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Summer Movie Calendar 2021

A month-by-month breakdown of the best summer movies 2021 has to offer, from A Quiet Place Part II and F9 to Luca and The Suicide Squad.

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(Photo by Walt Disney Pictures, Warner Bros., Marvel Studios, A24)

We didn’t get much of a summer movie season in 2020, for coronavirus reasons, so a lot of the year’s biggest titles got shifted to 2021. While this impacted previously set plans for other 2021 films — which then got pushed even further back as well — we now have a wealth of the most buzzworthy movies hitting theaters and, in some cases, streaming at the same time. We’re finally getting F9, Black Widow, and Candyman. We have horror sequels (SpiralThe Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It), exciting animated films (Vivo, Luca), fun family fare (Jungle CruiseSpace Jam: A New Legacy), action comedies (Free GuyThe Suicide Squad), and even a couple of very different origin stories (CruellaSnake Eyes). There’s a little something for everyone, and we’re all probably dying to get back to the theater sometime this year, so begin your planning… now!


Wrath of Man (2021)
68%
Director Guy Ritchie reunites with Jason Statham for a fourth collaboration, centering on an armored truck company employee who joins a daring heist but may have ulterior motives. More

Directed By: Guy Ritchie


This stark drama centers on a separated couple dealing with their newfound freedom to see other people; the husband has a much more difficult time adjusting as he tries to keep his family of six together. More

Directed By: Robert Machoian


Chris Rock and Samuel L. Jackson headline this revival of the Saw franchise as two cops investigating a series of gruesome — and eerily familiar — murders. More

Directed By: Darren Bousman


Angelina Jolie plays a forest fire warden who takes it upon herself to protect a young boy who has witnessed the murder of his father in this thriller from writer-director Taylor Sheridan (Wind River). More

Directed By: Taylor Sheridan


This book adaptation stars Amy Adams as an agoraphobic woman who believes she has witnessed the murder of a neighbor… or has she? More

Directed By: Joe Wright


Army Of The Dead (2021)
67%
Dave Bautista leads a group of mercenaries on a dangerous mission to rob a Las Vegas casino during a zombie outbreak. More

Directed By: Zack Snyder


Cruella (2021)
75%
Disney reimagines the 101 Dalmations villain with the help of Emma Stone, who plays the titular aspiring fashion designer whose life takes a criminal turn. More

Directed By: Craig Gillespie


This sequel to the 2018 horror hit follows up with Abbott family as they seek shelter from the film’s sound-sensitive monsters and encounter fellow survivors. More

Directed By: John Krasinski


The third chapter in the original Conjuring franchise finds paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) looking into a criminal who claims he was possessed by the devil. More

Directed By: Michael Chaves


In the Heights (2021)
94%
Speaking of Lin-Manuel Miranda, his hit Broadway musical about the people who live in the New York City neighborhood of Washington Heights also gets the big-screen treatment, thanks to Crazy Rich Asians director John M. Chu. More

Directed By: Jon M. Chu


This follow-up to the 2017 action comedy stars Ryan Reynolds as bodyguard Michael Bryce, who is enlisted by Sonia Kincaid (Salma Hayek) to rescue her husband — and Michael’s rival — Darius (Samuel L. Jackson). More

Directed By: Patrick Hughes


Luca (2021)
91%
Pixar’s latest offering is a coming-of-age tale about a boy who lives on the Italian Riviera and strikes up a friendship with another boy, only to discover they are both secretly sea monsters disguised as humans. More

Directed By: Enrico Casarosa


Beatrix Potter’s mischief-prone rabbit embarks on a second adventure as Peter (James Corden) wanders away from home and makes new friends as his family comes looking for him. More

Directed By: Will Gluck


The Sparks Brothers (2021)
95%
Edgar Wright (Shaun of the DeadHot Fuzz) helms this decades-spanning documentary about brothers Ron and Russell Mael, otherwise known as the influential rock duo Sparks. More

Directed By: Edgar Wright


F9 The Fast Saga (2021)
59%
Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his “family” are back in another action-packed blockbuster, as Dom faces off against the brother (John Cena) he tried to leave in the past. More

Directed By: Justin Lin


Zola (2020)
88%
Based on a notoriously stranger-than-fiction series of viral tweets, Zola follows a Detroit waitress who road-trips to Florida with a stripper acquaintance and ends up spending the craziest two days of her life with her. More

