'The Matrix 4', 'Black Widow': 36 epic movies to watch as cinemas reopen

As SA moves back to level 3 and the vaccination programme gathers steam, cinemas have reopened. Here's a selection of the best on offer for the rest of the year.

ON NOW

SPACE JAM: A NEW LEGACY

LeBron James takes on the Michael Jordan mantle with a new crew of 3-D animated Looney Tunes to dunk his heart out for the fate of the human race.

AUGUST

THE SUICIDE SQUAD 

DC have hired Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn to reboot the franchise in an effort to capitalise on the success of Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn.

Release date: August 6

BLACK WIDOW

The Marvel Comics Universe (MCU) gives Scarlett Johansson a turn to kick butt in the solo story of Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow.

Release date: August 13

RESPECT

SA-born director Liesl Tommy brings the epic life of Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin to the big screen with Jennifer Hudson as the legend herself.

Release date: August 13

REMINISCENCE 

A twisty sci-fi about a scientist (Hugh Jackman) who discovers a way to relive his past and uses it to makes sure his true love (Rebecca Ferguson) doesn't get away.

Release date: August 20

CANDYMAN

Jordan Peele makes another intervention into the horror genre with this "spiritual sequel" to the 1992 classic about the bogeyman whose name you should never say three times.

Release date: August 27

SEPTEMBER 

SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS 

The MCU's journey continues with this treatment of one of its popular characters, Kung Fu master Shang-Chi (Simu Liu).

Release date: September 3

THE PROTÉGÉ 

When lethal trained from childhood killer Anna (Maggie Q) sees her trainer and substitute father Moddy (Samuel L Jackson) brutally murdered, she's on the warpath for a fitting revenge that will decimate anyone who tries to stand in her way.

Release date: September 10

VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE

Andy Serkis directs Tom Hardy for the return of the man with an angry alien on his back for a further exploration of one of the MCU's more complicated and difficult-to-pin-down creations.

Release date:  September 17

CRY MACHO

It takes more than a global pandemic to keep 91-year-old director Clint Eastwood down. His latest is a slight but touching drama about a washed-up rodeo star who finds some much-needed final redemption when he takes on a job to bring a young boy home to his dad.

Release date:  September 17

THE NIGHT HOUSE

Do ghosts exist? Rebecca Hall's recently widowed woman living in the lake house her husband built for her is about to find out in horror director David Bruckner's twisty chiller.

Release date: September 24

OFF THE RAILS

A sugary feel-good for older viewers in which four friends in their 50s decide to recapture their youth by taking a cross-European rail trip they made in their teens.

Release date: September 24

OCTOBER

NO TIME TO DIE

Bond returns for the final Daniel Craig iteration in the biggest blockbuster of the year. Directed by Cori Fukunaga and featuring Rami Malek as the villain, it's a fitting goodbye to Craig that's sure to be filled with the kind of pre-pandemic luxury globetrotting and big bangs that one of cinema's most enduring and biggest grossing franchises has to offer.

Release date: October 1

SUMMER OF SOUL

Roots drummer Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson makes his directorial debut with this documentary about the "black Woodstock", the influential but underexposed Harlem Music Festival that took place in 1969 and featured performances from a host of legends including Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Gladys Knight, Max Roach, Sly & the Family Stone and others.

Release date: October 1

NEW MATERIAL

Almost a decade after it became a sleeper hit local sensation, director Craig Freimond and Riaad Moosa reunite for the sequel to Material.

Release date: October 1

COPSHOP 

Frank Grillo and Gerard Butler lead the cast of director Joe Carnahan's dark, high-tension action thriller in which a small-town police station becomes the site of a battle between a hitman, a sharp female rookie cop and a slippery con artist hiding from assassins.

Release date: October 8

THE LAST DUEL

Director Ridley Scott, 84, returns to the world of his 1977 debut The Duelists for a new story set in the reign of Charles VI in which two men must battle for their honour. Written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, who also star, the film also features Adam Driver and Jodie Comer.

