27 December 2021
Marco Gandolfi
2021 has been another strange year for film. The world has somewhat returned to normal after the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing theaters to open up once more. This does mark a big change from 2020 which often felt like a year without movies. There were releases, sure, but many of the big names chose to delay in hopes of waiting out global lockdowns. 2021 proved to be a staging ground for a lot of the delayed movies, and did usher in some big hits. But there was still a sense that things hadn’t returned to normal yet.
What Will Change In 2022
Many moviegoers still expressed concern over actually going to the theaters in 2021, as every time a big movie released it seemed to coincide with a surge in COVID cases or a new variant. Others who were eager to hit the theaters once more simply couldn’t, as their small town local theater didn’t get showings of the new hit film. The year still came out a lot better than 2020, with a lot of highly-praised films and crowd-pleasing blockbusters selling record numbers of tickets. There’s still a sense of confusion, however, over how awards season will shake out.
Will artistic dramas continue to dominate awards like they did pre-pandemic? Or will big-budget blockbusters continue to work their way into the critical eye the way they were before 2020? There is something to be said for how the likes of Shang Chi and Spider-Man: No Way Home brought people back to theaters. There was a legitimate concern that the watch-from-home dynamic from 2020 would stick due to sheer convenience, but Marvel was able to succeed in reviving the theater experience, at least in terms of pure sales.
Best Picture And Director
Going into 2022, it looks like Best Picture buzz is surrounding Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast. Dune is a name on a lot of lips for its sheer visual power, but many believe that Dennis Villenueve is more likely to take home a director award than anything for best picture. Other notable films up for a Best Picture nomination could be King Richard, Licorice Pizza, and The Power of the Dog. It’s possible that academies might toss Marvel a bone with a nomination, but it’s more likely that Dune will be the only summer blockbuster to get that distinction.
Notable Performances
Even while big franchises were selling tons of tickets once again, several biopics and original screenplays were able to make waves this year. Will Smith could easily get a nomination for his turn in King Richard. Andrew Garfield garnered a lot of praise for his performance in Tick, tick… BOOM! Another Brit of acclaim was Benedict Cumberbatch in The Power of The Dog.
The actress category also got a lot of worthy biopic performances. Kristen Stewart is getting buzz for her work in Spencer, and Nicole Kidman also put up a heck of a performance in Being the Ricardos. Jennifer Hudson’s amazing work in Respect deserves mention, as does Jessica Chastain for The Eyes of Tammy Faye.
