Tom Cruise in “Top Gun: Maverick”
Source: Paramount
“Top Gun: Maverick” is the biggest theatrical release of 2022, but $719 million is not enough to make the studio, Paramountdomestic box office authority.
The Tom Cruise-led action movie is a juggernaut, generating $719 million in ticket sales in the US and Canada, the most of any film released in 2022, according to data from Comscore. It also accounted for more than half of Paramount’s domestic total for the year.
Other releases, including “The Lost City,” “Smile,” “Scream” and “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” pushed Paramount’s 2022 box office to about $1.3 billion, the third-highest for the studio, Comscore reported.
In the end, “Maverick” represented about 10% of the total $7.5 billion in domestic ticket receipts it collected last year. The domestic number is down about 34% compared to 2019, before the pandemic.
While the “Top Gun” sequel topped the charts as the biggest movie of the year, Disney which finally wears the 2022 box office crown.
The company, which includes 20th Century Studios, brought in about $2 billion at the domestic box office thanks to several Marvel Studios pictures and James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water,” which is still raking in big money after its mid-December release.
Disney films represent nearly 27% of all domestic box office revenue in 2022, with three releases earning a place in the top five films of the year and four of the top 10.
2022 North American box office champion
- Paramount’s “Top Gun: Maverick – $719 million
- Disney’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” – $436 million
- Disney’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” – $411 million
- Disney’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” – $401 million
- “Jurassic World: Dominion” Universal – $377 million
- “Minions: The Rise of Gru” Universal – $370 million
- Warner Bros.’ “The Batman” – $369 million
- Disney’s “Thor: Love and Thunder” – $343 million
- Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” – $191 million
- Warner Bros.’ “Black Adam” – $168 million
The franchise film, which is always popular, is the strongest image for cinemas after the pandemic restrictions were lifted. In fact, all of the top 10 movies of 2022 are based on existing intellectual property.
Universal has the second highest market share for a studio domestically, with 22% of box office receipts in 2022, or about $1.65 billion. “Jurassic World: Dominion” and “Minions: The Rise of Gru” are the biggest ticket sellers, but the studio’s tally is also bolstered by several horror films including “Nope,” “The Black Phone” and “Halloween Ends.”
Warner Bros. has the fourth highest market share, just behind Paramount, at about 12.5% of ticket sales. “The Batman,” “Black Adam,” “Elvis” and “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” contributed to nearly $940 million.
The fifth highest market share is Sony, which started the year strong after the late 2021 release of “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” a collaboration with Disney. “No Way Home” collected $241 million in ticket sales in 2022. Sony also has releases like “Uncharted,” “Bullet Train” and “Where the Crawdads Sing,” which contributed about $870 million in receipts, nearly 12% of the 2022 total box office.
Last year was “a year of realignment and recovery for cinema,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.
While ticket sales are on the rise again, fewer films are being released in theaters in 2022, resulting in lower annual box office.
Industry experts like Dergarabedian are encouraged by a stronger 2023 film, which includes several blockbuster features as well as low- to mid-budget films. Expectations are high for several Marvel and DC superhero movies along with a rise in family-friendly fare.
Movies like Warner Bros.’ “Barbie,” Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” and Sony’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” are just some of the anticipated features coming in 2023.
“The journey ahead promises to be a more consistent and steady year for the big screen,” said Dergarabedian.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.