coming soon: this year's most anticipated releases
let's talk about the year 2021
Not to put too fine a point on it, but the past calendar year has been… not great! Everything fun and cool and good has been mostly removed from my life and most likely your life as well. Not only that, whatever things we have to look forward usually keep getting pushed to later and it all added up to a year that really felt like the encapsulation of the phrase “this is why we can’t have nice things.”
Here at Working Title, we believe you CAN have nice things. I say “we” because, in an effort to bring you articles that aren’t just White Guy Film Opinions™️, I’ve partnered with my good friend Steph Mill to bring you a list of our most anticipated movies of 2021. Steph is someone with who I discuss movies all the time and she has impeccable taste. She is also Canadian, so she really classes up this publication since she’s adjacent to the British commonwealth.
Below you will find 20 films (10 from each of us) that we can’t wait to see either at home or, at some point, in an honest to god movie theater this year. Each film has the trailer linked (if available) which you can find by clicking on the title!
The obvious caveat here is that while all of these films are scheduled to be released on the dates listed, we’ve seen that releases can be changed at a moment’s notice so take them with a grain of salt.
Here are the films we’re most excited about his year!
Title: Boogie
Scheduled Release Date: March 5th, 2021 (Today)
Why We’re Excited: Fresh Off The Boat producer/narrator and Chef Eddie Huang brings us a movie about an upcoming and coming basketball phenom named Boogie who also happens to be Asian-American. Boogie must fight not only stereotypes on the court but the cultural pressure that comes from being an Asian-American in New York City in modern-day America.
Huang has courted controversy before and has been called "a walking mixtape of postmodern cultural appropriation” by the New York Times. Feel free to form your own opinions there. His film looks to be a messy, but moving portrait of cultural clash and what it means to ball and be an American. Count me in. - Saul
Title: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
Scheduled Release Date: March 19th
Why We’re Excited: Nothing gets me more fired up than hearing “Nicolas Cage playing Nicolas Cage” and this is absolutely no exception. Cage accepts a $1 million dollar offer to attend a birthday party for a billionaire superfan slash drug kingpin, where he is forced to act out his most famous roles and characters in order to save his wife and daughter who are simultaneously being held hostage. Honestly, I don’t need any more information beyond this, other than maybe a hint if it’s based on a true story, because I’m getting that kind of vibe. - Steph
Title: French Exit
Scheduled Release Date: April 2nd
Why We’re Excited: After her rich, dead husband’s fortune runs out, a snooty socialite (Michelle Pfeiffer) moves from NYC to Paris with her son (Lucas Hedges) to live out the rest of her days. I generally don’t care for stories about rich people facing problems, unless it’s some completely over-the-top satire, but I generally do care about Michelle Pfeiffer and Lucas Hedges. If we’re being honest here, I wonder if Hedges was feeling left out of the forthcoming Wes Anderson flick.
“Alright Wes, if you won’t cast me in French Dispatch, imma pave my own path to Paris. Take that!” -Lucas Hedges -me (Steph)
Title: Shiva Baby
Scheduled Release Date: April 2nd
Why We’re Excited: If you want to get technical about it, this movie was already released in 2020, but almost exclusively at film festivals, where it has been building a ton of buzz. It’s finally going to wide release in America on April 2nd.
SHIVA BABY stars Rachel Sennot (who is a GREAT Twitter follow) as Danielle, a directionless young bisexual Jewish woman who attends a shiva with her family, friends, and several judgemental neighbors. Also at the Shiva? Her sugar daddy, who nobody in her family knows about. This movie looks to be like if UNCUT GEMS were somehow more tense, horny, and millennial. - Saul
Title: Spiral: From The Book of Saw
Scheduled Release Date: May 15th
Why We’re Excited: I feel blessed to be receiving a new chapter of the increasingly gruesome Saw franchise. Particularly, I should say, as somebody who has spent a significant amount of time studying the insanely complex and bizarre world of Mr. John Kramer AKA Jigsaw AKA that guy who says “would you like to play a game”. I could probably write a thesis paper on the best and worst traps of the series. However, somehow I didn’t expect to see Chris Rock take this on - as both an actor and an executive producer, no less. He has some big shoes to fill. (Worth mentioning only because I think he’s more petite than Donnie Wahlberg.) - Steph
Title: Cruella
Scheduled Release Date: May 21
Why We’re Excited: Generally speaking, I am heavily against live-action Disney. They are bad and they are weird. And the worst part is, they are bad because they don’t really need to be good. They will always be blockbusters, but almost never beloved by the masses. It’s like an iPhone user trying to navigate an Android. You’re just going to simply point out all the aspects that are off, or different, or wrong, and therefore return to your old faithful device (or movie) because you were unsatisfied with the bizarre changes.
