Sky announces huge original TV show and movie lineup for 2021

Extensive content portfolio announced for 2021... and beyond

by Andy Bassett
Movies & TV Shows News

10

Sky announces huge original TV show and movie lineup for 2021

Over 125 new Sky Originals are coming to Sky and NOW TV subscribers in 2021 as the company reveals its biggest ever lineup of movies and TV shows.

Sky presented a strong array of original entertainment options throughout 2020 including Gangs of London and Brave New World before capping the year off with Roald & Beatrix: The Tail of the Curious Mouse. 

Now Europe’s leading media and entertainment company is stepping up its game for the next 12 months. It will bring 30 Sky Original movies, 30 new Sky Original documentaries as well as a selection of  drama, comedy, entertainment and arts series to subscribers’ screen. This amounts to 50 percent more original TV and film than last year, giving access to a range of stories featuring viewers’ favourite stars.

The company’s portfolio of original films will deliver at least two new premieres every month and this is set to rise to one a week from next year.

Among some of the highlights are:

  • Save The Cinema: Samantha Morton and Jonathan Pryce star in this new British film based on true events which sees Liz Evans makes it her mission to stop her local cinema from being demolished. 
    
  • The United States v Billie Holiday: In the 1940’s, the US government targeted beloved jazz icon Billie Holiday as part of their war on drugs.
    
  • A Boy Called Christmas: Jim Broadbent, Maggie Smith, Kristen Wiig, Sally Hawkins and Toby Jones star in an adaptation of Matt Haig’s best seller about an ordinary young boy called Nikolas who sets out on an extraordinary adventure into the snowy north in search of his father, who is on a quest to discover the fabled village of the elves, Elfhelm.
    
  • Kindred: A psychological thriller about a vulnerable mother-to-be who is taken in by her recently deceased boyfriend’s mother and stepson, who seem increasingly obsessed with her every move. Starring Fiona Shaw and Jack Lowden
    
  • Creation Stories: Written by Irvine Welsh and Dean Cavanagh, this charts the true story of the rise and fall of Creation Records and its infamous founder Alan McGee, who signed generation-defining bands such as Oasis and Primal Scream. 
    
  • Breaking News in Yuba County: A dark comedy that explores the lengths some people will go to in order to garner some much-desired attention. Starring Allison Janney, Mila Kunis and Awkwafina.

  • Six Minutes to Midnight: Emmy Award winner Eddie Izzard and Academy Award winner Judi Dench battle to protect a group of students from the grip of Hitler in this World War II thriller. 
    
  • The Comeback Trail: Starring Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Tommy Lee Jones and Zach Braff in which two movie producers set up their aging movie star for an insurance scam to try and save themselves from the mob.

  • Antebellum: A thriller with a touch of horror from the producer of the acclaimed films Get Out and Us, which sees an academic uncovers a terrible secret that connects her to a Civil War era enslaved woman, starring Janelle Monáe.
     
  • The Glorias: A female led story of feminist icon Gloria Steinem, known for her world-shaping activism that has impacted generations. 
     
  • Every Breath You Take: Casey Affleck stars as a psychiatrist who finds his life in turmoil following the sudden suicide of his patient.

  • Monster Family 2: Follow up to 2017’s family animation which sees the Wishbone Family once more transform into a vampire, Frankenstein's Monster, a mummy and a werewolf. Starring Jason Isaacs, Emily Watson and Nick Frost. 
     
  • The Secrets We Keep: In post-WWII America, a woman rebuilding her life in the suburbs with her husband kidnaps her neighbour and seeks vengeance for the heinous war crimes she believes he committed against her. Starring Noomi Rapace, Chris Messina and Joel Kinnaman. 
     
  • Jolt: A female driven action-comedy that follows Lindy (Kate Beckinsale), a bouncer with a murderous anger management problem that she controls with the help of an electrode-lined vest to shock herself back into normality whenever she feels homicidal. Starring Stanley Tucci and Laverne Cox.
Sky announces huge original TV show and movie lineup for 2021
Antebellum coming to Sky Cinema in 2021

This expansive schedule for 2021 and beyond is part of Sky’s commitment to more than double its investment in original content by 2024. And work is underway on Sky Studios Elstree, its new state-of-the-art TV and film studio in North London, which is set to be the most sustainable in the world when it opens in 2022. All future Sky Originals will be net zero carbon as well.

Having started 2021 strongly with A Discovery of Witches season 2, which has returned the biggest launch for an original returning series in nearly 9 years, further Sky Original dramas are planned including Wolfe written by Shamless’s Paul Abbott and which stars Babou Ceesay as a lauded forensic pathologist,. There’s also the Olivia Colman starring Landscapers as well as new prison break drama Intergalactic.

And of course there’re returning fan favourites such as Intelligence, Britannia III, Brassic 3, Code 404, Hitmen, Breeders, Temple and even more Bulletproof. Furthermore, Sky is also the home of some of the best of US TV, with shows from HBO, Showtime and many more.

Sky announces huge original TV show and movie lineup for 2021
Breeders S2 coming to Sky in 2021

New documentaries will range from real events to true crime and natural history and include Positive which marks Britain’s 40-year struggle with HIV/AIDS, The Bambers: Murder at the Farm which is executive produced by Louis Theroux, and Gangs of Macaque Island, a light-hearted ‘animal docu-soap’ following the daily lives of rival black-crested macaque troops. 

Meanwhile, comedian Russell Howard breaks away from his usual topical format to present a travelogue through New Zealand and Australia which currently has a working title of Russell Howard’s Back to the Future Stand Up Show.

Looking further ahead to 2022, Sky recently announced that Kenneth Branagh will be playing current UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson in This Sceptered Isle co -written by Michael (Welcome to Sarajevo) Winterbottom and which looks at the events surrounding the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, plus the Taskmaster himself, Greg Davies, will star in psychotherapy comedy Safe Space

Other shows coming in 2022 include an adaptation of John (The Day of the Triffids) Wyndham’s classic science fiction novel The Midwich Cuckoos, action thriller Extinction which is about a man who joins an organisation that can turn back time and Chernobyl 86 a documentary which tells the story of Chernobyl through newly discovered archive footage and original interviews with those who were there. 

There’s no word yet on how much of this new content will be rolled out in HDR but 2020 saw Sky introduce documentaries followed by a selection of its dramatic content and Sky Cinema movies which all featured High Dynamic Range, so it’s a reasonable assumption to expect at least some of this upcoming new content to be broadcast in HDR. 

Source: Press release
Image Source: Sky


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