The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2021 - Page 2 of 10

90. “Bigbug
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet (“Amelie,” “Alien Resurrection”)
Cast: Elsa Zylberstein, Alban Lenoir, Isabelle Nanty, André Dussollier
Synopsis: A group of bickering suburbanites finds themselves stuck together when an android uprising causes their well-intentioned household robots to lock them in for their own safety.
What You Need To Know: The eccentric and quirky Jeunet hasn’t had a hit in a while, but he gave us “Amelie,” “Delicatessen,” and many idiosyncratic French classics, so he’s earned the right to miss. His latest is described simply as “a story about artificial intelligence, a comedy with robots.” He’d wanted to make it for years, but couldn’t find funding until Netflix came along. Guillaume Laurant (the writer of “Amelie” and the Oscar-nominated “I Lost My Body” for Netflix) co-writes.
Release Date: TBD, but filming is already underway, so maybe by the end of the year, if there’s not too much VFX work, via Netflix. – RP

89. “King Richard” 
Director: Reinaldo Marcus Green (“Monsters and Men”)
Cast: Will Smith, Demi Singleton, Saniyya Sidney, Aunjanue Ellis, Dylan McDermott, Jon Bernthal
Synopsis: A look at how tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams became who they are after coaching their father, Richard Williams.
What You Need to Know: If we’re honest, Will Smith hasn’t made the best career decisions as of late. “King Richard” will be Smith’s first legitimate drama since 2015’s “Concussion,” so perhaps he’ll tap into his one-of-a-kind movie-star charisma to deliver the goods. Green wowed audiences with his 2018 police brutality drama “Monsters and Men,” so it’s good to see him back behind the lens. The only thing we hope for with this project, though, is to learn a good deal about Venus and Serena. They very much deserve a handful of movies just for their accomplishments. Let’s hope “Richard” offers audiences a fine place to start.
Release Date: November 19, 2021, via HBO Max and Warner Bros. –LW

88. “The Mad Woman’s Ball”
Director: Mélanie Laurent, (“Galveston,” “Breathe”)
Cast: Mélanie Laurent, Lou de Laâge, Benjamin Voisin
Synopsis: A woman who was unfairly institutionalized at the Salpêtrière hospital and manages to escape.
What You Need To Know: Mélanie Laurent may be known for roles like “Inglourious Basterds” and “Beginners,” but she is also an accomplished filmmaker in her own right. And truthfully, we were all set to include “The Nightingale,” a WWII movie about sisters torn apart in France starring Dakota Fanning, Elle Fanning, but it’s still in pre-production. The prodigious Laurent has another film in the works that is already currently filming, “The Mad Woman’s Ball” which sounds like a portrait of mental illness with an escape plan twist.
Release Date: TBD, but it’s filming now, so it could possibly hit the festival circuit by the end of the year. – RP

87. “Gucci”
Director: Ridley Scott (“Alien,” “Prometheus”)
Cast: Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Lady Gaga, Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, Jack Huston 
Synopsis: The story of how Patrizia Reggiani, the ex-wife of Maurizio Gucci, plotted to kill her husband, the grandson of renowned fashion designer Guccio Gucci.
What You Need To Know: Fresh off “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story,” apparently there’s now a greater appetite for couture dynasty crime stories. And yes, the prodigiously-fast Ridley Scott currently has two movies slated for next year (“The Last Duel,” one month earlier). Lady Gaga is the lead, trying to kill her husband played by Adam Driver. Robert De Niro’s been rumored too, but it’s unclear if that’ll pan out.
Release Date: November 24, 2021, via MGM. – RP

86.  “The Last Duel”
Director: Ridley Scott (“The Martian,” “All the Money in the World”)
Cast: Adam Driver, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jodie Comer
Synopsis: King Charles VI declares that Knight Jean de Carrouges settle his dispute with his squire by challenging him to a duel.
What You Need To Know: We’re always going to show up for Ridley Scott, even for a project with as troubled a production history as this one. A script/unofficial “Good Will Hunting” reunion courtesy of Damon, Affleck, and Nicole Holofcener (!!!) gives us plenty of reason to hope, and ditto for the fact that even Scott’s misses benefit from his mastery of grandeur and scale. Obviously, given the use of rape as a plot device, there is reason to worry; exploring “the brutal and oppressive culture of the era” for women to survive, while “Last Duel” likely wants to comment on #MeToo and our current cultural reckoning, it has all the makings of a trainwreck if it’s one-degree off course. It’s honestly semi-fascinating that this team would even attempt it.
Release Date:  October 15, 2021, via 20th Century Studios. – RP

