Today, Netflix dropped a trailer highlighting its stunning slate of 2021 films, which includes new projects from directors like Adam McKay, Zack Snyder, Amy Poehler, and Alexandre Aja, the final installments of the swoon-worthy Kissing Booth and To All The Boys franchises, and appearances from A-listers like Gal Gadot, The Rock, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Hemsworth, and…well, you get it.
Netflix has roughly 70 films lined up for 2021, and below we’ve rounded up the essential details on every one featured in today’s preview. That’s not every movie the streamer is releasing this year—they’ve also got flicks from Jane Campion (The Piano), Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford), and and Patrick Brice (Creep) queued up—but these are some of the most anticipated.
Red Notice (TBD)
Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot, Ryan Reynolds
Synopsis: An Interpol-issued Red Notice is a global alert to hunt and capture the world’s most wanted. But when a daring heist brings together the FBI’s top profiler (Johnson) and two rival criminals (Gadot, Reynolds), there’s no telling what will happen.
The Harder They Fall (TBD)
Director: Jeymes Samuel
Cast: Jonathan Majors, Idris Elba, Zazie Beetz, Lakeith Stanfield, Delroy Lindo and Regina King
Synopsis: In this Western, outlaw Nat Love (Jonathan Majors) discovers that his enemy, Rufus Buck (Idris Elba), is being released from prison, so he reunites his gang to track Rufus down and seek revenge.
Thunder Force (TBD)
Director: Ben Falcone
Cast: Melissa McCarthy, Octavia Spencer, Bobby Cannavale, Pom Klementieff, Kevin Dunn, Melissa Leo, Jason Bateman
Synopsis: In a world where supervillains are commonplace, two estranged childhood best friends reunite after one devises a treatment that gives them powers to protect their city.
Bruised (TBD)
Director: Halle Berry
Cast: Halle Berry, Adan Canto, Sheila Atim, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Shamier Anderson
Synopsis: Halle Berry’s directorial debut follows a former MMA fighter struggling to regain custody of her son and restart her athletic career.
tick,tick…BOOM! (TBD)
Director: Lin-Manuel Miranda
Cast: Andrew Garfield, Alexandra Shipp, Robin de Jesus, Vanessa Hudgens, Joshua Henry, Bradley Whitford, Judith Light
Synopsis: Set in 1990, tick, tick…BOOM! tells the story of Jon, an aspiring theater composer who is waiting tables in New York City while writing S uperbia – which he hopes will be the next great American musical and finally give him his big break. Jon is also feeling pressure from his girlfriend Susan, who is tired of continuing to put her life on hold for Jon’s career aspirations. Meanwhile, his best friend and roommate Michael, has given up on his creative aspirations for a high paying advertising job on Madison Avenue and is about to move out. As Jon approaches his 30th birthday, he is overcome with anxiety—wondering if his dream is worth the cost.
The Kissing Booth 3 (TBD)
Director: Vince Marcello
Cast: Joey King, Joel Courtney, Jacob Elordi, Taylor Zakhar Perez, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Meganne Young, Molly Ringwald
Synopsis: It’s the summer before Elle heads to college, and she has a secret: She got into both Harvard, where her dreamy boyfriend Noah goes, and Berkeley, where her BFF Lee is going. Which path will Elle choose?
To All The Boys: Always And Forever (TBD)
Director: Michael Fimognari
Cast: Lana Condor, Noah Centineo, Janel Parrish, Anna Cathcart, Ross Butler, Madeleine Arthur, Sarayu Blue, John Corbett
Synopsis: As Lara Jean Covey prepares for the end of high school and the start of adulthood, a pair of life-changing trips leads her to reimagine what life with her family, friends, and Peter will look like after graduation.
The Woman In The Window (TBD)
Director: Joe Wright
Cast: Amy Adams, Gary Oldman, Anthony Mackie, Fred Hechinger, Wyatt Russell, Brian Tyree Henry, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Julianne Moore
Synopsis: An agoraphobic woman living alone in New York begins spying on her new neighbors, only to witness a disturbing act of violence.