You’re probably asking yourself why I’m bothering to talk about Cruella when I feel this strongly against live-action Disney. I think I speak for at least the women of Letterboxd who disliked Joker when I say this: Emma Stone plays a #girlboss skinning innocent puppies. I can afford to give this 2 hours of my half-divided attention. - Steph
Title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage
Scheduled Release Date: June 25th
Why We’re Excited: The first VENOM movie was bugfuck crazy, with Tom Hardy somehow doing a Brooklyn(?) accent while living in San Francisco, Riz Ahmed as a biohacker evil genius, and a superhero that looked like he had cum for eyes.
Well buckle up because ol’ Cum Eyes is back for more in VENOM: LET THEIR BE CARNAGE. Tom Hardy is back as the titular Venom and is joined by Woody Harrelson as Carnage who looks like this, which is cool as hell. This movie is going to be another screwball and I personally cannot wait. - Saul
Title: Zola
Scheduled Release Date: June 30th
Why We’re Excited: “Y’all wanna hear a story about why me and this bitch here fell out??????” This one is a doozy. Without giving too much away, ZOLA focuses on the too-wild-to-be-true story of a 19-year-old Detroit woman who goes on a weekend trip to Tampa with a woman she barely knows, along with the stranger’s overly emotional boyfriend and super protective pimp. She thinks she’s in for a fun weekend of fancy strip clubs and partying, but, as it turns out, the mysterious woman who brought her along is actually in Tampa to trap. If you think THAT is a plot twist, strap in. The true story was posted over 140 tweets in 2015 and went viral immediately. The thread even includes photos, for proof I presume. It is hilarious and detailed and feels like you’re fully reading a movie script. It was only a matter of time before a movie was based on a Twitter thread anyway, right?
Riley Keough and Taylour Paige step into the roles of Jessica and Zola on their wild adventure through the streets, hotel rooms, and strip clubs of Florida. Before you hop on Reddit to find the thread, here it is for your convenience. You’re welcome xo - Steph
Title: Top Gun: Maverick
Scheduled Release Date: July 2nd
Why We’re Excited: There’s something to be said for the big-ass summer blockbuster and I think this one is going to fit the bill quite nicely. I know that just last newsletter, I was complaining about sequels and IP and blah blah blah, but I’m a sucker for a movie star and Tom Cruise is a movie STAR, baby. He’s returning as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell and training a new set of recruits that includes Lt. Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (played by Miles Teller) who just so happens to be the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka “Goose” (RIP).
Quick aside: last year I got to go to the Super Bowl (flex) and Miles Teller was also there because he was promoting this movie because it was supposed to be released last year. We ended up being on the same pee schedule because I peed next to him twice. I obviously thought this was funny so I did a tweet about it. Well, that tweet got picked up by a podcast who ended up asking Miles Teller if he remembered a guy peeing next to him and he said yes so if you think about it, we’re basically boys. - Saul
Title: Old
Scheduled Release Date: July 23rd
Why We’re Excited: I am by no means a horror movie person. I scare quite easily. I am, how you say, a big baby. That said, I simply cannot resist the siren call of an M. Night Shyamalan film. (Side note: if you’re making a horror movie, is it like required that you cast Alex Wolff? Is it contractually obligated?)
Shymalan has the ability to hit huge home runs (SIGNS, THE 6TH SENSE, UNBREAKABLE), strikeout terribly (THE LADY IN THE WATER, THE MOTHERFUCKIN’ HAPPENING) or fall somewhere in the middle (DEVIL, THE VISIT) but no matter what I go in expecting to be entertained. This movie, about a beach that reduces the life of anyone who visits it to a single day, should be no different. It might be good. It might be terrible. I’m gonna watch it and root for both. - Saul
Title: The Green Knight
Scheduled Release Date: July 30th
Why We’re Excited: First things first. This movie stars Dev Patel and Alicia Vikander, two people who I would watch do pretty much anything and find it incredibly entertaining. It’s also got my boy Barry Keoghan (shoutout THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER).