85. “They Cloned Tyrone”
Director: Juel Taylor (“Creed 2”)
Cast: Jamie Foxx, John Boyega, Teyonah Parris
Synopsis: A series of eerie events thrusts an unlikely trio onto the trail of a nefarious government conspiracy in this pulpy mystery caper.
What You Need To Know: “Creed 2” could have been a completely unnecessary sequel. Instead, “Creed 2” screenwriter, Juel Taylor, gave it so much heart and grit, it became equal to its predecessor. And people noticed. Now, Taylor, known for directing TV (series like “Twenties,” “Boomerang“) has co-written, with Tony Rettenmaier, something for himself to direct described as a pulpy caper for Netflix.  The cast of  Jamie Foxx, John Boyega, and Teyonah Parris is outstanding too. Shooting now, maybe we can have this one before the end of the year.
Release Date: TBD, via Netflix. – RP

84. “In the Heights
Director: Jon M. Chu (“Crazy Rich Asians,” “Step Up 2: The Streets”)
Cast: Anthony Ramos, Leslie Grace, Jimmy Smits, Stephanie Beatriz, Dascha Polanco
Synopsis: A feature version of the Broadway musical, wherein a bodega owner has mixed feelings about closing his store and retiring to the Dominican Republic after inheriting his grandmother’s fortune.
What You Need To Know: “Hamilton” is a perfectly fine musical, but speak to any uptight drama nerd, and they’ll tell you: Lin-Manuel Miranda already won the Best Musical Tony before he ever became a household name, for “In the Heights.” Featuring what we now know as Miranda’s signatures – expositional rapping, a diverse cast, lyrical complexity – “In the Heights” is an ensemble musical about modern life in the predominantly Hispanic New York neighborhood Washington Heights. It’s difficult to recreate the magic of the stage on-screen, but it’s difficult not to have 181st-street-high hopes for this one. Given the vibrant stage production, “Crazy Rich Asians” director Jon M. Chu should have a ball here.
Release Date: June 18, 2021, via Warner Brothers –LW

83.  “The Many Saints of Newark
Director: Alan Taylor (“The Sopranos,” “Mad Men,” “Game of Thrones”)
Cast: Michael Gandolfini, John Magaro, Alessandro Nivola, Jon Bernthal, and Vera Farmiga
Synopsis: A look at the formative years of New Jersey gangster, Tony Soprano.
What You Need To Know: There aren’t many of us out there who would argue that “The Sopranos” needed a continuation. That being said, we’re confident that David Chase wouldn’t have returned to this mythology if he wasn’t confident that he absolutely had something of value to say. Which brings us to “The Many Saints of Newark,” a feature-length prequel that will explore how and why Tony Soprano became the feared New Jersey capo we all know and love. Seeing James Gandolfini’s son Michael playing the role that made his father famous will be something to see, and knowing that Alessandro Nivola has been confirmed as Dickie Moltisanti further whets our collective appetites.   
Release Date: March 12, 2021, via Warner Brothers and HBO Films. – NL

82. Top Gun: Maverick”
Director: Joseph Kosinski (“Tron: Legacy”)
Cast: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jon Hamm, Jennifer Connelly, Val Kilmer, Ed Harris
Synopsis: After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete Mitchell is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him.
What You Need To Know: It’s been thirty-plus years since Tony Scott’sTop Gun” roared into cinemas at the peak of Tom Cruise’s stardom, and we’re all wary of sequels to films where enough time has elapsed between the new entry and the original that its core fanbase stops giving a shit. Alas, it’s hard not to get excited watching the trailer for “Top Gun: Maverick.” It’s also quite generous of the erstwhile Maverick to cede the spotlight to his younger co-stars (Lewis Pullman, Jake Pickling, Jack Schumacher) for this old-school Hollywood thrill ride.
Release Date: July 2, 2021, via Paramount Pictures. – NL

81.Spiral”
Director: Darren Lynn Bousman (“Saw II, “III,” and “IV”)
Cast: Chris Rock, Samuel L. Jackson, Max Minghella, Marisol Nichols
Synopsis: A sadistic mastermind unleashes a twisted form of justice in Spiral, the terrifying new chapter from the book of Saw.
What You Need To Know: Anyone who follows Chris Rock on Instagram knows he’s a bit of a cinephile. As it turns out, Rock is a fan of the James Wan-directed “Saw,” and has explicitly shown interest in taking the franchise in a new, presumably warped direction. He must be a fan of the sequels, too, since he’s hired the director of three separate “Saw” installments to return for this new chapter. Plot details are minimal at present, but director Darren Lynn Bousman has teased that the film will contain one scene so gruesome that, while editing it, he claimed it made him want to take a shower. We suppose that means it’s good? Either way, it feels like Rock saw what Jordan Peele did with “Get Out,” and “Us” and hopes to replicate the success. 
Release Date: May 21, 2021, via Lionsgate. – NL