Escape From Spiderhead (TBD)
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Miles Teller, Jurnee Smollett, Mark Paguio, Tess Haubrich
Synopsis: In the near future, two young convicts grapple with their pasts in a facility run by a brilliant visionary, who experiments on inmates with emotion-altering drugs.
YES Day (March 12)
Director: Miguel Arteta
Cast: Jennifer Garner, Edgar Ramirez, Jenna Ortega, Julian Lerner, Everly Carganilla, Nat Faxon, Molly Sims, Fortune Feimster, Arturo Castro
Synopsis: Always feeling like they have to say NO to their kids and co-workers, Allison and Carlos decide to give their three kids a YES DAY — where for 24 hours the kids make the rules. Little did they know that they’d be going on a whirlwind adventure around Los Angeles, that would bring the family closer to each other than ever before.
Sweet Girl (TBD)
Director: Brian Andrew Mendoza
Cast: Jason Momoa, Isabela Merced, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Adria Arjona, Raza Jaffrey, Justin Bartha, Lex Scott Davis, Michael Raymond-James, Dominic Fumusa, Nelson Franklin, Reggie Lee, Brian Howe
Synopsis: A devastated husband vows to bring justice to the people responsible for his wife’s death while protecting the only family he has left, his daughter.
Army Of The Dead (TBD)
Director: Zack Snyder
Cast: Jason Momoa, Isabela Merced, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Adria Arjona, Raza Jaffrey, Justin Bartha, Lex Scott Davis, Michael Raymond-James, Dominic FumusDave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick, Ana De La Reguera, Theo Rossi, Matthias Schweighöfer, Nora Arnezeder, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Garret Dillahunt, Tig Notaro, Raúl Castillo, Huma Qureshi, Samantha Win, Richard Cetrone, Michael Cassidy
Synopsis: Following a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas, a group of mercenaries take the ultimate gamble, venturing into the quarantine zone to pull off the greatest heist ever attempted.
Outside The Wire (January 15)
Director: Mikael Håfström
Cast: Anthony Mackie, Damson Idris, Emily Beecham, Michael Kelly, Pilou Asbæk
Synopsis: Set in the future, Harp (Damson Idris), a drone pilot, is sent into a deadly militarized zone where he finds himself working for Leo (Anthony Mackie), an android officer, tasked to locate a doomsday device before the insurgents do.
Bad Trip (TBD)
Director: Kitao Sakurai
Cast: Eric André, Lil Rel Howery, Tiffany Haddish and Michaela Conlin
Synopsis: From the producer of Jackass and Bad Grandpa, this hidden camera comedy follows two best friends as they go on a cross-country road trip full of hilarious, inventive pranks, pulling its real-life audience into the mayhem.
O2 (TBD)
Director: Alexandre Aja
Cast: Mélanie Laurent, Mathieu Amalric, Malik Zidi
Synopsis: A young woman wakes up in a medical cryo unit. She doesn’t remember who she is or how she ended up sequestered in a box no larger than a coffin. As she’s running out of oxygen, she must rebuild her memory to find a way out of her nightmare.
The Last Mercenary (TBD)
Director: David Charhon
Cast: Jean-Claude van Damme, Alban Ivanov, Assa Sylla, Samir Decazza, Patrick Timsit, Eric Judor, Miou-Miou
Synopsis: A mysterious former secret service agent must urgently return to France when his estranged son is falsely accused of arms and drug trafficking by the government, following a blunder by an overzealous bureaucrat and a mafia operation.
Kate (TBD)
Director: Cedric Nicolas-Troyan
Cast: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Woody Harrelson
Synopsis: After she’s irreversibly poisoned, a ruthless criminal operative has less than 24 hours to exact revenge on her enemies and in the process forms an unexpected bond with the daughter of one of her past victims.
