Retrospective: the cinema year 2022 in figures

Let’s take out the graphs and the calculators to dive back into an eventful cinema year…

On March 27, in the middle of the Oscars ceremony, Will Smith suddenly got up and slapped Chris Rock, presenter of the evening, on the stage of the Kodak Theater. The uncensored video is immediately relayed on social networks and goes viral, garnering more than 59 million views in 24 hours for a total of 103 million total views.

The next day, Will Smith broadcast an apology message via Instagram and Facebook. Then, on April 1, he resigned from the Academy of Oscars. The latter then forbids him to attend the events she organizes for 10 years.

The actor is also the second most searched personality on Google worldwide in 2022, between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. Chris Rock is in fifth place.

Ironically, the Oscars ceremony was watched by only 16.6 million spectators, the second worst score in its history… but nevertheless up 58% compared to the previous edition. On the other hand, on social networks, the awards evening totaled 22.7 million interactions, becoming the most commented on Oscars online.

This is the approximate sum received by Tom Cruise for “Top Gun: Maverick”. The actor and producer was only paid $13 million in salary, but his box office profit earned him around $90 million.

In second place comes Will Smith, paid US$35 million for “Emancipation”, broadcast by AppleTV+. We then find Leonardo DiCaprio for “Killers of the Flower Moon” by Martin Scorsese and Brad Pitt for an untitled motor racing feature film at US$30 million.

Then comes Dwayne Johnson who received no less than US$22.5 million for his “Black Adam”. The first woman in this top? Margot Robbie and her $12.5 million touchdown for her role in Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie”… tied with Ryan Gosling, the film’s other star. Another example of parity are the salaries of Matt Damon, Emily Blunt and Robert Downey Jr., who received US$4 million each for their roles in Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer”, in theaters next year.

At the time of this writing, the homegrown romantic comedy “December 23” has well over $1 million in box office receipts. Written by India Desjardins, the choral film follows the eventful day in the middle of a snowstorm of characters two days before Christmas. Guylaine Tremblay, Michel Barrette, Virginie Fortin, Bianca Gervais and Stéphane Rousseau are among the cast.

It’s November, a user of the Tumblr network pulls out a two-year-old photo from his archives. The subject? “Goncharov”, an obscure 1973 film about the Naples mafia and directed by… Martin Scorsese. Starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, John Cazale, Gene Hackman, Cybill Shepherd and Harvey Keitel.

Quickly, we see appearing a poster, a DVD cover, a synopsis… and a Wikipedia entry. Within hours, “Goncharov” becomes the main topic of the network, and Scorsese the second. But now, this film does not exist, little jokers had fun creating it from scratch.

“Avatar: Way of the Water” is the longest-running American blockbuster of the year. The other four are:

“Babylon”: 188 minutes

“The Batman”: 176 minutes

“Blonde”: 166 minutes

“Black Panther: Long Live Wakanda”: ​​161 minutes

The Disney empire, which now includes 20th Century studios, has been nominated 17 times for the Golden Globes which will take place on January 10. Universal comes in second place with 11 nominations, A24 studios collected 10 and Netflix, nine.

This is the duration of the ovation received, at the Cannes Film Festival, by “Triangle of Sadness” (“Without filter”), recipient of the Palme d’or 2022.

“Top Gun: Maverick”: US$1.48 billion

“Jurassic World: Domination”: US$1 billion

“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”: $955.77 million

“Minions 2: Once Upon a Time Gru”: $939.43 million

“Black Panther: Long Live Wakanda”: ​​$787.13 million

In terms of their animated films, Disney studios had a very bad year. “Lightyear”, from Pixar studios, which should have brought families together in theaters last June, did not have the expected success. Produced for the sum of US$200 million, not counting the promotional budget, the film only grossed US$226.4 million worldwide. Another resounding flop, “Avalonia: A Strange World”, released for the American Thanksgiving weekend. The film, which cost around US$180 million, only grossed… US$60.6 million in theaters. The big culprit? Disney’s strategy to release family titles on Disney+ during the pandemic.