With 2020 a veritable wash for movie-going, 2021 is ready to explode with Hollywood’s beloved blockbusters hitting the big screens back to back, to back.
The weekend of Sept. 24-26, for example is set to release no fewer than four high-profile titles: Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage, the Sopranos origins pic The Many Saints of Newark, the teen musical Dear Evan Hansen, and Antoine Fuqua’s sci-fi adventure Infinite, starring Mark Wahlberg and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Venom 2 and Infinite are part of an action genre film release set that lets lovers of that genre glut themselves thoroughly lasting all through October. Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic Dune launches a week later, on Oct. 1 (also on HBOMAX), followed by the James Bond installment No Time to Die on Oct. 8. While technically a horror film, Halloween Kills also is considered part action, while the title of Ridley Scott’s historical drama, The Last Duel, starring Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer and Ben Affleck, says it all. Both of those male-skewing titles unfurl on the big screen Oct. 15.
Tentpole anchors in the fall and early winter include No Time to Die and Top Gun: Maverick premiering closer to Thanksgiving. With the next Oscar season nearly upon Hollywood, the specialty side of the business also is anxious, considering that it’s unclear whether the Cannes Film Festival, a launching pad of for the fall awards season, will take place this summer, already pushed from it’s typical May calendar spot.