Best Movies of 2022... So Far

Tom Cruise has soared past a number of box office records this year with his blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick. The hit film had the biggest opening weekend of any of Cruise's previous. It quickly became Cruise's highest-grossing film ever, as well as the highest-grossing film of 2022. After crossing the $1 billion mark, it will likely remain the highest-grossing film. It also became the first Cruise film to earn a billion dollars. According to Box Office Mojo, as of July 4, it stands at $1.1 billion, putting it into the Top 30 of all-time films. Depending on how Paramount Pictures, its distributor, plays things, there's a chance the film could end up in the Top 20 of all-time.

Even before Top Gun: Maverick, Paramount has been having a very good year. The movie studio has had five different films debut at number-one, more than any other studio. Other than Top Gun: Maverick, Paramount had Scream (2022), Jackass Forever, The Lost City and Sonic the Hedgehog 2. However, Universal Pictures has the most films that are in the Top Ten of the year. As of July 4, it has three: Jurassic World Dominion, The Bad Guys and Minions: The Rise of Gru. The latter two are animated films.

Speaking of which, the success of Universal Pictures in that category proves that family-friendly films still have a market at the multiplex. It's particularly shocking that the Disney-owned Pixar failed with its latest theatrical release, Lightyear. It's not necessarily that Pixar made a bad film. There were various outside forces that prevented people from going to the theaters to see it. Yet, it must be said that Lightyear does rank in the bottom third of Pixar films in terms of critical reactions, according to Rotten Tomatoes.

Outside of Hollywood, or outside the big studios, there are a couple of headlines to note. One is the success of RRR, the film from India that made a pretty big splash in its native country and in the United States. When it was released back in March, it became the second highest-grossing film in India. A month or so later, it slipped to third place. Third place isn't bad, particularly third place in the U.S. box office when you're a foreign-language film that had no domestic marketing to help boost it. The online buzz and box office receipts were enough to get its American distributor, Variance Films, to re-release RRR back into theaters in June, despite it already being available on Netflix.

Beyond Indian cinema, the biggest headline among arthouse cinema is that of Everything Everywhere All At Once. Ironically, the comedy, by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, known collectively as the Daniels, was released the same week as RRR. Its opening weekend had the second-best, theater average of any film since the COVID-19 pandemic. It was only playing in 10 theaters at first. Over the weeks, it kept being added to theaters across the country. It went into wide release on April 8. The following weekend, it entered the Top 5 and pretty much stayed there through May. It did start to slip down as the summer progressed, but, as of July 4, the Daniels' film still remains in the Top 10 of the week. It's made over $86 million worldwide, the majority of which in the U.S., which places it as A24's highest-grossing film ever.

Unlike in years past, I haven't seen as many features as I normally do. By this point, last year, I had seen over 100 features, either in theaters or online. This year, I've seen less than half that amount. This year's list is therefore not as comprehensive, not as thorough, as previous lists. It's a list that's probably not for everyone. It's a list that's more idiosyncratic to my personal tastes, but here it is:

10. TURNING RED by Domee Shi (Disney +)

9. BADHAAI DO by Harshavardhan Kulkarni (Netflix)

8. THREE MONTHS by Jared Frieder (Paramount +)

7. FIRE ISLAND by Andrew Ahn (Hulu)

6. SEE YOU THEN by Mari Walker (VOD)

5. A SHOT THROUGH THE WALL by Aimee Long (Tubi)

4. GREAT FREEDOM by Sebastian Meise (Amazon Prime). Jon Garcia's Luz (2021)

3. TOP GUN: MAVERICK by Joseph Kosinski (In theaters)

2. EMERGENCY by Carey Williams (Amazon Prime)

1. B-BOY BLUES by Jussie Smollett (BET +)