Fandango took a poll of over 6,000 ticket buyers to figure out what big event films people were the most excited about in 2022 and– SHOCKER– people love the Marvel Superheroes! The most anticipated film of 2022, according to this poll, is Black Panther: Wakanda Forever which opens on November 11 of next year.
Some of the anticipation may stem from the curiosity of how Marvel Studios, Disney, and director Ryan Coogler will compensate for the death of Black Panther himself, Chadwick Boseman. It is already known that there are no plans to recast the role of T’Challa, so clearly someone else will assume the title. Rumors have been flying about who that “someone” will be, but so far no one but Coogler and the higher-ups at Disney (and perhaps the cast) knows the truth.
Production on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is currently on hiatus following an onset injury to star Letitia Wright. Filming is slated to be resuming in January and Disney has made no mention of postponing the movie’s release.
The second-most anticipated movie of 2022 is Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One), starring another Marvel Comics character, although the movie hails from Sony.
This is of course the sequel to 2018’s Spider-man: Into the Spider-Verse, which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Film among other accolades. The film, which focused on the “Ultimate” Spider-Man, Miles Morales, was a hit with fans, but I’m a little surprised that this follow-up is the second-most anticipated movie of 2022 because the first wasn’t a huge financial hit, making a respectable $375.5 million on a budget of $90 million. But the first Black Panther made over a BILLION dollars, so that’s quite a disparity. Maybe it just took some time for Into the Spider-Verse to find its fanbase after it hit streaming and home video?
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will be released on October 7.
I’m also a little surprised that Across the Spider-Verse ranked higher than the #3 movie on this list– The Batman.
I would say that it is pretty likely that Spider-Man (any version) is probably slightly more popular in the mainstream than Batman at this point, but it seems like every time Warner Bros. releases a trailer for The Batman, the internet goes bonkers for it. Plus, let’s face it, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is animated and that is an automatic turn-off to some adult filmgoers. But I suppose on the flip side, it makes it more appealing to parents. (I assume Fandango didn’t poll any elementary school kids for this.)
Matt Reeves’ The Batman opens on March 4.
Check out the list of the Most Anticipated Blockbusters below:
2022’s Most Anticipated Blockbusters
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Nov. 11)
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Oct. 7)
The Batman (March 4)
Thor: Love and Thunder (July 8)
Jurassic World: Dominion (June 10)
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (May 6)
Avatar 2 (Dec. 16)
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (Dec. 16)
Top Gun: Maverick (May 27)
Mission: Impossible 7 (Sept. 30)
It’s also a bit surprising that Thor: Love and Thunder and Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness ranked as low as they did. Thor: Ragnarok was one of the most beloved of the MCU movies and Chris Hemsworth’s Thor remains one of the most popular characters in the roster… not to mention one of the last of the original guard still running around. And Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness looks to be the one Marvel film of 2022 that is most connected to the rest of the projects and sets the stage for the future.
In all honesty, I’m surprised Avatar 2 didn’t come in dead last. As for Top Gun: Maverick, it may be concerning for Paramount that it ranked so low, considering the studio clearly expects this to be massive, which is why it keeps postponing it — in hopes that moviegoing will return to normal and deliver maximum ticket sales for this revival.
Fandango went further and broke things down into more specific categories. Check out the results below:
2022’s Most Anticipated Action/Adventure Movies (non-superhero)
Jurassic World: Dominion
Avatar 2
Top Gun: Maverick
Mission: impossible 7
Uncharted (Feb. 18)
2022’s Most Anticipated Animated/Family Movies
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Pixar’s Lightyear (June 17)
Minions: The Rise of Gru (July 1)
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (April 15)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (April 8)
2022’s Most Anticipated Horror Movies
Halloween Ends (Oct. 14)
Scream (Jan. 14)
Jordan Peele’s Nope (July 22)
Orphan: First Kill (TBD)
The Black Phone (June 24)
2022’s Most Anticipated Returning Performances
Chris Hemsworth (as Thor), Thor: Love and Thunder
Benedict Cumberbatch (as Dr. Stephen Strange), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Natalie Portman (as Dr. Jane Foster), Thor: Love and Thunder
Zoe Saldana (as Neytiri), Avatar 2
Elizabeth Olsen (as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
2022’s Most Anticipated New Performances
Robert Pattinson (as Bruce Wayne/Batman), The Batman
Dwayne Johnson (as Black Adam), Black Adam
Christian Bale (as Gorr the God Butcher), Thor: Love and Thunder
Issa Rae (as Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman), Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Zoe Kravitz (as Selina Kyle/Catwoman), The Batman
A couple more observations, starting with things looking bad for Tom Holland’s vehicle Uncharted. There was recently some chatter that following the success of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Holland may increase his asking price for any film to $100 million. Critics blasted back that Holland has not proven himself as a draw outside of the Spider-Man franchise, citing the resounding failures of his films like Cherry and Chaos Walking.
Uncharted may prove the naysayers wrong if audiences flock to it in large enough numbers. But it seems that as for right now, folks aren’t that pumped for it. And there isn’t much time for Sony to turn that around as Uncharted is due to open on February 18.
Things also look bad for the struggling Fantastic Beasts franchise, as the next installment, The Secrets of Dumbledore didn’t rank on any chart except for the Family Movie category. And it didn’t even rank that well there.
Jordan Peele has become a brand to himself. His film Nope is the third most anticipated horror movie behind franchise installments Halloween Ends and the reboot of Scream. And like with his other films, NO ONE KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT IT! But simply attaching his name seems enough to ensure success.
And finally, Dwayne Johnson ranked as the second-most anticipated New Performance, behind Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne/Batman, for his leading role in Warner Bros.’ DC movie Black Adam, but the film itself didn’t rank on the Blockbusters list. It’s clear that millions simply LOVE Dwayne Johnson, as even his mediocre movies tend to perform well enough in theaters.
In fact, Johnson is on the opposite end of the spectrum from Tom Holland. Millions of people will show up JUST because Johnson is the star.
But Black Adam didn’t rank anywhere else, so it doesn’t look like many are that jazzed about this film that focuses on a fairly obscure DC anti-hero. But Johnson’s star power will draw many and if the film turns out to be great, word of mouth could really drive ticket sales. A similar thing happened with Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, a modest film that many were averse to at first. But the movie itself was a fun, family-friendly romp and word of mouth made it Sony’s biggest box office hit ever! (Ironically, it has since been deposed by Spider-Man: No Way Home.)
Keep in mind, just because ticket buyers are excited (or not so much) about these movies right now, doesn’t really have any bearing on how they will actually perform. Some films that people are really looking forward to could wind up sucking, while movies that no one is that pumped about could turn out to be excellent and true crowdpleasers.
What do you think of these rankings? What are your most anticipated movies and performances of 2022?