Release date: October 15

THE CARD COUNTER

Paul Schrader looks set for a return to form with this dark, noirish tale of revenge, gambling and the seedy machinations of characters working their hustle in the underbelly of the Americas.

Release date: October 22

JACKASS FOREVER

Ten years later and the world's biggest idiots are back to do a host of gob-smackingly stupid things you definitely shouldn't try at home.

Release date: October 22

DUNE

One of the year's most anticipated films, Denis Villeneuve's star-studded adaptation of Frank Herbert's cult sci-fi novel arrives with massive expectations from a fan base who are still divided and smarting from David Lynch's messy 1984 attempt to bring the sprawling tale and its singular world to screen.

Release date: October 22

ANTLERS 

Keri Russell and Jesse Plemons star in director Scott Cooper's horror thriller about a mysterious young man, an ancient creature and the small-town Oregon school teacher and her sheriff brother who become embroiled in a supernatural battle.

Release date: October 29

NAKED SINGULARITY

John Boyega stars as a disillusioned public defender who's given one last chance to do the kind of idealistic, justice-serving work he signed up for when he's drawn into a high stakes drug heist by a former client.

Release date: October 29

NOVEMBER

THE ETERNALS

Oscar-winning director of Nomadland Chloe Zhao makes her big-budget action debut with this entry into the MCU that offers plenty of new characters in the story of a forgotten race of immortals who shape the destiny of Earth over centuries.

Release date: November 5

LAST NIGHT IN SOHO

Anya Taylor-Joy stars in Edgar Wright's noirish, neon-lit thriller set in the shadows of 1960s swinging London that combines drama, horror and mystery to reveal a nasty world lurking just beneath the surface of the free-love, fashionable streets of the cultural centre of the era.

Release date: November 5

HERE TODAY

Billy Crystal directs and stars alongside Tiffany Haddish in this charming, sentimental light comedy about the friendship between a gruff veteran comedy writer and a rising younger singer that develops over the course of a typically event-filled day in the Big Apple.

Release date: November 5

THE FRENCH DISPATCH

Wes Anderson returns with a lovingly painted tribute to the golden age of eccentric American journalists inspired by real-life characters from the 1940s era of The New Yorker and other celebrated literary magazines.

Release date: November 12

GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE

Not content with the 2016 all-female reboot of the much-loved 1980s comedy classic, original writers and stars Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray offer their reboot of the story under the direction of Jason Reitman.

Release date: November 12

KING RICHARD

Will Smith stars as Richard Williams, determined and difficult father of tennis superstars Serena and Venus, in this biographical drama about how he turned his daughters into two of the modern era's most successful and celebrated sports heroes.

Release date: November 19

TOP GUN: MAVERICK 

Thirty-five years later, Tom Cruise reprises the role of flying hotshot Maverick in this sequel to the classic '80s action drama.

Release date: November 26

DECEMBER

HOUSE OF GUCCI

Ridley Scott's second entry into this year's slate of titles is adapted from the bestselling book by Sara Gay Forden, starring Salma Hayek and Adam Driver and telling the dark true story of intrigue, kidnap and murderous intent among the members of the family of fashion legend Guccio Gucci.

Release date: December 3

WEST SIDE STORY 

Steven Spielberg takes on one of Golden-era Hollywood's most iconic musicals with his adaptation of Leonard Bernstein's hit musical.

Release date: December 10

SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME 

Tom Holland continues his run as the young masked crimefighting alter-ego of Peter Parker.

Release date: December 17

THE KING'S MAN 

Ralph Fiennes stars in this violent tale of the early days of London's favourite tailor-cum-super-secret-world-saving agency.

Release date: December 24

SING 2

Matthew McConaughey returns to voice the loveable bumbling agent Buster Moon.

Release date: December 24

THE MATRIX 4

Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss are in it and it's directed by Lana Wachowski but other than that the lid's being kept tight.

Release date: December 24

CYRANO 

End 2021 with the latest adaptation of the beloved story of wordsmith Cyrano de Bergerac (Peter Dinklage) and his wooing of the beautiful Roxanne (Haley Bennett) in director Joe Wright's musical drama. Dates subject to change

Release date: December 31