Year of the movie flood
After a disastrous 2020, the cinema industry is hoping for a far more prosperous 2021. Pandemic permitting, this will be the busiest movie schedule in years with postponed blockbusters from last year competing with a raft of new movies.
And for those who have grown accustomed to staying indoors, there will be plenty of big-budget treats on booming home-streaming platforms.
Here are 10 films to look out for…
Candyman
Dolemite Is My Name, Eddie Murphy has been handed a sequel to his hit 1988 fish-out-of-water comedy about an African prince who travels to the States to find a bride.
Arsenio Hall will return as his loyal sidekick Semmi, while Murphy has endured the make-up chair again to reprise his other characters including Sexual Chocolate frontman Randy Watson.
And there are roles for Wesley Snipes, who was also excellent in Dolemite, and Tracy Morgan. oft-postponed 25th Bond film. Bohemian Rhapsody’s Rami Malek is the main villain, but Christoph Waltz’s Ernst Blofeld will also make a return.
To be fair, this had me at the first trailer with that eye-popping motorcycle leap.
A new instalment of the spooky series imagines 2016’s reboot never even happened, something I’ve been trying to do for the past four years.
This direct sequel to the 80s’ films is set in the modern day. Grandchildren of the late Ghostbuster Egon Spengler (Finn Wolfhard and Mckenna Grace) find the Ecto-1 car under a tarpaulin. Paul Rudd plays a science teacher while Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray and Sigourney Weaver reprise their original roles.
August 27
This is the one that horror fans have been screaming about.
Co-writer and producer Jordan Peele has brought Tony Todd’s hook-handed ghoul back to life for a sequel to the 1992 original.
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (who starred in Peele’s Us) plays a Chicago artist who foolishly decides to investigate a spooky local legend.
October 1
Arrival director Denis Villeneuve has learned from his predecessor’s mistakes with this new adaptation starring Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson and Oscar Isaac. Cleverly, the script covers the first half of the 1965 novel which follows Paul Atreides (Chalamet) whose family is in command of the “spice”producing planet of Arrakis.
November 5
Marvel’s superheroes return this year with six movies. Scarlett Johansson goes solo with Black Widow. Tom Hardy stars in Venom 2 while Tom Holland takes Spider-Man out for a spin. Jared Leto gets his teeth into the vampiric Morbius and Michelle Yeoh makes her debut in Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings.
But 2021 will be all about Eternals with Angelina Jolie, Kit Harington, Salma Hayek and others starring in a new superpowered team.