam after his own film drops. Fury of the Gods is currently expected to arrive on June 2nd, 2023.
Ask any long-time Star Wars fan what kind of movie they'd like to see outside the main saga,
and there's a good chance you'll hear the words "Rogue Squadron." The legendary band
of starfighter pilots was a major part of the old Star Wars Expanded Universe,
and now it seems set to be part of the new one.
Disney announced in December 2020 that Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins will helm a Rogue
Squadron feature film, and that it will be the next theatrical release in the Star Wars universe.
In a short video introducing the project, Jenkins described the movie
as the fulfillment of a lifelong dream to make an amazing fighter pilot movie
in honor of her father, who was a fighter pilot himself.
"Now I've found a movie about two things I love. So I'm gonna see you very soon."
Plot details are scarce, but we do know that the film will focus on
"a new generation" of pilots in a "future era" of the Star Wars galaxy. More will become clear
in the run-up to Rogue Squadron's release, which has been slated for December 2023.
Acclaimed writer/director Taika Waititi already has something of a history with Star Wars.
After finding considerable success at Marvel Studios with Thor: Ragnarok, Waititi joined
the group of directors recruited by Jon Favreau to helm the first season of the Star Wars live-action
series The Mandalorian, in which he also voiced the bounty hunter turned nanny droid IG-11.
Waititi must have made an impression on the Lucasfilm crew, because in May
2020 the official Star Wars website announced that the director has signed on to make a new
Star Wars movie. Details on the project are still extremely scarce, however,
and nobody has any idea what it'll be called, when it'll be set,
which characters are involved, or even when it's supposed to be released. All anyone can
be sure of is that Waititi is working on a Star Wars movie. But hey, that's good enough for now.
The earliest rumblings around Disney's purchase of Fox immediately sent waves of anticipation
through the Marvel fandom. By the time the deal was done, geeks everywhere were champing at the
bit for any news about the future of Fox's two biggest Marvel properties: the X-Men
and the Fantastic Four. Mostly, however, Kevin Feige and company kept a tight lid on things.
Then came Disney's Investor Day presentation in December 2020, when Feige announced that a
Fantastic Four movie is on the horizon. Very little is known about the movie,
but it has been announced that Spider-Man director Jon Watts will be at the helm.
Aside from that? Anything could happen.
Though they first felt more like a relatively minor part of the wider MCU narrative,
the Ant-Man movies have since become a kind of cornerstone for the future of
the franchise — mostly thanks to Scott Lang's major role in Avengers: Endgame. Now, the third
adventure for the Ant-Man crew is on the horizon, and, ironically enough, it's set to be a big one.
Marvel announced in December 2020 that the third feature in the series will be
titled Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and that it's set to introduce one of the
biggest villains in the Marvel Universe: the time-hopping warlord Kang the Conqueror.
Lovecraft Country star Jonathan Majors is set to portray Kang,
making him one of two major MCU newcomers in the film so far, the other being Freaky star
Kathryn Newton as Scott Lang's grown-up daughter Cassie. Ant-Man and the Wasp stars Paul Rudd,
Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, and Michelle Pfeiffer are all set to return for the film,
as is director Peyton Reed. The film does not yet have a firm release date.
Captain Marvel was a game-changer for the MCU when it debuted
in 2019. It was the first female-led Marvel Studios superhero film,
it introduced the Skrulls to the franchise while expanding the role of the Kree,
and it set the stage for more superheroines to join the MCU. So Captain Marvel 2 was always
going to be a big deal, and now we're starting to get a sense of just how important it will be.
Nia DaCosta is set to direct the second solo adventure for the title character, but this time,
Carol Danvers won't be fighting alone. She'll be joined by Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau,
a grown-up version of the character who debuted in the first movie, and who in the comics is
currently known as Spectrum. Joining the two of them will be Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan,
a.k.a. Ms. Marvel, a Captain Marvel superfan-turned-superhero who's about to debut in
her own original series on Disney+. Captain Marvel 2 is set to hit theaters on November 11th, 2022.
Not too long ago, it seemed unthinkable that there'd be any more instalments in the Toy
Story series. Then Toy Story 4 came along and wrapped an even tighter bow on the franchise.
Now, it looks like Toy Story is moving on — in a way that nobody could possibly have predicted.
In December 2020, Disney announced that Pixar Animation Studios has been hard at work on
Lightyear, a new animated adventure starring Chris Evans as the voice of the title character,
presenting a kind of origin story for everyone's favorite Space Ranger.
But as Evans later clarified via Twitter, this isn't the story of the toy. In fact,
this is the story of the "real" Buzz Lightyear — the character who inspired the toy. That's an
intriguing idea, and we'll see how it plays out when Lightyear hits theaters June 17th, 2022.
Marvel Studios has been eager to produce a sequel to Black Panther ever since the first
film rocketed to massive commercial and critical success in 2018. Unfortunately,
in 2020, Hollywood was rocked by the tragic passing of Chadwick Boseman.
Boseman's death left a number of lingering questions from Black Panther fans,
and in December 2020, Marvel started answering a few of them.
During Disney's Investor Day presentation, Kevin Feige announced that Black Panther 2 would still
be moving forward under the leadership of director Ryan Coogler, but that the role of T'Challa
won't be recast. Instead, Feige told fans to expect a movie that both honors Boseman's memory
and continues to explore the world of Wakanda. However it takes shape,
Black Panther 2 is set to hit theaters July 8th, 2022.
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