Avatar: The Way of Water’s has been released, and, showcasing his ability to think ahead, director James Cameron has still discussed the possibility of the Avatar sequel bombing at the box office. There’s ultimately nothing to worry about, and it’ll likely gross way over $1.5 billion, but there have been so many other surprise success stories this year that shouldn’t be overlooked.
More than any other recent year, 2022 has been full of surprise successes, and tons of indie movies have enjoyed huge victories just as much as the blockbuster popcorn flicks. Between a horror sequel with a slashed budget making double its projections, a three-hour Indian movie being one of the most talked about of the year, and a non-MCU movie outgrossing every superhero release, 2022 was a triumph for cinema.
Top Gun: Maverick
Almighty_Push91 refers to the nonstop success Top Gun: Maverick has enjoyed throughout the whole year, as it seemingly refused to leave theatres. The Redditor comments, “Def Top Gun, I didn’t expect anything from this movie, and look at it.” The sequel, which follows the original movie by 36 years, has grossed almost $1.5 billion (via Box Office Mojo), is the highest-grossing movie of the year, and had the lowest-ever drop on its second week in theatres.
Outside of 2020, which resulted in movie theatres shutting down due to COVID-19, 2022 is the first time in 13 years that the highest-grossing movie is a Harry Potter, Transformers, MCU, Star Wars, or Disney animated movie, as Maverick holds the spot. Though it could be knocked off the top spot by the upcoming Avatar: The Way of Water, that’s such an impressive feat given that so many superhero movies have been released this year.
Terrifier 2
Essceebee points to Terrifier 2, the micro-budget horror movie, as the biggest success story of the year. The film was made with a budget of $250,000, and through word of mouth, it has gone on to make over $10 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo). While $10 million would be a bomb for almost any other movie, it’s one the best box office performances ever relative to its budget.
And though the serial killer Art the Clown had appeared in several of director Damien Leone’s previous releases, Terrifier 2 has made him instantly iconic. Terrifier 2 might make audiences feel physically sick, especially with its final brutal showstopper, but moviegoers can’t get enough of it.
VelmaSpaghetti thinks Smile is the biggest surprise success story of the year. The Redditor notes, “Smile was originally supposed to be released on Paramount+, but they decided to release it theatrically and it has made over $200 million worldwide.” According to The Hollywood Reporter, the movie was originally planned to go straight to streaming, but that was changed after positive test screenings.
Smile was the subject of an incredible guerilla marketing campaign, as actors were hired to sit at sporting events and creepily stare into the camera when it was pointed at them (via Slash Film). Viewers picked up on it and the marketing seemingly worked, as the film is currently sitting at $203 million (via Box Office Mojo), which isn’t bad for a movie with a budget of $17 million. Between Smile and Top Gun: Maverick, Paramount has had such a successful year, as the studio produced both movies.
The Batman
JakX276 thinks The Batman’s box office performance is a surprising success that Warner Bros. should be happy about. The Redditor adds, “Yeah, yeah, I know superhero movie/Batman movie automatically will make money. While true, the amount this movie had working against it would’ve crippled a lesser movie.” The Batman might be a huge $200-million-budget franchise movie, but it had so many things stacked up against it when it came to its potential box office performance.
For starters, it’s the darkest Batman film yet, and it even opens with a shockingly violent murder, so few parents will be taking their younger kids to see the superhero flick. On top of that, The Batman is three hours long, which means fewer screenings per day, and that means fewer ticket sales, not to mention that people aren’t exactly enthusiastic about watching a dark and brooding three-hour movie. But it still ended up making $770 million (via Box Office Mojo).
RRR is about two Indian revolutionaries and is full of fantastical sequences and incredible action scenes, and it has gone from one success to the next. Aboysmokingintherain is the biggest advocate of the movie and is more excited about what it means for the future of Indian movies. The Redditor posits, “With RRR earlier this year, I think we are going to see more Indian movies be released, which doesn’t sound like a big deal until you see how many people go to see them.”
While the movie had a theatrical release in some territories and has even accrued over $100 million (via Box Office Mojo), the digital rights were quickly acquired by Netflix. Since it has been available to stream, viewers haven’t stopped talking about the three-hour epic, and it’s the biggest success of 2022 when it comes to foreign movies.
Uncharted isn’t the first movie people would think of when it comes to the biggest movie successes of 2022, especially as the video game movie is hated by longtime fans. Nevertheless, JerKeeler thinks the movie did extremely well at the box office considering how it was so critically slammed.
The Redditor comments, “I am impressed Uncharted has done as well as it has, maybe I should check it out.” While the film might have tons of problems and is unfaithful to the source material, it’s still such a recognizable IP, and as Tom Holland is such a bankable star at the minute, the video game movie managed to overcome its negative reviews. Uncharted made $400 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo), making its sequel chances look good, though Uncharted 2 should have a different director.
Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness
Silver_Legion thinks Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is the biggest surprise success of the year. While it sounds ridiculous to call an MCU movie a surprise success, as the films can’t fail, the Redditor specifically refers to the movie’s shocking amount of presales.
According to Deadline, the film made over $42 million in presales, which puts the presales numbers of Thor: Ragnarok, Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2, Captain Marvel, and many other MCU releases to shame. Even more impressively, Wakanda Forever can’t even reach that of Multiverse of Madness, as the Black Panther sequel has made 20% less in terms of presales (via Comicbook.com)
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Essceebee argues that Everything Everywhere All at Once was the biggest success story of 2022. The Redditor mentions, “Everything Everywhere All at Once being the highest-grossing A24 movie.” The Redditor is not wrong, as the movie made an impressive $102 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo), surpassing Hereditary as the highest-grossing A24 release.
A24 is generally known for funding unique indie movies, so reaching the $100 million mark is certainly a milestone for the studio. Fans want to see Everything Everywhere 2 enter development, and while the first movie wraps up its story, the movie’s box office success makes the idea of a sequel a little more likely.
Scream 5
JediJones77 believes the Scream, the soft reboot of the horror series, is the best success story of 2022. The Redditor comments, “It’s pretty crazy to revive a dead, 26-year-old franchise like that, doubling the previous one’s domestic gross, after an 11-year gap without any obvious new hooks and a budget cut in half.”
Few long-running horror franchises have been revived as effortlessly. The fifth movie in the Scream franchise returned to the meta formula, kept audiences guessing, and reminded fans why they love the original movie, as well as finding a brand new fanbase too. Because of its overwhelming success, a sequel was fast-tracked, and Scream 6 is scheduled for release on March 10, just 14 months after Scream 5.
In a decade from now, 2022 will likely be remembered as being a seminal year for the horror genre. Not only were Terrifier 2, Smile, and Scream 5 huge successes, but Scarns_Aisle5 points to Barbarian too.
The Redditor notes, “Movie was an independent feature whose financier died. It could have gone down the route as say another Fox horror, but instead, it picked up buzz and didn’t die like many other Disney-Fox projects.” The user is referring to Eric Tavitian, who died in 2021, leaving the film without any financial backing (via Vulture). But it finally got the funding it needed and ended up making 10 times its budget (via Box Office Mojo).
This content was originally published here.
