JOHN DAVID WASHINGTON as MALCOLM, ZENDAYA as MARIE.
DOMINIC MILLER/NETFLIX © 2021

Entertainment

All 70 Films Heading To Netflix This Year

Here's what to expect from the streaming service's 70-strong 2021 slate.

by Michael Cuby

Over the last ten or so months of pandemic-induced quarantine, streaming has swiftly become king. As we sit at home, bored, with nothing to do but veg out in front of our televisions (or laptops), we, as a people, have been consuming more content than ever before. Certain shows (your Tiger Kings, your Love Is Blinds, your The Queen's Gambits) have quickly ascended to the top of the heap, but films have also had their time in the limelight, too, especially with big tentpole fare like Pixar's Soul and Warner Bros.' Wonder Woman 1984 forgoing splashy theatrical releases in favor of slightly-less splashy premieres on streaming services like Disney Plus and HBO Max. (For what it's worth, WW84 still had the biggest box office debut of 2020.)

With the COVID-19 virus still running rampant across the world, this trend doesn't appear to be slowing down anytime soon. So it should come as no surprise that Netflix has every intention to capitalize on this moment and keep up the streaming momentum. In fact, in 2021, the reigning top streaming service is beefing up its film slate to release 70 new titles over the next 12 months — with at least one new movie hitting your queue every week for the rest of the year. Today, Netflix shared the full list.

The titles run the gamut from studio-ready awards bait to family-friendly animated films to niche genre programming. The most noteworthy of the bunch is probably Don't Look Up, Adam McKay's upcoming comedy about a pair of low-level astronomers who embark on a media tour to warn mankind about a potentially Earth-destroying comet. Starring Oscar winners Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence as the astronomers, the film also boasts a star-studded cast that includes Timothée Chalamet, Ariana Grande, Cate Blanchett, Jonah Hill, Himesh Patel, Kid Cudi, Matthew Perry, Tomer Sisley, and Rob Morgan.

But that isn't the only movie that will drive subscribers to the service. There's also The Woman In the Window, which stars Amy Adams as an agoraphobe who accidentally sees a "disturbing act of violence" while spying on her new neighbors. Ditto for Halle Barry's directorial debut, Bruised, about an MMA fighter struggling to regain custody of her son while attempting to reboot her fighting career, and Army of the Dead, the zombie movie Zack Snyder apparently needed too much money to make with a traditional studio.

But before we get to any of those, the streaming service has to release its awards-ready fare for the upcoming 2021 awards season. This includes the just-released Pieces of a Woman, starring The Crown's Vanessa Kirby and the now-blacklisted Shia LaBeouf as a couple dealing with the tragic loss of their newborn baby in drastically different ways, and black-and-white relationship drama Malcolm & Marie, which reunites Euphoria creator Sam Levinson with the show's Emmy-winning star Zendaya. Golden Globe nominee John David Washington also stars in this pared-back story about a couple arguing through their problems following a splashy debut for Washington's director character. (It hits the service on February 5th.)

Fans of popular franchises like Lana Condor's To All The Boys I've Loved Before and Joey King's The Kissing Booth can get bittersweetly excited for their respective third (and final) installments — they couldn't last forever, people! — while Amy Poehler's Moxie, about a shy 16-year-old who sparks a school-wide revolution when she anonymously publishes a feminist zine, will surely incite widespread conversation.

Meanwhile, all the musical theaters nerds out there can look forward to Lin-Manuel Miranda's tick, tick...BOOM! Starring Andrew Garfield, Judith Light, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexandra Shipp, and Robin de Jesus, the musical follows an aspiring theater composer who is forced to reconsider his long-held dreams of writing the next great American musical as he quickly approaches his 30th birthday.

In a special clip teasing their packed-to-the-walls 2021 slate, Netflix offers some exclusive sneak peeks at their upcoming offerings, including Regina King and Jonathan Majors talking about their outlaw western The Harder They Fall, Octavia Spencer and Melissa McCarthy talking about the unconventional superhero flick Thunder Force, Chris Hemsworth talking about the near-future thriller Escape From Spiderhead, Jennifer Garner talking about her family-friendly Yes Day, and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson referring to himself as "Uncle Handsome" for some as-yet-to-be-determined reason. (The former wrestler, who, yes, is very handsome, stars alongside Gal Gadot and Ryan Reynolds in the FBI action flick Red Notice.)

Watch Netflix's 2021 Film Preview below and read on for their full slate (sorted by genre). Happy streaming!

ACTION

Army of the Dead

Awake

Kate

Outside the Wire (January 15)

Red Notice

Sweet Girl

HORROR

Fear Street Trilogy

No One Gets Out Alive

There's Someone Inside Your House

Things Heard and Seen

THRILLER

Blood Red Sky

Beckett

Escape from Spiderhead

Intrusion

Munich

O2

Night Teeth

The Swarm

The Woman in the Window

SCI-FI

Stowaway

ROMANCE

A Castle For Christmas

Fuimos Canciones

Kissing Booth 3

Love Hard

The Last Letter from Your Lover

The Princess Switch 3

To All The Boys: Always and Forever

Untitled Alicia Keys Rom-Com

DRAMA

Beauty

Blonde

Bombay Rose

Bruised

Concrete Cowboy

Fever Dream

Malcolm & Marie (February 5)

Monster

Penguin Bloom (January 27)

Pieces of a Woman (January 7)

The Dig (January 29)

The Guilty

The Hand of God

The Power of the Dog

The Starling

The White Tiger (January 22)

Unt. Alexandre Moratto Film

Unt. Graham King

WESTERN

The Harder They Fall

COMEDY

8 Rue de l'Humanité

Afterlife of the Party

Bad Trip

Don't Look Up

Double Dad

I Care A Lot (February 19)

Moxie (March 3)

The Last Mercenary

Thunder Force

FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY

A Boy Called Christmas

A Winter’s Tale from Shaun the Sheep

Back to the Outback

Finding ‘Ohana (January 29)

Nightbooks

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Robin Robin

Skater Girl

The Loud House Movie

Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans

Wish Dragon

YES DAY (March 12)

MUSICAL

A Week Away

tick, tick...BOOM