2021 has been a peculiar year for us as we began to return to a certain sense of normalcy after the COVID-19 pandemic had begun. One thing that 2021 brought with its arrival was the number of movie releases that were to be released in 2020 but were pushed back due to said pandemic. While 2021 is almost over, there are still a decent amount of movies to be released this year, not to mention that 2022 is just around the corner with numerous movie releases to choose from, so let’s take a look at what’s to come in the not-so-distant future.

DISCLAIMER: I am writing this as of December 2, 2021. I cannot guarantee that 1) every movie mentioned on this list will be released on the date that I mentioned (in other words, no guarantee that the release date won’t be delayed further), 2) that every movie on this list will be released before the publication of this article, or 3) that every upcoming movie in existence so far will be on this list. I’m only putting in the ones that would most likely cater to the general audience.

Now on to the movies!

December:

2021 may be almost over, but there are still numerous amounts of movies to come this month! With that being said, let’s take a look at some of the highlighted movies to come this month!

West Side Story – December 10

The upcoming West Side Story movie is based on a musical of the same name, which takes place in New York City during the 1950s and tells the story of two teenagers from rival street gangs falling in love, inspired by William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. This is the second time this musical has been adapted into a movie (the first time being in 1961) and was originally supposed to be released a year ago but was pushed to this year due to the pandemic.

Spider-Man: No Way Home – December 17

Spider-Man: No Way Home is the third installment of a series of Spider-Man films within the MCU, which explains the aftermath of Peter Parker’s identity as Spider-Man being exposed to the public at the end of the second film. This results in him asking Dr. Strange to try and restore his secret identity, which ends up opening up the multiverse, which allowed for supervillains from different realities to arrive. Not much is known about the film besides its premise and the fact that multiple villains from previous Spider-Man movies will be making appearances, however, fans have hope that previous Spider-Man actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield will also appear in the film alongside current Spider-Man Tom Holland (despite the latter two denying said claims).

The Matrix Resurrections – December 22

The Matrix Resurrections serves as the fourth installment to The Matrix franchise. The film takes place twenty years after the events of the third film, where Neo lives a simpler life as Thomas A. Anderson under the prescription of blue pills from his therapist until his mind is reopened to the world of the Matrix after Morpheus offers him red pills. Initially, there was no fourth film planned for the franchise as the intent was to conclude it on the third film. Interest from the studio in reviving the franchise as well as an idea crafted by the director, Lana Wachowski, after the loss of her parents and a close friend led to the fruition of the fourth installment in 2019. The film was almost shelved when COVID-19 temporarily shut down the production, but the cast insisted upon finishing it. Filming resumed in August of 2020 and concluded not long after.

Sing 2 – December 22

Sing 2 is the sequel to the original film that came out in 2016. The movie takes place two years after the first one, where after finding success with his theatre, main character Buster Moon and the rest of his ensemble head to Redshore City, where stars are made, in the hopes of putting together a show that’ll allow him to achieve his dream of making it big. To do this, the whole group has to create an outer space show and enlist the help of Clay Calloway, a retired star who’s been a recluse for the past fifteen years. The soundtrack is set to be released ahead of the movie; on December 17, 2021.

January:

The 355 – January 7

The 355 is an upcoming action spy film about international agents from the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Colombia, and China teaming up in order to recover a top-secret weapon. The title of the movie comes from Agent 355, a female spy during the American Revolution for the Patriots. Originally, the film was to be released on January 15th, 2021, however, the film was delayed due to the pandemic, initially to January 14th, 2022, before being pushed up a week to January 7th.

Hotel Transylvania: Transformania – January 14

The fourth and final installment to the Hotel Transylvania franchise, Hotel Transylvania: Transformania takes the ensemble of characters on a trip to the Amazon after a mishap with an invention entitled the “Monsterfication Ray” turns the monsters into humans and vice versa. The Amazon is the only place where this mishap can be corrected, otherwise, they’ll all be stuck the way they are forever. The movie had multiple changes regarding its release date; originally, it was to come out on December 22, 2021, before being moved up to August 6th, 2021, then up again to July 23, 2021, then rescheduled to October 1, 2021, before a theatrical release was scrapped altogether, opting instead to release the film digitally via Amazon Prime on January 14, 2022.

Scream – January 14

Scream, or as it’s known informally, Scream 5, is the fifth installment to the slasher film franchise. The film takes place twenty-five years after the events of the previous movies, where a new person has taken the role of Ghostface, the identity used by several characters throughout the movies. The new Ghostface has begun targeting a group of teenagers in order to reveal and resurrect secrets from the town’s past. The idea for a fifth Scream movie had been in talks for some time (as early as 2011), however, it wasn’t until late 2019 that any news about a fifth Scream film was released.

Morbius – January 28

Morbius is a superhero film based on Marvel comics and is intended to be part of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe alongside Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage. In this film, the main character Michael Morbius is a scientist who suffers from a rare blood disease. In a dangerous attempt to cure himself, he ends up afflicting himself with a form of vampirism, which allows him to gain superhuman abilities without any of the weaknesses commonly associated with vampires. This film was also rescheduled multiple times, beginning on July 10, 2020, before being pushed to March 19, 2021, then October 8, 2021, then January 21, 2022, before settling for January 28, 2022.

February:

Death on the Nile – February 11

Death on the Nile is a film adaptation of a book of the same name by Agatha Christie. The film is a follow-up to a 2017 adaptation of another one of Christie’s books, Murder on the Orient Express. In this movie, renowned detective Hercule Poirot is tasked with finding and identifying a killer after the murder of a passenger on the S.S. Karnak. This film, too, has a history of rescheduling release dates, citing back to as far as late 2019. The film was pushed to October of 2020, then to December of 2020, before being removed from the release schedule for some time in November of 2020. A month later, they went for September of 2021 before pushing it to its current February release.

Uncharted – February 18

Uncharted is an action movie that serves as an origin story and prequel to the video game franchise of the same name. The movie introduces audiences to a younger version of the video game’s main character, Nathan Drake, as well as shows him on his first treasure-hunting adventure with his partner, Victor “Sully” Sullivan. While searching for “the greatest treasure never found”, they’re also tracking clues leading to Nathan’s long-lost brother.

March:

The Batman – March 4

The Batman is a superhero film based on Batman from the DC comics. The film tells the story of Batman pursuing the Riddler, a serial killer, which leads him to uncover corruption connecting to his own family as well as make new allies to catch the Riddler and restore justice in Gotham. This film is a reboot of the Batman franchise and shares very little connection to the DCEU (DC Extended Universe), if at all. The film had been in development since 2014, though at the time it was meant to be a standalone Batman movie connected to the DCEU.

Turning Red – March 11

Turning Red is a coming-of-age fantasy comedy from Disney Pixar about a girl named Mei who’s torn between being an obedient daughter to her strict mother and the chaos of adolescence, not to mention that she turns into a red panda whenever she gets too excited or stressed due to her ancestors’ association with them. The film takes place in Toronto, Canada between 2002 and 2003. It is Pixar’s first film to be released theatrically since the COVID-19 pandemic after previous Pixar films Soul and Luca were both released as Disney+ exclusives.

Overall, there’s a decent amount of movies coming out in the not-so-distant future, so if any of these movies sound appealing to you, don’t miss your opportunity to catch them at a theatre near you!