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2022 has seen a number of amazing movie releases from various franchises and feels like the year of franchise installations.
With theatres and cinema halls opening up after a long wait due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people flocked to see sequels to their favourite movies on the big screen. As a result, some movies also witnessed unprecedented success, with some almost breaking the box office. So, here are 5 highest earning films of 2022 so far.
Disclaimer: All box office earnings stated are as of June 22, 2022, and are subject to change with time.
Franchise films have ruled the box office so far this year
5) Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is the third installation of the series, after Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018). The fantasy film by Warner Bros. Pictures is set in the same wizarding universe as the famous Harry Potter series.
With a $200 million budget, the film initially released on March 29, 2022, and came to the US on April 15, 2022. It has been widely successful, grossing a total of $401 million worldwide, with domestic shares taking up around 24%.
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore follows Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald while exploring their relationship in depth. The two were very close at one time and had even made blood pacts to not fight one another.
However, Grindelwald’s ambition grows over time. Thus, he decides to kill all muggles, using their ill-treatment of wizards as a justification.
Unable to do anything to Grindelwald himself because of the blood pact, Dumbledore recruits Newt and his group to stop the Dark Wizard. They all set off on a worldwide journey to thwart his plans of mass genocide.
4) Jurassic World Dominion
Jurassic World Dominion is the third installation of the Jurassic World film series that started in 2015. Bringing the original 1993 Jurassic Park trilogy to a close, it revolves around a world where human and dinosaurs coexist.
The movie had a budget of $185 million and raked up $634 million globally, with 40% of it being domestic shares. The film released in theatres on June 10, 2022.
Biosyn Genetics is a corporation that has set up a sanctuary for dinosaurs and executes experiments on their genomes to further pharmacological and agronomic knowledge. However, it acts towards its own benefit, trying to monopolise the market by engineering huge locusts to destroy all crops other than their own.
Jurassic World: Dominion follows the lead characters of the previous films — Allan, Ellie, Owen, and Claire — on an epic adventure to stop Biosyn and retrieve Maisie, whom they have kidnapped and plan to experiment on. The final adventure set in this world of dinosaurs is enjoyable with familiar tropes and impressive lizard action.
3) The Batman
The Batman is a 2022 film directed by Matt Reeves, focused on the titular DC comics hero Batman. The caped crusader has had many film adaptations till date, but The Batman is made to stand out. The film was made to highlight Batman's detective skills rather than him being a creature of the night and apprehending criminals with his fancy tech and combat skills.
The Batman hit theatres on March 4, 2022, and grossed a total of $770 million globally against a budget of around $200 million. Almost 50% of this is from domestic earnings.
The Batman follows Bruce Wayne, orphaned billionaire of Gotham City, who acts as the masked vigilante when he's not handling Wayne Enterprises. He works with James Gordon of the GCPD and Selina Kyle, Catwoman, to capture the Riddler.
Robert Pattinson has delivered a brilliant version of Batman, with an equally impressive performance from Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman.
2) Top Gun: Maverick
Top Gun: Maverick is the sequel to the 1986 film Top Gun. Released 36 years after the first film, Top Gun: Maverick revolves around Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, reprised by Tom Cruise. After losing his flying privileges due to a destroyed hypersonic aircraft, he is tasked with training a group of pilots for a special mission.
The film was released on May 27, 2022, and has already grossed a worldwide total of $901 million against a budget of $170 million.
Top Gun: Maverick follows Mitchell as he trains the elite group of pilots for a mission to destroy a uranium enrichment facility in enemy territory. The pilots initially rebuff Maverick, only accepting him after losing to him in a dogfight. Top Gun: Maverick is a film that works off the nostalgia of its first installation. It is no doubt a great film with a good plot and amazing airborne fights.
1) Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is the first Marvel Cinematic Universe film that could potentially belong to the horror superhero genre. Directed by Sam Raimi, the film has gotten critical acclaim for its direction and performance.
Released in theatres on May 6, 2022, the film grossed $943 million worldwide, just falling short of the $1 billion mark. It had a budget of $200 million and has been the most commercially successful film of 2022 yet. The film premiered online to stream on Disney+ on June 22, 2022.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness delves further into the concept of the multiverse. The film starts with Defender Strange, who is from the Tobey Maguire Spiderman Universe, and America Chavez being chased by a demon through the space between universes. After Defender Strange dies, Chavez is transported to Earth-616, the primary universe of the MCU, and saved by Doctor Strange.
Doctor Strange and Chavez set out on a multiversal journey to save America Chavez from falling into the hands of the bearer of Darkhold, who seeks to attain the power to travel between universes. Marvel has outdone themselves with a new approach to their superhero movies, and it shows in the box office earnings.
These are the 5 top earning films of 2022 so far. The numbers are quite close on a few of these and their placements could change at any moment.
