No surprise: Walt Disney is the #1 studio at the box office, not only worldwide with $4.9 billion, but also domestically with $2 billion and internationally with $2.9 billion. This comes after a first New Year’s weekend in which Avatar: The Way of Water outperformed, with that image grossing nearly $1 billion overseas. It is the seventh year in a row that Disney has been #1 at the global box office from 2016 to 2022.
Disney’s Moola was made up of 16 theatrical releases.
Universal
Universal is the #2 studio of 2022 with $3.9 billion worldwide, with $1.649 billion in the US and $2.251 billion offshore, and that’s the largest list of any studio (including her label Focus Features).
We told you last week leading up to December 31 that Disney is eyeing just under $2 billion with $1.93 billion in the US, the most of any studio. Before Christmas, we also told you that Disney had surpassed $4 billion worldwide.
Disney only had three theatrical releases in China: Avatar 2, Death on the Nile and Encanto.
The Burbank, California-based studio had and contributed to four of the top eight films of 2022 in the United States, Avatar: The Way of Water, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love and Thunder estimated 27% domestic market share.
Six Disney films hit #1 in the US and Canada: Avatar: The Way of Water, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, Barbarian and Death on the Nile.
Disney also had four of the top eight films worldwide in Avatar: The Way of Water, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Thor: Love and Thunder.
Disney-produced titles make up the top five global debuts of the pandemic-era, including four Marvel Cinematic Universe films (Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Thor: Love and Thunder and Avatar: The Way of Water.
The studio’s best pictures broken down for January 1st through December. 31st, 2022:
Avatar: The way of the water (20th Century Studios) – $1,303 million worldwide, $401 million domestic, $902 million international (pending release) earned an A CinemaScore and 92% Rotten Tomatoes audience. It was the #1 offshore release of the last year, the #2 release globally in 2022, and the #3 of the pandemic era. It was also the fastest film to hit $1 billion worldwide in 2022, the sixth film in history to hit $1 billion in its first two weeks of release, and the fourth Disney release to hit in the first hit $1 billion in two weeks. The sequel is also 20th Century Studios’ highest-grossing feature since the first Avatar in 2009.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Marvel Studios) – $817 million worldwide, $436 million domestic, $381 million international (pending release). Directed by Ryan Coogler, the title received an A CinemaScore, 94% Rotten Tomatoes Audience, 84% Rotten Tomatoes Critic. It’s the third-highest-grossing film in the US of 2022, and has been #1 for five straight weekends since it opened, making it the first film to accomplish that feat since the original Black Panther in 2018.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Marvel Studios) – $956 million worldwide, $411 million domestic, $544 million international with 85% Rotten Tomatoes audience. It was the fourth highest-grossing worldwide release of the year. It also had the largest domestic opening weekend of 2022 ($187 million); It was the 11th-biggest domestic opening weekend of all time, reigning in the domestic top 10 for nine weeks. Doctor Strange 2 is ranked the #11th Marvel Cinematic Universe title of all time worldwide.
Thor: Love and Thunder (Marvel Studios) – $761 million worldwide, $343 million domestic, $418 million international. It was the highest-grossing film in the Thor franchise domestically and the eighth-highest worldwide release of the year. The picture stayed in the US/Canada Top 10 for nine weeks.
light year (Pixar Animation Studios) – $226 million worldwide, $118 million domestic, $108 million international. The film had an A-CinemaScore and stayed in the US Top 10 for five weeks. It was also the second-highest opening for an animated film in 2022 at $50.5 million in the United States, behind Universal/Illumination’s Minions: Rise of Gru at $107 million.
The re-release of Avatar added to Disney’s box office in 2022 with a worldwide gross of $76 million. Other releases included Death on the Nile ($138 million worldwide) and breakout horror hit Barbarian ($45 million worldwide), both from 20th Century Studios, and Brahmastra Part One: Shiva. ($47 million worldwide) by Star Studios.
Searchlight Pictures also released the critically acclaimed The Banshees of Inisherin (98% Rotten Tomatoes Critics Score), which proved to be a front-runner during awards season, and The Menu (89% Rotten Tomatoes Critics Score and forthcoming). , which has earned $72 million worldwide to date. Other Disney titles this year included Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Strange World, Searchlight Pictures’ Empire of Light and See How They Run, and 20th Century Studios’ The Bob’s Burgers Movie and Amsterdam.
This year, Disney has Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, The Little Mermaid, Elemental, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Next Goal Wins, A Haunting in Venice, Wish from its labels which include Disney, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Lucasfilm, Marvel Studios, Searchlight Pictures, and 20th Century Studios.