Ranker’s Top 5 Most Anticipated Blockbusters (and 3 that Didn’t Make the Cut)

NOTE: Readers are still voting on this list all the time, and the ranking changes frequently. Changes in the list ranking may not immediately be reflected in this blog.

It’s nearly the start of the summer season, and in Hollywood, that means a ton of highly anticipated sequels, reboots, and action-packed blockbusters. This year movie studios and fans alike are hoping that the availability of COVID-19 vaccines nearly everywhere means people can carefully return to theaters to catch the year’s most anticipated films.

So which flicks are audiences most excited to see in 2021? Ranker has the answers, thanks to nearly 2,300 movie fans who voted on an average of ten films each on our list of The Most Anticipated Movies Of 2021. Ranker Insights can help us understand why these movies are so highly anticipated — but more importantly, it can tell us why other movies didn’t manage to crack the Top 5, and give studios like MGM, Warner Bros., and Sony the tools they need to identify their audiences and build anticipation before their movies premiere.

#1: Matrix Resurrections (unofficial title)

Release date: December 22

Even this upcoming sequel’s title is the subject of rumor and debate. All we know is that Ranker voters are more excited about this movie than any other set to premiere this year. Part of the movie’s dominance of this list can be explained by the fact that it appeals to both DC and Marvel fans: according to Insights, fans of the original 1999 The Matrix are just as likely to be fans of Man of Steel and Wonder Woman as they are Avengers: Endgame and Doctor Strange. Where the Marvel and DC movies on this list will have a little trouble reaching fans across the comic book aisle, The Matrix 4 has something for everybody. The not-yet-officially-titled Matrix sequel is supposed to be released in December 2021. 

#2: Spider-Man: No Way Home

Release date: December 17

Movie-goers have been seeing a steady stream of Spider-Man movies for almost two decades now, but none has been more popular than the recent MCU movies starring Tom Holland. Far From Home (2019) holds the box office record for films about the web-slinger with $1.1 billion worldwide, while Homecoming (2017) has the most support from fans on Ranker with 73% of voters approving. It should be no surprise that excitement around the third movie in this series is building so rapidly.

#3: Black Widow

Release date: July 9

After a full year of delays related to the pandemic, Black Widow is finally hitting theaters on July 9. The eponymous hero is #8 overall on our list of The Best Characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but she has an appeal that seems more universal than those of characters higher up on the list: fans of Black Widow are more likely to Harry Potter, Men in Black, and Inglorious Basterds than fans of the list’s #1 hero, Iron Man. That explains the buzz around this movie and could translate into big box office returns when the film premieres this summer.

#4: The Suicide Squad

Release date: August 6

Reboot? Sequel? Mulligan? It’s still not 100% clear exactly what the relationship between The Suicide Squad and its 2016 precursor Suicide Squad is, but fans who were disappointed by David Ayer’s take on the DC Comics series have high hopes for James Gunn’s new, noticeably brighter approach. It’s not clear if the high levels of anticipation around The Suicide Squad are coming more from fans of the first movie or from James Gunn’s films — Insights says there’s not much crossover between the fanbase of the original Suicide Squad film and movies like Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor: Ragnarok. Hopefully, this means that the new sequel will bring together fan groups and redeem this unsteady series of comic book movies.

#5: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Release date: September 3

Introducing an exciting new hero to the MCU’s fold, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings began to quickly rise up our list of Most Anticipated Movies after a Marvel trailer teasing its Phase 4 releases was released in May. It’s hard to say how much of this anticipation stems from the character of Shang-Chi himself, since he’s yet to appear in the MCU and is in precious few Marvel lists on Ranker. It’ll be very interesting to see just how popular the superhero becomes on major lists about the MCU once this movie premieres.

Who Didn’t Make the Cut?

All these films have audiences excited to return to theaters, or at the very least, to pay the price of streaming these titles at home. But what about the other much-hyped movies set to premiere this year? Which ones didn’t make the Top 5 on the list of Most Anticipated Movies, and who do the producers of these films need to reach to generate more buzz?

