HBO Max is gearing up for an extremely busy 2021 with a jam-packed schedule full of new movies and TV shows. Here's a breakdown of what to expect.
HBO Max is gearing up for an extremely busy 2021 with a jam-packed schedule full of new movie and TV show releases. After launching in May 2020, the WarnerMedia streaming service is still months away from its first anniversary, but the platform is already making moves to compete with industry leaders. Aside from Max Originals, the service continues acquiring classic titles in addition to content from the premium channel partner, HBO.
When HBO Max debuted, the platform relied on acquired content rather than original programming. That continued to change as more Max Originals were released over the remaining months of 2020, including notable TV titles Raised By Wolves and The Flight Attendant. As for movies, HBO Max presented heavy-hitters such as An American Pickle, Unpregnant, The Witches, and Superintelligence. While the catalog continues to expand, much of the planned content has been recently overshadowed by a plan stemming from changing viewership patterns.
Because of delays and shutdowns due to the coronavirus pandemic, Warner Bros. made a shocking decision to allow the studios' entire schedule of 2021 films to stream on HBO Max at the same time they hit theaters. The WB films will be available to HBO Max subscribers for one month after the title drops, which was first carried out by Wonder Woman 1984. To get an idea of what's currently intended to debut in 2021 through HBO Max, here's a breakdown of upcoming movies and TV titles.
Locked Down will mark the first major Max Original film to debut in 2021. The romantic comedy from director Doug Liman will follow Linda (Anne Hathaway) and Paxton (Chiwetel Ejiofor) as a couple planning to separate just before mandatory lockdown hits. Being forced to live together then brings them closer when a heist emerges. The rest of the cast for Locked Down includes Ben Stiller, Stephen Merchant, Mindy Kaling, Ben Kingsley, and Lucy Boynton.
The Little Things will serve as the first major Warner Bros. title to hit HBO Max in 2021 while releasing simultaneously in theaters. John Lee Hancock's crime thriller follows a Deputy Sheriff named Joe "Deke" Deacon (Denzel Washington) who clashes with an L.A. detective, Sergeant Jim "Jimmy" Baxter (Rami Malek) during an investigation into a serial killer. Jared Leto and Natalie Morales round of the lead roles for the feature film.
Shaka King's Judas and the Black Messiah will stream on HBO Max for one month starting on February 12. Based on the life of Fred Hampton, the film is set in the 1960s and follows petty criminal William O'Neal (Lakeith Stanfield) agreeing to serve as an FBI informant to take down the well-known Black Panther Party chairman. Daniel Kaluuya will be portraying Hampton in a cast that also includes Jesse Plemons, Dominique Fishback, Ashton Sanders, Martin Sheen, Algee Smith, and Lil Rel Howery.
The popular cat and mouse duo made popular by Hanna-Barbera will reunite for a new WB film, Tom & Jerry, set to release on HBO Max in late February. Rather than full animation, the film will blend a mix of live-action, focusing on a hotel employee tasked with getting assistance from Tom to get Jerry out of the building. The rest of the live-action cast features Michael Peña, Rob Delaney, Colin Jost, and Ken Jeong.
The long-awaited prequel film to The Sopranos, titled The Many Saints of Newark, will be heading to HBO Max this spring while running in theaters. Set in the '60s and '70s, the movie will center on the tension in Newark, New Jersey between the Italian-American and African-American communities. Michael Gandolfini is notably playing a young version of Tony Soprano, who was originally played by his late father, James. Other cast members include Alessandro Nivola, Leslie Odom Jr., Jon Bernthal, Corey Stoll, John Magaro, Ray Liotta, and Vera Farmiga.
The long-awaited director's cut of Zack Snyder's 2017 movie, Justice League, will be debuting on HBO Max in the spring of 2021. Rather than an expanded film, the streamer is first releasing it in the form of a four-part miniseries. The alternate version, known as the "Snyder Cut," will then be followed by a single cut of the film, combining each episode. While the Snyder Cut features Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, and Ray Fisher in their DCEU roles, the reshot version also includes Ray Porter, Jared Leto, and Joe Manganiello.
Simon McQuoid will be making his directorial debut when Mortal Kombat arrives on HBO Max in mid-April. Technically the third installment of the franchise, the new film will serve as a reboot based on the popular video games. Notable cast members include Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Tadanobu Asano as Raiden, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Mehcad Brooks as Jax, and Joe Taslim as Sub-Zero.