Directed By: Janicza Bravo


In this follow-up to the 2017 animated comedy, the original boss baby (Alec Baldwin) and his brother have grown up, and they must now contend with children of their own and an evil school headmaster. More

Directed By: Tom McGrath


The Forever Purge (2021)
49%
Set after 2016’s Purge: Election Year, in which the Purge was officially abolished, this next chapter in the franchise follows a Mexican couple who become stranded on a ranch and besieged by strangers who miss the good ol’ days. More

Directed By: Everardo Gout


Black Widow (2021)
79%
Scarlett Johansson reprises her role as the Avengers super-spy in this prequel film that takes place directly after the events of Captain America: Civil War and finds Natasha grappling with her past as a double agent. More

Directed By: Cate Shortland


Taylor Russell and Logan Miller return to reprise their roles in this continuation of the 2019 horror-thriller, which finds another six people trapped in deadly escape rooms and trying to understand whey they’ve been chosen. More

Directed By: Adam Robitel


Oscar-winning documentarian Morgan Neville (Won’t You Be My Neighbor) sets his sights on another beloved pop culture icon, Anthony Bourdain, in this profile of the late celebrity chef’s incredible life. More

Starring: Anthony Bourdain
Directed By: Morgan Neville


A full 25 years after the original Space Jam, LeBron James puts a new spin on the story. This time, Bron is transported to a digital world and must team up with the Looney Toons to defeat an evil AI’s Goon Squad in a game of hoops.  More

Directed By: Malcolm D. Lee


Old (2021)
50%
M. Night Shyamalan’s latest follows a family on vacation who discover the secluded beach where they’re relaxing is mysteriously causing them to age rapidly. It seems straightforward, but you know Shyamalan loves his twists. More

Directed By: M. Night Shyamalan


This spin-off of the G.I. Joe universe is an origin story for the mute ninja/commando known as Snake Eyes, with Crazy Rich Asians’ breakout star Henry Golding in the title role. More

Directed By: Robert Schwentke


The Green Knight (2021)
89%
Writer-director David Lowery (The Old Man and the Gun) brings us a haunting vision of the 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, with Dev Patel in a medieval fantasy adventure splashed with a touch of horror. More

Directed By: David Lowery


Jungle Cruise (2021)
62%
Disney unleashes its next theme park ride-inspired movie, starring Emily Blunt as a scientist who hires Dwayne Johnson’s riverboat captain to take her down the Amazon in search of the mythical Tree of Life. More

Directed By: Jaume Collet-Serra


Stillwater (2021)
75%
Matt Damon stars in director Tom McCarthy’s (Spotlight) thriller about an Oklahoma oil-rig worker who travels to Marseille, France to clear his daughter’s name when when she is imprisoned for a crime she says she didn’t commit. More

Directed By: Tom McCarthy


Adam Sandler won’t be returning to voice Dracula, but everyone else is back in the final chapter of this series, which will see the focus shift more to Dracula’s daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) and her human husband Johnny (Andy Samberg). More



The Suicide Squad (2021)
90%
Director James Gunn helms this soft reboot of the famously panned 2016 DC movie, with folks like John Cena and Idris Elba joining the group of criminals who are sent to take out a Nazi-era prison in South America. More

Directed By: James Gunn


Free Guy (2021)
80%
What if a non-player character (NPC) in a video game suddenly became self-aware? That’s the idea behind Free Guy, an action comedy starring Ryan Reynolds as Guy, the NPC in question who decides to take his destiny into his own hands. More

Directed By: Shawn Levy


Respect (2021)
69%
Aretha Franklin gets the biopic treatment courtesy of Jennifer Hudson, who stars as the legendary singer in her youth, alongside Forest Whitaker, Marlon Wayans, and Marc Maron. More

Directed By: Liesl Tommy


The Night House (2020)
88%
This psychological thriller follows a recent widow (Rebecca Hall) who, now alone in the house he built for her, begins to uncover the dark secrets of his past. More

Directed By: David Bruckner


Candyman (2021)
84%
This sequel to the 1992 horror classic takes place in the same neighborhood, now gentrified, where an artist explores the legend of Candyman in his work and unknowingly opens a door he may not be able to close. More

Directed By: Nia DaCosta


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Peter Jackson returns to documentary filmmaking with this portrait of the Fab Four and the making of the 1970 album Let It Be, recut from the footage that Michael Lindsay-Hogg captured for his film, also called Let It BeMore


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