The story follows Sir Gawain (Patel), the headstrong nephew of King Arthur as he seeks out the titular Green Knight, a huge, green-skinned foe whose ambitions are unknown. This movie looks to be a killer crossover of fantasy and thriller and A24 has been putting out consistently good-to-great movies for years now. This one should be no different - Saul
Title: Deep Water
Scheduled Release Date: August 13th
Why We’re Excited: From the director of JACOB’S LADDER and FATAL ATTRACTION comes an erotic thriller starring Ben Affleck - the least erotic person on planet E - and Ana de Armas - who just dumped the least erotic person on planet E. Have you seen the paparazzi shot of Affleck throwing a fucking cardboard cut out of de Armas into his trash? It’s fine. I’m fine. I’m totally fine. DEEP WATER tells the story of a dutiful husband who lets his wife cheat on him to avoid a divorce. Things start to go askew when he becomes a prime suspect in the disappearance of her lovers. God. Did Nick Dunne learn NOTHING? - Steph
Title: The Many Saints of Newark
Scheduled Release Date: September 24th
Why We’re Excited: Serving as a prequel to THE SOPRANOS, arguably the best thing to come of HBO television, MANY SAINTS follows the formative years of young mobster Tony Soprano - played by the late and great James Gandolfini’s son, Michael. We’ll see many familiar faces from the Sopranos gang, as well as some welcomed newcomers like Leslie Odom Jr. I have faith in this for several reasons, one of them being that SOPRANOS creator David Chase is writing and producing MANY SAINTS.
I just hope he can find someone equally as insufferable for Livia Sopranos’ character. There are few things I enjoy more in life than hating fictional people. Almost on par with hating nonfictional people. - Steph
Title: Dune
Scheduled Release Date: October 1st
Why We’re Excited: Based on the first half of the 1965 novel by Frank Herbert, DUNE follows a young man (Timothee Chalamet) on an incredibly dangerous quest to save his people. A sequel focusing on the second half of the book has not officially been greenlit but is expected to follow. If you prefer watching to reading (same, don’t worry), you may have also seen the 1984 film version of DUNE directed by my one and only David Lynch, starring my other one and only Kyle MacLachlan. Strangely enough, Lynch turned down directing Return of the Jedi to make this trashterpiece which I have very mixed feelings about.
As for this adaptation, I don’t want to say this trailer made me tear up, but this trailer made me tear up. Let me start by saying that I’m a Denis Villeneuve stan. I’m also, coincidentally, a Zendaya, Timothee Chalamet, Josh Brolin, and Oscar Isaac stan, but find me someone who isn’t. I need a whole page to talk about Oscar Isaac’s beard in this. Villeneuve makes movies that remind me why I love movies. He makes intricate, intense, visceral, and stunningly creative movies, and I have little doubt in my mind that DUNE will be right on par with BLADE RUNNER 2049, ARRIVAL, and PRISONERS. I’d kill for Roger thee Deakins behind the camera, but I can only assume I have zero power in making this happen in any capacity, on any film, at any point in this life. This is me officially manifesting another Villeneuve/Deakins project. Okay back to business. *chanting* SANDWORM! SANDWORM! SANDWORM! SANDW- Steph
Title: The Last Duel
Scheduled Release Date: October 15th
Why We’re Excited: It’s been a while since Matt Damon has really been front and center in the American moviegoing public’s imagination. Sure, he had FORD VS FERRARI back in 2019, but he was outshined in that movie by Christian Bale, and before that he was in a couple of movies that were okay at best while sprinkling in a ton of cameo appearances that were fun, but ultimately didn’t put him at the center of the frame.
That should change with THE LAST DUEL, a film he wrote alongside Ben Affleck. Damon will play the lead across from Adam Driver, maybe the quickest rising movie star over the last 10 years. Ridley Scott directs and Affleck features in a supporting role (Hoping he does a Boston accent in medieval times). This all adds up to a movie I’d very much like to see - Saul
Title: Last Night In SoHo
Scheduled Release Date: October 22nd
Why We’re Excited: It’s been far too long since Edgar Wright directed a horror film (2004’s SHAUN OF THE DEAD). Don’t get me wrong, he’s given us some real bangers in the time in between the two (HOT FUZZ, SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD, ANT-MAN, BABY DRIVER) but the taste he gave us with SHAUN OF THE DEAD showed a lot of promise with what Wright can do with the genre.
