With the coronavirus still making its way through the country, and new measures being taken to stop the spread as vaccines become more readily available, it’s a fair question to wonder if big releases are still coming to movie theaters. While Warner Bros has announced that their films will premiere day and date both in theaters and on the HBO Max streaming app – like the recent WONDER WOMAN 1984 – other studios have yet to announce a plan for their upcoming releases.
And after pushing back a huge slate of films from 2020 because theaters were forced to close down, there’s a lot of good stuff on the horizon.
There’s a handful of films I’m really looking forward to for the first half of 2021, but who knows if they’re all going to meet the current release schedule. Let’s take a look at 10 things I’m really looking forward to:
March
Coming 2 America
This is one movie I know we’ll be able to see, and it fills me with joy. The original Coming To America is one of my favorite 1980s comedies With much of the cast – including Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall and John Amos) coming back to reprise their performances, I’m hoping for another film that I can sit and watch and laugh at.
In the sequel, Prince Akeem will return to Queens from Zamunda to find a son he never knew he had, so he can elevate him to crown prince. Hilarity will no doubt ensue.
Coming 2 America will debut on Amazon Prime on March 5
The King’s Man
A prequel to the popular Kingsman movies, starring Ralph Fiennes and Harris Dickinson. A collection of history’s worst criminal masterminds plot to wipe out millions of people with war.
The King’s Man is currently scheduled for a March 12, 2021 release.
The Many Saints of Newark
Another prequel and another movie set to debut on a streaming service, so we know we’ll get to see it.
Michael Gandolfini plays Tony Soprano, the role his father, James, made famous in a film set in the 1960s and 1970s Newark, N.J. where tensions between Italian- and Black-Americans was on the rise. The movie will also include Leslie Odom Jr., Ray Liotta, Jon Bernthal and Vera Farmiga.
The Many Saints of Newark will hit theaters and HBO Max on March 12, 2021.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
Nic Cage stars as himself in this film, where a Mexican billionaire, drug lord and Cage super fan (played by Pedro Pascal) forces the master thespian to act out his most famous roles in order to save his family. Other members of the cast include Tiffany Haddish and Neil Patrick Harris and I am very much looking forward to this potential train wreck.
As of now, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is scheduled for a March 19, 2021 release.
April
Mortal Kombat
FINISH HIM!
The ever-popular fighting game is coming back to the big screen! And the small screen! The new R-rated iteration promises to bring the games series’ famous fatalities to life as the Earth heroes must fight Outworld to save the realm.
Mortal Kombat will debut on HBO Max and in theaters on April 16, 2021.
May
Black Widow
Originally scheduled for May 2020, the Scarlett Johansson feature will (hopefully) finally see release to kick off the fourth phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Set after CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR, the film will see Black Widow dealing with a conspiracy that connects to her life before she was an Avenger.
Black Widow is scheduled for a May 7, 2021 release.
Godzilla vs. Kong
How can you go wrong with a movie where a giant lizard and a giant ape fight, as the human world goes deep into a conspiracy that would wipe the Titans from the world. Oh… that’s probably how you go wrong. Regardless, I’m hoping we get some massive fight scenes there. And getting to watch it with your HBO Max subscription should make the whole thing worth it.
Godzilla vs. Kong will debut in theaters and on HBO Max on May 21, 2021.
June
Samaritan
An all-new, all-different take on superhero films, this thriller from director Julius Avery features a young boy discover that a superhero who has been missing for more than 20 years after an epic battle is actually still around. And it stars Sylvester Stallone? I don’t know much about this film, but I’m definitely intrigued.
Samaritan is scheduled for a June 4, 2021 theatrical release.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife
Are we finally going to get another GHOSTBUSTERS movie?
Originally scheduled for a summer 2020 release, the new film directed by Jason Reitman (son of Ivan Reirman), is scheduled to hit theaters this summer. The surviving members of the original GHOSTBUSTERS cast will reprise their roles (yes, even Bill Murray!) as a new generation of ‘Busters take over.
If you can’t be excited by a new Ghostbusters movie, 2020 must have really hit you hard, man.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife is scheduled for a June 11, 2021 theatrical release.
In The Heights
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical gets the theatrical treatment from director Jon M. Chu. Set in the Washington Heights section of New York City, In the Heights has been in the works as a film for more than a decade. And when it finally looked like it would get its shot at the big screen last summer, it was pushed back because of COVID-19 (much like many of the films on this list).
In the Heights is set to debut in theaters and on HBO Max on June 18, 2021.
What movies are you looking forward to in the first half of 2021? Let us know in the comments!