Fear Street 1994 (TBD)
Fear Street 1978 (TBD)
Fear Street 1666 (TBD)
Director: Leigh Janiak
Cast: Kiana Madeira, Olivia Welch, Sadie Sink, Benjamin Flores Jr., Julia Rehwald, Ashley Zuckerman, Maya Hawke, Gillian Jacobs
Synopsis: In 1994, a group of teenagers discovers that the terrifying events that have haunted their town for generations may all be connected—and that they may be the next targets. Adapted from R.L. Stine ’s best selling horror series, the trilogy follows the nightmare through Shadyside’s sinister history.
Night Teeth (TBD)
Director: Adam Randall
Cast: Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Debby Ryan, Lucy Fry, Raúl Castillo, Alfie Allen
Synopsis: A young chauffeur picks up two mysterious women for a night of party-hopping across LA. But when his passengers reveal their true nature — and a dangerous underworld lurking in the shadows—he must fight to stay alive.
Malcolm And Marie (February 15)
Director: Sam Levinson
Cast: Zendaya, John David Washington
Synopsis: Sam Levinson teams up with Zendaya and John David Washington for an achingly romantic drama in which a filmmaker (Washington) and his girlfriend (Zendaya) return home following a celebratory movie premiere as he awaits what’s sure to be imminent critical and financial success. The evening suddenly takes a turn as revelations about their relationships begin to surface, testing the strength of their love. Working with cinematographer Marcell Rev, Levinson creates a film of rare originality; an ode to the great Hollywood romances as well as a heartfelt expression of faith in the medium’s future.
Monster (TBD)
Director: Anthony Mandler
Cast: Kelvin Harrison Jr., Jennifer Hudson, Jeffrey Wright, Jharrel Jerome, Jennifer Ehle, Rakim Mayers, Nasir ‘Nas’ Jones, Tim Blake Nelson, John David Washington
Synopsis: Monster tells the story of Steve Harmon (Kelvin Harrison, Jr.) a seventeen-year-old honor student whose world comes crashing down around him when he is charged with felony murder. The film follows his dramatic journey from a smart, likeable film student from Harlem attending an elite high school through a complex legal battle that could leave him spending the rest of his life in prison.
Moxie (March 3)
Director: Amy Poehler
Cast: Hadley Robinson, Lauren Tsai, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Nico Hiraga, Sydney Park, Josephine Langford, Clark Gregg, Josie Totah, Alycia Pascual-Peña, Anjelika Washington, Charlie Hall, Sabrina Haskett, Ike Barinholtz, Amy Poehler, Marcia Gay Harden
Synopsis: Fed up with the sexist and toxic status quo at her high school, a shy 16-year-old finds inspiration from her mother’s rebellious past and anonymously publishes a zine that sparks a school-wide, coming-of-rage revolution.
Beauty (TBD)
Director: Andrew Dosunmu
Cast: Niecy Nash, Aleyse Shannon, Giancarlo Esposito, Gracie Marie Bradley, Kyle Bary, Michael Ward and Sharon Stone
Synopsis: A gifted young Black woman struggles to maintain her voice and identity after she’s offered a lucrative recording contract, setting off a fierce battle between her family, the label, and her closest friend to determine who will guide her as she makes the journey to become a star.
The White Tiger (January 22)
Director: Ramin Bahrani
Cast: Adarsh Gourav, Rajkummar Rao, Priyanka Chopra Jonas
Synopsis: Balram Halwai (Adarsh Gourav) narrates his epic and darkly humorous rise from poor villager to successful entrepreneur in modern India. Cunning and ambitious, our young hero jockeys his way into becoming a driver for Ashok (Rajkummar Rao) and Pinky (Priyanka Chopra-Jonas), who have just returned from America. Society has trained Balram to be one thing—a servant — so he makes himself indispensable to his rich masters. But after a night of betrayal, he realizes the corrupt lengths they will go to trap him and save themselves. On the verge of losing everything, Balram rebels against a rigged and unequal system to rise up and become a new kind of master. Based on the New York Times bestseller and 2008 Man Booker Prize-winning novel.
