In 2021, movie theaters began opening back up after the long-lasting quarantine that resulted from Covid-19. New films began to release again. Some were hits, and earned millions in revenue, while others did not land as well to the public. 2021 was a year for many to explore creativity in many ways, movies being one of them. Here are some movies released in 2021 that gained lots of attention because of their popularity- both positive and negative attention.

Music is a movie that came out on February 10th 2021. It was made to shine light on the autistic community gone wrong. This movie upset many and changed the way most of society viewed Sia and other actors involved in the movie. Music is a movie about an autistic girl named Music who became custody of her older half-sister, Zu. The main character, Music, is played by 18 year old Maddie Ziegler, which caused the initial negative reaction to this movie because Ziegler does not have autism, and was playing a character that is autistic. Sia claimed she “put in an effort” to find a different actress that was actually non-verbal, but the environment of the movie set was too stressful. Instead of working around this, however, she decided to just go back to casting Ziegler. Once people saw that Ziegler was the permanent actress for the role, they began to label the movie as “offensive” and “ableist.” While Sia still defended her decision, this movie was not a fan favorite.

Disney has been a part of so many people’s childhood, and continues to do so, but this time, in a bit of the twist. Cruella is a movie starring the famous villain Cruella de Vil from 101 Dalmatians. This movie came out on May 28th, 2021. The movie highlights the backstory of Cruella, or Estella, and how she became the way she is in 101 Dalmatians; a villain. She started feeling the urge to be cruel after witnessing her mother passing away, and then searching for a name for her clothing designs. This movie does reference 101 Dalmatians, but not in a very obvious way. While it was popular, it did not generate a lot of revenue in terms of the movie world.

Luca came out June 18th, 2021 and is an animated film that takes place in a town located in the Italian Riviera. The main character, Luca, is an underwater sea monster that is curious of what happens above water in the town. He dreams of what it would be like if he were up on the land and finds treasures from the town that were dropped in the water. People noted that this was a bit like Disney movie The Little Mermaid, but it does have it’s own unique themes separate from that movie. In this town that Luca dreams of visiting, sea monsters are disliked, and most of the residents want to catch them for display. Luca’s family does not support his decision of wanting to be above water, especially his mother, who wants to send him away to the deep ocean. One night, Luca decides to go into the town, and quickly discovered that when he is out of water, be begins to have human-like features. He meets another boy his age named Alberto, who is also a sea monster. They become close friends, and do everything together while Alberto teaches Luca all the things people do in town. This popular movie, which can be watched on streaming site Disney+ is rumored to have undertones of LGBTQ+ representation. One thing the movie definitely shows is growth and trust between friends, and acceptance of one’s self.

Spider-Man: No Way Home released on December 17th, 2021, and immediately became one of the most popular movies in 2021. This movie had many speculations about what would happen, and fans were ecstatic to see two familiar faces returning to the screens; Andrew Garfield, and Tobey Maguire. Garfield and Maguire played Peter Parker in previous Spider-Man movies, and reappeared to play the role again as they were pulled into Tom Holland’s Spider-Man universe by Doctor Strange, who had messed up a spell. The movie brought back old enemies, had the loss of some popular characters, and ended on a bittersweet tone when Peter Parker (Tom) had to make a sacrifice in order to save the world. This movie has made over i billion dollars in revenue, and is only increasing, seeing as it’s only been out for two weeks.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It came out on June 4th, 2021. It is the third installment to The Conjuring series. Like the others, it is based on a true story. This movie is based on the trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson that took place in 1981 in Connecticut. This case was the first court case in the United States that involved a demonic possession as a defense for murder. This case and it’s story inspired Wan and Peter Safran to write the plot for the movie and have it follow along with true events from the original case. Once it was revealed that this movie was based off of a true story, it attracted more people to go and watch the movie to see how it was played out in comparison to the case.

Overall, 2021 brought many movies to the public for their enjoyment, and was a good year for movies to begin releasing again. Fans of all sorts of different genres got to watch movies again with their friends and family, and 2022 will continue to showcase the talents of many as more movies get released.