It’s over! It’s done! 2020 is sitting comfortably in the rearview mirror and we’re speeding off as fast as the passage of time will allow. Will 2021 be better? I have no idea. Time is a construct and all that, so how we chop it up is arbitrary anyway, but let’s not think about it. Instead of wallowing in the year that sucked, let’s look forward and talk about everything that’s coming out in the next 365 days because there’s a lot to be excited for.

First up, let’s talk about movies. If you’ve been paying attention here then you’ll notice that I didn’t put up a “Best movies of 2020” list. While there were definitely some good ones, I missed a ton of them. Without being able to go to the theater due to the plague, I just didn’t find myself keeping up with the current releases. Additionally, a lot of the things that I was looking forward to were delayed. Halloween Kills, the follow up to 2018’s Halloween sequel/reboot was originally supposed to come out this past October, but will now hit the big screen and the even bigger IMAX screen on October 15, 2021. The Jordan Peele produced Candyman remake was also pushed from June 12, 2020 to August 27, 2021. The Green Knight, the dark fantasy film from director David Lowery and A24 was supposed to hit South by Southwest and then theaters this past summer, but will now see release July 30, 2021. Possibly the biggest of the bunch, Denis Villenueve’s highly anticipated Dune adaptation was pushed from this past November to October 21, 2021.

Now aside from all of those, there’s a Mortal Kombat movie coming out which we haven’t seen anything but a logo of yet. I’ve been following the franchise for a long time so I’m at least curious. The whole MCU slate was pushed back, and while I’m feeling super fatigued with superheroes at this point in time, the new Spider-Man seems like it’s going to be wild. They’re supposedly bringing both of the past Spider-Men back as well as past villains for what may amount to a live action Into the Spider-Verse. It could either be a lot of fun or a huge mess, and Marvel has been pretty consistent so far, so I’m excited for them to take a huge swing instead of playing it safe for once. The only other superhero thing that I’m looking forward to in 2021 (The Batman doesn’t hit until 22) is James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad. I didn’t like the first one, but I like James Gunn and I trust him to do something cool with it. 

Lastly, Godzilla vs Kong will hit theaters and HBO Max on May 21st, 2021 and obviously I want to camp out on this one for a minute here. I’m a huge kaiju fan, and I really like what Legendary has been doing with their Monsterverse movies. On top of that, I’m excited to see what director Adam Wingard brings to the table. I won’t pretend that the Death Note movie was any good (in fact, I haven’t seen it), but I’m really hoping he can bounce back, given that I really enjoyed A Horrible Way to Die, You’re Next and especially The Guest. Besides that, the Godzilla train keeps rolling with Godzilla Singular Point, an original anime set for release via Netflix in April. There’s a ton of cool old school kaiju in the trailer and I’m particularly hyped about my main man Jet Jaguar to finally make a return. Get hyped!

Musically, 2020 ruled and I’m expecting 2021 to be just as good. Skacore band The Best of the Worst dropped a new single in November and have been talking about recording a new album on their social media. This band really seems to be the one that picked up where local heroes The Flaming Tsunamis left off, so I’m excited about where they go next. Keeping with the ska theme, Skatune Network has dropped a few original songs under the name JER and they absolutely rip. Political yet tongue in cheek lyrics over catchy upbeat ska-punk is always a welcome sight. Meanwhile, We Are the Union (which they also play trombone in) has been dropping new singles and music videos as well. I’m looking forward to albums from both.

On the heavier side of things, there’s a new LP coming in March from powerviolence band World Peace, which I’m looking forward to. These guys have two bassists, no guitarist, and they’re heavy as fuck. They’ve been using the term “low end violence” to describe their sound and that definitely fits. Grindcore band Vermin Womb got back together not too long ago and have been teasing a new album on social media. It’s been a long four years since their last album Decline, and I’m super ready for their brand of dissonant and oppressive grind to make a comeback. 

Lastly, Baltimore-based pop punk group Pinkshift is a relatively new name on my radar, but they’ve been dropping singles over the past few months, and “i’m gonna tell my therapist on you” is a real banger. Really emotional and catchy, they fit nicely in the same pocket as bands like Pup or Illuminati Hotties and I have a feeling they’re gonna be big. I’m really hoping to see an album at some point in 2021.

Now to wrap things up, here’s a few odds and ends. Season 3 of the Karate Kid sequel series Cobra Kai will already be out by the time this article hits, but at the time of this writing I’m looking forward to it. The way that season 2 ended was a hell of a cliffhanger, so hopefully the follow through is good. A season 2 of Dorohedoro hasn’t been announced, but I’m expecting it. I’ve already told you about how dope the show is, so clearly that’s something I’m hoping for. I probably won’t talk about video games too much on this site, but I’m looking forward to being bad at Guilty Gear Strive. 

So that’s it. That’s everything I’m looking forward to in 2021. Hopefully I’ll be able to actually see some of these movies in theaters and see some of these musicians live, but we’ll see how things go. I’m sure there’s plenty of stuff I’ve missed and I’m sure there’s plenty of stuff I won’t even know about until next year, but either way I can’t wait to check it all out.