Double Dad (TBD)
Director: Cris D’Amato
Cast: Maisa, Eduardo Moscovis, Marcelo Médici, Pedro Ottoni, Thaynara OG, Laila Zaid, Fafá de Belém
Synopsis: Vicenza is a mature 18 year old who has lived in a hippie commune for her entire life in complete harmony, except for one thing: she doesn’t know who her father is. When her mother leaves for a trip to India, she takes it as her opportunity to sneak out into the real world in hopes to track down her father—but ends up finding two.
Back To The Outback (TBD)
Directors: Clare Knight, Harry Cripps
Cast: Isla Fisher, Tim Minchin, Eric Bana, Guy Pearce, Miranda Tapsell, Angus Imrie, Rachel House, Keith Urban, Celeste Barber, Wayne Knight, Aislinn Derbez , Diesel Cash La Torraca, Lachlan Ross Power, Jacki Weaver
Synopsis: Tired of being locked in a reptile house where humans gawk at them like they’re monsters, a ragtag group of Australia’s deadliest creatures plot a daring escape from their zoo to the Outback, a place where they’ll fit in without being judged for their scales and fangs. Leading the group is Maddie (Isla Fisher), a poisonous snake with a heart of gold, who bands together with a self-assured Thorny Devil lizard Zoe (Miranda Tapsell), a lovelorn hairy spider Frank (Guy Pearce), and a sensitive scorpion Nigel (Angus Imrie). But when their nemesis—Pretty Boy (Tim Minchin), a cute but obnoxious koala—unexpectedly joins their escape, Maddie and the gang have no choice but to take him with them. So begins a hair-raising and hilarious road trip across Australia, as they are pursued by a zookeeper Chaz (Eric Bana) and his adventure-seeking mini-me (Diesel Cash La Torraca).
Don’t Look Up (TBD)
Directors: Adam McKay
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Rob Morgan, Jonah Hill, Tyler Perry, Timothee Chalamet, Ron Perlman with Cate Blanchett and Meryl Streep
Synopsis: Don’t Look Up tells the story of two low-level astronomers, who must go on a giant media tour to warn mankind of an approaching comet that will destroy planet earth.
46 Comments
At least half of these sound like not-especially-funny premises for SNL trailer parodies and most of the others have been done to death already (husband out for vengeance? can’t say “no” because of a stupid bet? futuristic space prison?).
Hey at least they’re not all sequels.
Please, those are slated for 2022.
Appropriate, since if you say it out loud, “2022″ sounds like “2020 2″. Let’s just hope 2022 isn’t a sequel to 2020.
Wait until next year
On the other hand, each is ninety minutes of peace and quiet from my goddamned family.
i can’t tell what genre most of these movies are based on the synopsis
As if Jonathon Majors & Idris Elba aren’t two amazing reasons to see a movie, their character’s names are “Nat Love” and “Rufus Buck”? This artificial reality we live in is glitching.
In 1907, Love published his autobiography entitled Life and Adventures of Nat Love, Better Known in the Cattle Country as ‘Deadwood Dick,’ by Himself .
Amazon has this on Kindle it’s free or maybe $0.99.
So truth is stranger than fiction!
I don’t know I haven’t seen the fiction yet.
Also, the movie is directed by Jeymes Samuel, who I’ve only ever known back in the day as “Seal’s less-famous younger brother”. Not anymore!(Hey, why didn’t he cast Seal? So he and Idris Elba can duke it out in the Wild West, with no explanation given for their English accents – that would be a trip!)
These all look terrible.
Jesus, another “To all the Boys” movie? Is Lana trying to cement her character’s image as a floozie?
Kate = DOAThe Woman in the Window = Rear Window
It’s a strange slate of movies where the Zack Snyder one actually looks like one of the most interesting/enjoyable.
[Interior, Netflix. Executive pitch meeting in progress]
“Dude, what if heist but zombies?”“Dude. And what if we got Michael Bay to direct it?”“Dude, he’s busy. How about that Superman dude?”“Dude!”