Adam Wingard is at the helm of Godzilla vs. Kong, which is the fourth installment of the MonsterVerse. Serving as a sequel to Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Kong: Skull Island, the upcoming WB title will center on both monsters facing off in an epic battle as a conspiracy threatens to wipe out all creatures from the planet. Millie Bobby Brown and Kyle Chandler reprise their franchise roles in a cast that also features Alexander Skarsgård, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Eiza González, and Jessica Henwick.
Before HBO Max even launched, the service was advertising the development of a Friends reunion special tentatively named The One Where They Got Back Together. Originally planned to release in May 2020, the unscripted special ended up getting delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The original cast and writers from the beloved sitcom are set to film the reunion in March 2021, and it's expected to air just a few months later.
Also referred to as The Conjuring 3, the upcoming horror movie set to release on HBO Max and theaters is bringing back Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga in their roles as paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. Marking the eighth installment in The Conjuring Universe, the new film will focus on an eerie case based on the murder trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson from 1981. Ruairi O'Connor and Ronnie Gene Blevins also have major roles in the horror movie.
Based on the stage musical of the same name by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes, In the Heights is set to release on both HBO Max and theaters in mid-June. The story focuses on the Latino neighborhood of Washington Heights in New York City, particularly bodega owner Usnavi (Anthony Ramos). The stellar cast consists of names like Corey Hawkins, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Stephanie Beatriz, Dascha Polanco, Jimmy Smits, and Marc Anthony.
The highly anticipated sequel to 1996's Space Jam is hitting HBO Max and theaters this summer. Space Jam: A New Legacy shifts focus from Michael Jordan to LeBron James when the star basketball player and his young son get trapped into digital space by a rogue AI (Don Cheadle). To escape, James must lead Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes in a victory over the AI's digitized basketball team. Fellow basketball players set to appear includes Klay Thompson, Anthony Davis, Damian Lillard, Diana Taurasi, and Nneka Ogwumike.
While taking a break from the MCU, James Gunn moved over to WB to develop The Suicide Squad, A DCEU installment that serves as a soft reboot and standalone sequel to 2016's Suicide Squad. New and old members of the antihero team are sent to a South American island to destroy a Nazi-era prison/lab known as Jotunheim. Margot Robbie, Jai Courtney, Joel Kinnaman, and Viola Davis are reprising their roles with newcomers like Idris Elba, John Cena, Peter Capaldi, and Sylvester Stallone.
Despite pushback from director Denis Villeneuve regarding a simultaneous on HBO Max and theaters, Dune is still set to release in the fall of 2021. Based on the first half of the 1965 novel by Frank Herbert, the story follows Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), a gifted young man tasked with traveling across the dangerous planet of Arrakis to protect his family's future. Rebecca Ferguson and Oscar Isaac play Paul's parents with a cast highlighted by Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, and Jason Momoa.
WB's upcoming biographical film, King Richard, is set to focus on Richard Williams, the father of star tennis players Venus and Serena Williams. The movie will detail the lives of the girls after they received coaching from their father, who is portrayed by Will Smith in the project directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green. Saniyya Sidney and Demi Singleton will be playing Venus and Serena, respectively, in a cast that also includes Aunjanue Ellis, Jon Bernthal, Tony Goldwyn, and Dylan McDermott.
After co-creating the first three installments of the franchise, Lana Wachowski is back at the helm for The Matrix 4. Set to release on HBO Max and theaters at the end of 2021, not much has been revealed about the plot in the Matrix sequel just yet. That said, it will feature returning cast members like Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jada Pinkett Smith, Lambert Wilson, and Daniel Bernhardt in their original franchise roles.
No Sudden Move is another major Max Original movie expected to arrive in 2021. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, the crime thriller is set in 1955 as a group of small-time criminals from Detroit attempt to steal a specific document before falling into a trap. The stellar cast is highlighted by names like Don Cheadle, Benicio del Toro, David Harbour, Amy Seimetz, Jon Hamm, Ray Liotta, Kieran Culkin, and Brendan Fraser. Filming wrapped in late 2020 after production delays, but it's still on track to release soon.
Following in the footsteps of the popular series that aired on The CW from 2007 to 2012, HBO Max's Gossip Girl is serving as a soft reboot and sequel. It takes place eight years after the original, following a new group of Manhattan private school teens that are being watched by "Gossip Girl." With social media much more prominent than it was nearly a decade ago, the reboot will feature some changes, in addition to more adult content. Kristen Bell will reprise her role as the narrator with a cast that includes Emily Alyn Lind, Whitney Peak, Eli Brown, Johnathan Fernandez, Tavi Gevinson, and Thomas Doherty.