No Time to Die

This James Bond movie is set to be released in October, after all but two of the Top 5 flicks listed above have premiered. That means No Time to Die has a very good chance of entering the Top 5 as anticipation builds closer to the release date. Still, if the upcoming Matrix and Spider-Man sequels can generate this much anticipation so far in advance of their respective premieres, there’s no reason the movie rumored to be Daniel Craig’s last as James Bond can’t do the same.

If any of these movies is eating 007’s lunch, it’s Matrix Resurrections. Ranker Insights data suggests that fans of the most recent James Bond films prefer gritty, darker action over campy, goofy fare: among the top choices for fans of Spectre and Skyfall are The Bourne Identity, Sherlock Holmes, and Mission: Impossible. Fans of Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, and Spectre are all more likely to enjoy the original Spider-Man films of the early 2000s with Tobey Maguire than either Homecoming or Far from Home. These fans generally prefer Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight films to movies from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and when they do like MCU flicks, they’re more likely to feature more self-serious heroes like Captain America.

Given that The Matrix fits this profile better than the other movies in Ranker’s Top 5, MGM might consider promoting No Time to Die on HBO Max’s soon-to-come ad-supported free version, grabbing attention from those who might have signed up for the services specifically for access to the latest Matrix film once it’s released.

Dune

Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic sci-fi novel has tons going for it, but from a marketing perspective, its audience is somewhat unclear: Should Warner Bros. be focusing on fans of traditional, “classic” sci-fi, or fans of the more modern, dark action films Villeneuve is famous for directing, like Blade Runner 2049, Sicario, and Arrival? Much like the producers of the 1984 Dune adaptation did with director David Lynch, Warner Bros. must try to find an intersection between sci-fi nerd-dom and auteur filmmaking aficionados.

If these two types of fans can agree on anything, Insights seems to think it’s the cult hit sci-fi action series Battlestar Galactica, which stars Edward James Olmos as the admiral of a battleship that contains the very last of humanity after an alien attack wipes out most of the species. The 2004 show is equally popular among fans of Villeneuve’s Arrival and the original Dune novel — both groups are 4X more likely to love Battlestar Galactica than the average voter, while fans of Blade Runner 2049 are 2X more likely to love it. That makes Peacock a great place for Warner Bros. to promote Dune, as the streaming service has the rights to both the original Battlestar Galactica series and the highly anticipated reboot (whenever it comes out).

Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage

Venom 2 is the odd superhero film out here, behind Shang-Chi, Black Widow, Spider-Man, and Justice League: The Snyder Cut, though voting on Justice League was locked after its release on March 18. But the original Venom faced similarly stiff competition: it came out the same year (2018) as box office juggernauts Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity Wars, as well as Aquaman, Incredibles 2, and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. The scrappy Tom Hardy-led origin story managed to be the seventh-top grossing film of the year worldwide, despite the wealth of other superhero films that came out that year, and plenty of bad reviews from critics. Rather than mess with success, Sony might be tempted to just rest on its laurels and assume superhero film fans will see its sequel as well as those being released by Disney and Warner Bros.

That being said, Venom 2 does have something the other movies are lacking so far: a compelling villain. Black Widow and Shang-Chi are both superhero origin stories that are more focused on the heroes than the villains, and while audiences are familiar with the villains in No Way Home, the movie is still shrouded in secrecy, and little is known about the role those villains will play. The bad guy can be a huge draw for movies like these (it’s arguably what made people want to see the original Venom movie), and Sony should be betting that people will pay to see just what Woody Harrelson does with the role of Carnage.

Insights says that people who like the Joker and Thanos — two of the biggest and most memorable comic book movie villains of the century — are both more likely to watch the CW’s superhero programming, including shows like The Flash, Arrow, and Supergirl. Sony might consider buying plenty of airtime on the CW to make sure they get the message out to those who appreciate a good super-antagonist as much as or more than they like the superhero.

These stories are crafted using Ranker Insights, which takes over one billion votes cast on Ranker.com and converts them into actionable psychographics about pop culture fans across the world. To learn more about how our Ranker Insights can be customized to serve your business needs, visit insights.ranker.com, or email us at insights@ranker.com.

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