As the end of 2018 draws near, it's time to look forward to 2022 and find out which Disney movies will make the most money. The following list includes Finding Nemo, Despicable Me, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Top Gun: Maverick.
Disney is releasing four films in 2022, and Finding Nemo will lead the way with the highest gross income. Currently, it is the highest-grossing movie in the history of the studio. This is not the case, however, for all movies. The film is expected to gross $256 million worldwide and top "Avatar" for the first time.
The Disney sequel to "Jurassic World" did not make the top spot, despite being the first animated film to earn at least $70 million. The film had to compete with a behemoth movie from Universal and a high-flying film from Paramount. Moreover, audiences didn't care for the film's paranormal origin story, which pushed it into second place and made it the first Pixar film to miss the top spot.
Despicable Me has become a beloved franchise with five animated movies and a new prequel, The Rise of Gru. The sequel, which follows young Gru during the 1970s, is expected to take between $70M and $80M domestically over its first four days. It will likely do well overseas and could top $150M globally.
"The Rise of Gru" is the highest-grossing live-action/CGI hybrid movie, breaking the record of Transformers: Dark of the Moon. The film also sets a record as the highest-grossing July 4 opening weekend. The previous description, held by Transformers: Dark of the Moon, was $111.8 million. Spider-Man 2 was the next highest-grossing movie in the same period.
Thor: Love and Thunder, the second major Marvel movie released in 2022, has opened to $144.2 million in domestic ticket sales, making it the second-highest opening of Disney's year. The movie's performance is consistent with what analysts and Boxoffice Pro have predicted. In addition, it helped offset the poor performance of Pixar's "Lightyear."
Thor: Love and Thunder will debut on Disney+ on Thursday, September 8, 2022, during Disney+ Day. It will also debut on home video two to three months after it premieres in theaters. This will make it one of Disney's highest-grossing films in 2022.
Thor: Love and Thunder have received mostly positive reviews. It has a new score of 68% on Rotten Tomatoes, with audiences giving it a B+ CinemaScore. About 60% of its audience was male, and 53% were 18-34. IMAX has reported that the film grossed $23 million from its screens worldwide. Thor: Love and Thunder star Chris Hemsworth as the titular superhero. He reunites with his former girlfriend Jane Foster to fight the god-butcher Gorr.
With a $1.33 billion global gross, Top Gun: Maverick is on its way to passing Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Harry Potter, the Deathly Hallows Part II, and Black Panther. This weekend, it will take 13th place, behind Avengers: Age of Ultron. In other words, it will be a hot ticket in 2022.
The movie is now the sixth-biggest film of all time in North America. The shortfall in 2022 is due mainly to the number of wide releases. Last year, 42 titles were released into at least 2,000 North American theaters, down from 73 and 71 in the pre-pandemic years.
In the US alone, Uncharted has earned over $300 million, with Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg starring as the titular adventurers. Sony Pictures CEO Tom Rothman has called the movie "the next big franchise," and the director Ruben Fleischer has said he's open to a sequel. He has already sketched out some ideas for a sequel and has said that he'd like to make more films in the Uncharted series.
Uncharted has received mixed reviews. Nevertheless, the film has many fans and is expected to break the $30 million mark in its first week of release. The film has a 39% Rotten Tomatoes rating, a slightly higher score than it earned from the audience. Uncharted is expected to remain in the top three for months to come, and it won't fall out of the top five until April 8, when the sequel to Sonic the Hedgehog hits theaters.