Only recently did we learn that the box office would eventually recover from the epidemic that hit two years ago. Two Movies Released in 2021—“Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “No time to die”– gave audiences a reason to believe that movie theaters were not doomed to extinction. However, by 2022, movie theaters had once again shown their worth to Hollywood.
Plus, for the first time in quite some time, the box office was bolstered by more than just superhero movies. While “Elvis,” a glitzy Baz Luhrmann biopic, ‘Ticket to Paradise’, a star-studded romantic comedy from Universal, and the indie ‘Everything, Everywhere, All at Once’, from A24, all proving there’s a real chance for bold swings to resonate with audiences, the highest-grossing film of the year was the sequel to a film that premiered nearly four decades ago.
Sadly, box office bombs are a fact of life now that movies are making a serious comeback. And there were some real stinkers this year. Disneys “Light Year” and “Strange World” bombed, casting serious doubt on the viability of family-friendly films in the future. Meanwhile, the successes of “Brittle” and “She Said” draw attention to the problems facing mid-range films.
According to Comscore, the domestic box office has made $7.4 billion so far in 2022. Ticket sales revenue is still 33% lower than during the previous typical box office season in 2019, which brought in $10.6 billion. Studios didn’t release as many movies last year because of COVID, but one virus can’t explain the whole drop. It may also reflect a shift in buyer preferences. Ahead of the year-end, Variety analyzed the year’s global box office performance for the major studios.
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DISNEY
Avatar: The Way of Water ($955 million), “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” ($800 million and rising) and “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” ($955 million and up) are just a few of the blockbusters of recent years. Death on the Nile ($137 million), Lightyear ($226 million), Amsterdam ($31 million), and Strange World ($54 million) are the lowest-grossing films.
Grade B
Amazing what time and a pandemic can do. At the start of 2019, Disney continued its reign of box office dominance with seven films that earned over $1 billion each. Nothing but “Avatar: The Way of Water”, which will cross the $1 billion mark every day has not yet done so this year. While only two other movies have crossed the $100 million mark this year, you’d think with three Marvel movies slated for release, at least one would stand a chance. disney has survived many high-profile flops despite success with established brands.
Pixar, once the standard bearer for family-friendly entertainment, has been unable to reconnect with audiences in any significant way for some time now, which is cause for concern. Disney’s failures still outnumber most other studios’ successes, but the Magic Kingdom invests heavily in the production and promotion of its films and has very high standards. The superhero genre will be fine in 2023, but the studio’s newly reinstated CEO Bob Iger has his work cut out for him with the rest of the schedule.
BIGGEST IMPORTANCE
Record-breaking figures include $1.48 billion for “Top Gun: Maverick,” $402 million for it “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” $216 million for ‘Smile’, $190 million for “The Lost City,” $140 million for it “scream,” and $80 million for “Jackass Forever.” In the dump we have “Babylon” ($5.3 million and up).
Class A
Take away food: DecisiveThe incredible box office revival cannot be overstated. The studio had an almost perfect run (good times were somewhat disrupted by “Babylon”) with successive successes in every genre after it was written off in the early epidemic days. Paramount’s 2022 slate was particularly successful because it targeted viewers who enjoy rom-coms, comedy, and traditional all-American action with films like “Jackass Forever” and “The Lost City,” genres that previously struggled to gain audiences for the studio.
And of course there’s Tom Cruise’s decades-in-the-making sequel to it “Top gun,” “Top Gun: Maverick,” which was a huge financial success despite everything being certain. But it was an undeniable success, and not only among fans of the original. Its $1.488 billion worldwide gross and position as the highest-grossing film of the year can be attributed to the fact that any pop culture consumer would feel compelled to see what all the fuss was about. Moviegoers around the world are applauding Tom Cruise.
SONY
Awards: “The Lady King” ($92 million), “Where the Crawdads Sing” ($140 million), “Not charted” ($401 million), and “Bullet train” ($293). Films that did poorly at the box office include “Morbius” ($167 million), “Father Stu” ($21 million), “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile” ($87 billion a year), “Devotion” ($17 million) and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” ($9.5 million).
Grade B
The company took some calculated risks with its 2022 output, and the results were movies like Viola Davis’ action epic The Woman King and the literary adaptation Where the Crawdads Sing. Cost $75 million to produce, Jared Leto’s “Morbius” comic book movie wasn’t a complete bust, but it barely made enough money to warrant sequels and spinoffs to match Disney’s MCU adventures. The family movie “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile” also failed to live up to expectations and was added to that year’s bomb list.
Sony just had to take the blow of the $90 million budget bust”dedication,who distributed it but did not fund it. By limiting expenses, the studio showed that audiences would still pay to see something new and different.
UNIVERSAL
Records broken include “Jurassic World Domination($1.001 billion), “Minions: The Rise of Gru” ($939 million), “The black telephone‘ ($161 million), ‘Ticket to Paradise’ ($165 million), ‘Halloween Ends’ ($104 million), and ‘Nope’ ($171 million). The 355 ($27 million), The Northman ($69 million), Bros. ($14 million), Easter Sunday ($13 million), She Said ($10 million), and The Fabelmans ($10.5 million) all underperformed at the box office.
Grade: B+
Key takeaways: In 2022, Universal released more movies across a wider range of budgets and genres than any of its rival major studios. But the findings were far from uniform. Both “Jurassic World” and “Minions” turned out to be the blockbusters Universal had hoped they would be, bringing the studio’s worldwide grosses to over $3 billion.
In addition, scary movies like “The Black Phone” and “nodid very well at the box office. Unfortunately, Universal’s attempts to diversify into more arthouse or adult-oriented entertainment met with little success. Despite positive reviews from most observers, Oscar hopefuls love “The Fablesand “She Said” failed to find an audience and eventually tanked at the box office. It seems that quality alone is not enough to fight a pandemic that won’t go away.
WARNER BROS.
Box office successes include “The Batter” ($770 million), “Elvis” ($286 million), “Don’t Worry Darling” ($86 million), and “DC League of Super-Pets” ($220 million). Disappointing figures include $405 million for “Fantastic Beasts: Dumbledore’s Secrets” and $389 million for it “Black Adam.”
Grade B
The Warner brothers’ home was not a pleasant place to be right now. Under the new management of Warner Bros. Discovery, the studio has started a round of layoffs, cutbacks and postponed projects, creating an atmosphere of high tension among employees. So, how did the studio cope with all the behind-the-scenes changes? OKAY. Director Matt Reeves breathed new life into the classic tale of a caped crusader with “The batter.”
While “Don’t worry baby” brought a tidal wave of off-screen drama to must-see status and gave us some of the most memorable moments of 2022 (Miss Flo and split gate, we’re looking at you), “Elvis” was one of the few movies focused on adults to really connect at the checkout. However, not everything went as planned; two franchise hopes vanished. The “Fantastic Beasts” movies no longer seem to have the same spell they once had, and DC’s new leadership has decided to abandon Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s anti-hero, Black Adam, because of how much money and time he wasted.
Last lines
We only recently found out that the box office would recover from the pandemic that hit two years ago. The success of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “No Time to Die”, both released in 2021, offered moviegoers hope that the multiplex wasn’t dead after all. However, by the year 2022, movie theaters had once again proved their worth to Hollywood.
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