After the success of Cartoon Network's original series based on Aaron McGruder's comic strip, HBO Max will be debuting The Boondocks as part of their adult animated lineup. The series follows a Black family, the Freemans, settling into an overall white suburb of Woodcrest. Kicking off with an extended special, The Boondocks was given a two-season order with each season consisting of 12 episodes.
Aside from The Boondocks, HBO Max will premiere another adult animated comedy titled The Prince. The political satire series developed by Gary Janetti will follow six-year-old Prince George as he makes life difficult for his royal family. Janetti is voicing the titular character with a cast that also includes Orlando Bloom, Condola Rashād, Alan Cumming, Iwan Rheon, Sophie Turner, and Dan Stevens.
A three-part animated series centering on Aquaman is coming to HBO Max. Produced by James Wan, Aquaman: King of Atlantis plans to begin with Aquaman's first day as the leader of the underwater kingdom. Vulko and Mera will serve as his key advisors as the King faces a variety of threats including his half-brother. The miniseries will be geared to viewers of all ages unlike some of the other upcoming DC titles.
Young Justice originally aired on Cartoon Network before moving to DC Universe for season 3. The series will make another move, this time to HBO Max for the upcoming fourth season. Focusing on DC superheroes of all ages, season 4 of Young Justice is subtitled Phantoms. It's unclear when exactly the new season will drop, but development has been underway since 2019.
HBO Max is expanding the lives of the characters featured in the award-winning short film Hair Love with the development of the sequel, Young Love. Matthew A. Cherry is returning as the showrunner for the animated series, which will bring back millennial parents Stephen and Angela, their daughter Zuri, and the family's pet cat Rocky. Aside from presenting struggles within parenthood, marriage, and careers, Young Love will introduce themes that touch on social issues and generational dynamics.
First announced in 2019, Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai will finally debut sometime in 2021. The animated series by Tze Chun will serve as a prequel to 1984's Gremlins, sharing the story of how a young Sam Wing met Gizmo. Though the series is expected soon, there have not been any announcements regarding the cast other than the fact that Howie Mandel will not be returning to voice Gizmo.
Yogi Bear will be back in the focus on a TV series for the first time since 1991's Yo Yogi! when Jellystone! arrives on HBO Max. The animated series by C. H. Greenblatt features Yogi Bear and other Hanna-Barbera characters like Cindy Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Boo-Boo Bear, and Snagglepuss, living in the town of Jellystone. Jeff Bergman is voicing the role of Yogi Bear, and the series is expected to arrive by the end of 2021.
Based on the 2014 novel by Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven is predicted to debut on HBO Max before the end of 2021. The series, written by Patrick Somerville, centers on the aftermath of a flu-like pandemic that wipes out much of the world's population. Mackenzie Davis has been tapped to play the lead role with a cast that also includes Himesh Patel, David Wilmot, Gael García Bernal, and Danielle Deadwyler.
Tokyo Vice, an upcoming crime drama based on Jake Adelstein's book of the same name, is also expected to arrive at some point in 2021. Ansel Elgort is set to star as Jake Adelstein, an American journalist who relocates to Tokyo where he falls deep into the corrupt underworld. Set in the 1990s, Tokyo Vice will also feature a cast that includes Ken Watanabe, Rachel Keller, Ella Rumpf, and Rinko Kikuchi.
Several other major titles are expected to arrive on HBO Max in 2021, but a few of those projects are keeping announcements under wraps. Greg Berlanti's Green Lantern series has a possible 2021 release date window, and the same goes for J.J. Abrams' Justice League Dark drama. Mindy Kaling is serving as showrunner for a college comedy, The Sex Lives Of College Girls, while Elizabeth Banks is developing DC Super Hero High, a drama about a boarding school for gifted children. Conan O'Brien will also be moving to HBO Max in the new year with a revitalized variety show. As for WB's slate of releases, a handful of films are expected to arrive on HBO Max in 2021, but details are limited. Among the list includes Clint Eastwood's western drama, Cry Macho, James Wan's thriller titled Malignant, a sci-fi drama, Reminiscence, starring Hugh Jackman, and an action movie led by Angelina Jolie titled Those Who Wish Me Dead.
