It goes without saying that 2020 was one of the strangest years anyone can remember. The events associated with the global COVID-19 pandemic brought a halt to all social activities and crippled multiple industries. The film sector around the globe stopped movie productions for several months, and hundreds of films set to get released that year got pushed back to 2021, or their debuts moved from theaters to streaming services.
According to available data, Netflix, the world’s most famous subscriber-based video-on-demand platform, saw a revenue increase of 23.8% in 2020. And the company expected 2021 to be its biggest year to date, a feat it accomplished by pulling in total revenues that amounted to approximately $30 billion. Hence, below, we look at the most headline-worthy feature films that the platform introduced to its library in 2021.
Army of the Dead
Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead had as much hype as any film released in the past few years. The zombie heist flick added a novel twist to the walking undead genre by setting its plot in Sin City, the home to thousands of slots and live casino games. Snyder has stated that he sees this story as a spiritual successor to his 2004 remake of George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead. Army of the Dead had a production budget of almost $90 million, garnering extra media attention when its producers decided to replace comedian Chris D’Elia in the film with Tig Notaro. That occurred due to sexual misconduct allegations made against D’Elia a few months before the movie came out, forcing re-shoots and D’Elia getting replaced in existing shots with Notaro via CGI.
Red Notice
Shortly after its release, several media outlets claimed that Red Notice, starring Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot, and Ryan Reynolds, was the most-watched Netflix film ever, clocking in over 330 million viewing hours. It shattered the record previously held by Sandra Bullock’s 2018 thriller Bird Box. However, Red Notice only managed to keep this title for a few months, as in April 2021, it got overtaken in the most-watched movie race by another Ryan Reynolds flick, The Adam Project. Red Notice is a crime comedy that Universal Pictures originally planned to give a wide theatrical release in 2021.
Don’t Look Up
Adam Mckay’s rise to stardom began with him working as head writer for Saturday Night Live before writing and directing several Will Ferrell Movies. He broke the light-hearted comedy stigma in 2015 with the release of The Big Short, an ensemble comedy-drama about the 2008 financial crisis. Since then, he has found a niche in creating satires that boast robust casts of famous actors. Don’t Look Up stars some of Hollywood’s finest, Jennifer Lawrence, Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Meryl Streep, and many others. Filming on Don’t Look Up wrapped in February 2021, and the film debuted on Netflix Christmas day. It became the second-most-watched movie on the service less than a month following its release.
The Power of the Dog
The Power of the Dog is the long-awaited return of Jane Campion, the woman behind the 1993 classic, the Piano. It is a revisionist western drama based on the 1967 novel of the same name. Many critics and cinephiles consider the film a prestige fare, aimed to snag various industry awards. It justified this categorization by earning multiple accolades, such as finding its way on many top-ten lists and notching twelve Academy Award nominations. It was the first film directed by a woman to get over ten Oscar nominations. Campion also went into the history books as the first female director to receive more than one nomination for Best Director from the Academy. The Power of the Dog stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Kirsten Dunst, covering themes like masculinity, sexuality, love, and grief.