Wright must be on the same page as us because he’s returning this year with LAST NIGHT IN SOHO, a film about a young girl who gets the chance to enter 1960’s London to meet her fashion idol and quickly learns that everything is NOT as it seems. This movie stars Ana Taylor-Joy and we at working title are all about Anya Taylor-Joy world domination. Put this one at the top of your list. - Saul
Title: Antlers
Scheduled Release Date: October 29th
Why We’re Excited: ANTLERS tells the tale of a young boy being haunted by an evil spirit that looks an awful lot like the Windigo - a mythological creature with horns and huge traps. His teacher (Keri Russell) and her forehead vein are the only ones looking out for him, for some reason. I don’t trust a lot of horror these days, but I do trust Jesse Plemons, and he is in this, so it has to be decent. We see Guillermo del Toro in the credits, so yeah, I’ll take it. - Steph
Title: Marvel’s Eternals
Scheduled Release Date: November 5th
Why We’re Excited: Director Chloé Zhao has spent the last few years making strikingly intimate but powerful films (2017’s magnificent THE RIDER, this year’s buzzy, Oscar frontrunner NOMADLAND) so it’s very exciting to see what she does in the Marvel sandbox with Disney money.
Featuring an absolutely stacked cast (Angelina Jolie, Kumail Nanjiani, Bryan Tyree Henry, Kit Harrington, and of course, my boy Barry Keoghan, just to name a few) ETERNALS will be Marvel’s second film of Phase Four following BLACK WIDOW. I know I’ve decried them somewhat in the past, but there’s something to be said for how carefully Marvel plans these films and WandaVision has recently injected a shot of excitement in the arm. Hoping for a blend of the trademark Marvel story with Zhao’s deft touch. Early reports have indicated that Marvel is “blown away” by what they have on their hands. Let’s hope it’s true. - Saul
Title: King Richard
Scheduled Release Date: November 19th
Why We’re Excited: There has never been a movie that features the words “starring Will Smith” that I have not wanted to see. Now, some of those movies have ended up being really bad (AFTER EARTH) but Smith is one of those guys who will get me into a theater no matter what.
KING RICHARD is the tale of how tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams became the world-renowned players they are under the coaching and tutelage of their father, Richard (played by Smith). Serena Williams is one of the greatest athletes in history and a dive into her dominance and relationship with her father should make for a real winner. - Saul
Title: Nightmare Alley
Scheduled Release Date: December 3rd
Why We’re Excited: Okay, get this: a young carny (Bradley Cooper) with a strong talent for manipulating those around him (red flag) gets together with a psychiatrist (Cate Blanchett) who is somehow more dangerous (toxic) than he is. Just when I thought I couldn’t get more excited for this, they threw Toni Collette, Richard Jenkins, Ron Perlman, Willem Dafoe, and - most notably, IMO - Rooney Mara in the mix. We’re all thinking it, so I’m just gonna say it. Could this be Carol 2.0?
I guess if we’re talking fake sequels, this could also be a Star is Born 2.0, with Cooper being a kinda gaslight-y, misunderstood man with some form of ‘talent’. I wish I didn’t put that thought in my head. Let’s stick with the first option - CAROL 2: Probably With Monsters This Time. It is Guillermo del Toro, after all, I’m just being realistic. - Steph
Runners Up
Here are a few movies that we’re excited for but either don’t have a release date for 2021 or whose release dates are currently up in the air or unknown. Some of these could come out this year, but we didn’t feel we could say with confidence that they’ll be out for sure. Nevertheless, they should be good!
Title: The French Dispatch
Why We’re Excited: You’re dealing with a couple of real Wes Anderson heads and THE FRENCH DISPATCH looks to be Anderson’s most accessible and commercially viable film yet. It features all the standard Wes Anderson shots, colors, quirks, and his usual cast of characters. Whenever it arrives, we’ll both be there.
Title: Don’t Look Up
Why We’re Excited: Leonardo DiCaprio makes his Netflix debut alongside the return of Jennifer Lawrence in this Adam McKay-directed satire. Netflix is really flexing the budget with this one, putting together a cast that also includes: Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, Jonah Hill, Ariana Grande, Scott Muscudi, and Chris Evans just to name a few. There are more big names, but I don’t want to just list the cast. Expected to hit Netflix sometime this year.
Title: Don’t Worry Darling
Why We’re Excited: Olivia Wilde discovers that her husband (Harry Styles) is hiding a dark secret. Chris Pine plays a cult leader. We really don’t need much more info to be sold. Wilde is also directing, a task she proved very much up to with last year’s BOOKSMART.
Title: The Northman
Why We’re Excited: In our estimation, Robert Eggers simply does not miss. Both THE VVITCH and THE LIGHTHOUSE are must watches and Eggers is returning to tell the tale of a 10th Century Icelandic Viking on a quest for revenge, reuniting with both Willam Dafoe and Anya Taylor-Joy in the process. We’re already trying to buy tickets.