2022 in film is an overview of events, including the highest-grossing films, award ceremonies, critics' lists of the best films of 2022, festivals, a list of country-specific lists of films released, and notable deaths.
In his article highlighting the best movies of 2022, Richard Brody of The New Yorker said, "This year, it’s all the more important to offer a widely inclusive list, because a wide range of American filmmakers have caught up with the inescapable phenomenon of the recent past: the resurgence of openly anti-democratic forces and brazenly hate-driven ideologies, the crisis of illegitimate rule, the menace of authoritarianism, the potential end of even our current debilitated American democracy. The phenomenon is certainly not limited to the United States, and filmmakers from around the world have long been confronting it in their own countries bravely, insightfully, and ingeniously. For years, many of the best American filmmakers have been making films of political outrage, with the unsurprising likes of Spike Lee, Jim Jarmusch, and Frederick Wiseman at the forefront, and such younger filmmakers as Jordan Peele, Garrett Bradley, and Eliza Hittman joining them. This year offers a shift in the cinematic paradigm by way of a host of memorable movies; there’s something new and extraordinary in the air, and it has precisely to do with history and memory—and, most powerfully, their intersection."[1]
With the release of Avatar: The Way of Water, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures led over other film distributors in worldwide box office grosses and crossed the $4.9 billion mark for the eighth year.[7] Disney's cumulative gross was generated from 16 film releases across its various studio divisions.[8]
Avatar: The Way of Water became the 51st film to gross $1 billion worldwide,[9] the sixth film to gross $2 billion worldwide, the sixth-fastest film to cross the billion-dollar mark at 14 days,[10] the second-fastest to gross the $2 billion mark,[11][12] the highest-grossing film of 2022,[13] and the highest-grossing film of the COVID-19 pandemic era.[14]
It also achieved the second-highest global opening weekend ever for a film released in IMAX cinemas with $48.8 million.[15]
Top Gun: Maverick became the 49th film to gross $1 billion worldwide.[17]
Additionally, the film surpassed Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018) to become Tom Cruise's highest-grossing film of all time at the worldwide box office and also surpassed War of the Worlds (2005) to become Cruise's highest-grossing film at the domestic box office.[18]
It also passed The Mummy (2017) as Cruise's biggest opening weekend at the worldwide box office and also passed War of the Worlds (2005) as Cruise's biggest opening at the domestic box office and his first film to open to over $100million in the US.
Top Gun: Maverick also passed Shrek 2 (2004) for the lowest second weekend drop (29%) for a film that opened to over 100 Million Dollars.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever attained the biggest opening weekend ever for a film released in the month of November in the US and Canada with $181.3 million.[24]
It was also the third-biggest opening weekend for a film in the US and Canada during the pandemic era, behind Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.[24][25]
Disney Africa reported that the film set an all-time box office record in West Africa and had the biggest opening of 2022 in East Africa, as well as the second-highest box office gross ever in Southern Africa.[26][27]
In Nigeria, it achieved the highest opening weekend ever for a film.[25]
Avatar became the first movie to gross more than $2.9 billion worldwide, following a worldwide re-release.[28][29]