I think filmmakers pitch to Netflix more than the other way round, except when Netflix bought the rights to an IP and then they find someone to write and film it.
I mean…what’s the point, though? I’m pretty sure zombies only accept ApplePay.
That was my immediate reaction as well. Only Zack Snyder would be dumb enough to make a heist movie in a world where cash is meaningless and only Netflix would be dumb enough to fund him.
Is cash worth anything in a post-zombie apocalypse world, though?Also isn’t that promo image something of a spoiler?
The George Romero himself answered that question with Land of The Dead. Army of The Dead is not set in a post-apocalyptic future though, but rather a dystopian one where entire cities can get quarantined.
Has there ever been a heist movie where they don’t eventually get to the money?
Not gonna lie; Bad Trip looks exactly like the kind of stupid fun I need right now.
It’s the return of Jackass-style comedy which might be a welcome thing again after so many badly-acted and fake Youtube pranksters ruined the genre. Also it can tide us over until the actual new Jackass movie, unfortunately delayed a bit because Johnny Knoxville got himself hurt. I hope he’s okay now.
the ONE i was excited about and have been wondering when netflix was gonna drop it. obviously deeply sad because it would have been amazing in a theatre, but whatever.
ive seen the beginning. jackass with a throughline plot. what i saw was really and definitely needed “in these uncertain times.” i just hope the rest of the flick keeps the pace.
Do you think Homer being raped by a Panda was the highpoint of the Simpsons? Then you will love this movie.
Cute but deadly snake cartoon. I’m pretty certain my six year old grandson will love this.
After that New Yorker profile of its author, I’m somewhat happy to see the adaptation of The Woman in the Window getting relegated to Netflix, though Crackle would have been even better.
love how 2/3rds are set in the near future.
In the year PC (post-covid) …
I know that there are only so many stories to tell, but all of these synopsis read like movies I’ve seen a hundred times. Other than the zombie heist one, but then what good is cash in a zombie apocalypse
So movies with quality that forced them to Netflix, got it.
A lot of these were probably scripts bought by Netflix’s deep spending money pocket.
Do I need to see Kissing Booths 1 and 2 to get the full Kissing Booth experience?
And were Kissing Booths really a thing, or is these urban legends like snuff films?
Every single one of these, even the ones that don’t sound half bad, has a stupid name that sounds like a parody.
Just a single aside: Diesel Cash La Torraca is a pretty badass name for a kid who looks like this:
I don’t think Jason Mamoa is in Army of the Dead. Dave Bautista is though.
Yeah, they have the exact same cast with Jason Momoa in two films in completely different genres. Either an error in the write up, or a studio is trying something new. (Could you imagine if the exact same cast of an Avengers movie were all given roles in a period drama released in the same year?)
I appreciate the comprehensiveness of this list, but I would appreciate some original writing or guidance, and when did AV Club start c/p synopses without any critical judgement or editing:“Working with cinematographer Marcell Rev, Levinson creates a film of rare originality; an ode to the great Hollywood romances as well as a heartfelt expression of faith in the medium’s future.”
I thought this article was suspiciously light on typos!
Another Pee-Wee Herman movie is crucial.
Why do Netflix original shows look cinematic but most of their movies have that digital cheap look.
Following a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas, a group of mercenaries take
the ultimate gamble, venturing into the quarantine zone to pull off the
greatest heist ever attempted.
…is the whole point of the movie that most of them die trying to steal all this cash only to realize society has collapsed and it’s completely worthless?A team of mercenaries this well organized wouldn’t need money in the zombie apocalypse, they could just take over Vegas and be done with it.
Looking forward to the Fear Street movies. Read all of them as a child in the 90s/2000s, and loved most of them. Even though Stine and his ghost writers had an obsession with blue eye blond hair girls. 😬It sounds like they’re going to include arguably the best Fear Street saga: https://www.thriftbooks.com/series/the-fear-street-saga-trilogy/40277/