The Most Anticipated True Story Movies of 2021 Will Prove Reality Is Stranger Than Fiction

The big moneymakers at the box office, at least of late, are often fantastical, over the top superhero productions that take audiences to a whole different world, and those are fine and good. Absolutely nothing wrong with a good deep dive into the imaginary, but when it comes to narrative and award-contenders, there's always a pinch of reality sewed into the mix. That is likely because as mundane and strenuous as it may seem, real life always tends to make for good storytelling—at least for those people who know what they're doing when they sit down in front of a blank page.

2021 is coming in with a whole collection of films that pull directly from (or at least are heavily inspired by) real life. Later this year, we'll see biopics chronicling the lives of some of music's most influential artists. Jennifer Hudson will disappear into the role of Aretha Franklin, followed shortly by a Baz Luhrmann-directed biopic of Elvis's life. But the interesting part of a true story is how unknown the stories can be. Take Nomadland for instance, which pulled real nomadic Americans onto the screen to tell their own stories.

Fantasy will always be intriguing, catapulting us into a new world created with imagination. But when the eyes are opened and the light streams in, it's important to remember that the reality before all of us can be just as interesting as what we envision when we close our eyes again.