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Milestones and Turning Points in Film History The Year 2022 |
 Timeline of Greatest Film History Milestones and Turning Points (by decade and year) Introduction | Pre-1900s | 1900s | 1910s | 1920s | 1930s | 1940s | 1950s 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
| Event and Significance | |
| Founder Walt Disney's entire
Disney empire was originally created, almost 100 years ago beginning
in 1923, as a brand focusing on creating continuing entertainment and
happy, wholesome and magical experiences for children and their families.
Characters such as Mickey Mouse, treasured animated feature films such
as Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and The Lion King (1994),
and TV's The Wonderful World of Disney, in addition to theme parks, were part
of the studio's successful line-up and strategy. However, in recent
years, Disney has expanded into areas that have moved away from its
trademark "family entertainment," including a focus on increased
profitability, acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel, LucasFilm, and 20th Century
Fox, new avenues in digital streaming (Disney +), and most crucially, its
endorsement of progressive, leftist views on marriage, gender, sex, and
the family, including its revolt against more traditional views. LGBTQ+ employees and related organizations pushed Disney's leadership into becoming highly political, for example, by taking a public stance and opposing the Parental Rights in Education bill (branded misleadingly as the "Don't Say Gay" bill, H.B. 1557) now signed into law in Florida. In addition, Disney also promoted corporate contributions to LGBTQ organizations and public messaging against the Florida bill. The law was simply aimed at protecting young children in K-3 grades from being inappropriately indoctrinated during classroom instruction with LGBTQ, sexual-orientation and gender-identity propaganda in tax-funded schools. Disney's goal to transform much of its programming and characters to identify as 'LGBTQIA' or as racial minorities, meant that Disney's new normal would now be ruled by the commitment to their catchphrase: "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion," and would consist of pro-LGBTQ narratives, "gender non-conforming characters" and "canonical bisexual characters." The leaders of the new Disney company also strongly expressed their commitment to these goals, going so far as to eliminate words like "ladies," "gentlemen," "boys," and "girls" at its theme parks, in the name of inclusion. A number of commentators noted that Disney had put its financial and economic future on the line and might not survive. Its decision to "Go Woke" also meant that it could potentially "Go Broke." Disney's public favorability rating plummeted to a paltry 33% when it publically came out against the Florida law. A poll commissioned by NBC News and conducted by Hart Research Associates/Public Opinion Strategies showed that only 15% of respondents said their current opinion of Disney was "very positive," with another 18% viewing Disney as "somewhat positive." A combined 30% said their opinion was either "very" or "somewhat negative," while 37% said they were either "neutral" or "not sure." Disney's stock at the end of June in 2022 was at $93 per share, down over 50% from their all-time highs about a year earlier (at $200 per share in March 2021). The last time Disney’s stock saw numbers this low (within recent history) was around March of 2020, a time at which many of its theme parks were closed. The recent downturn was linked to concerns about Disney + streaming growth, and the company's blatant political message (and involvement in controversial "hot topics") that alienated potential investors and many parents who refused to have their children exposed to such content. Disney also lost its special autonomous privileges in Florida and over $60 billion in market capitalization. |
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| Paramount's sequel Top
Gun: Maverick (2022) to
the original 1986 film had a record-4 day weekend opening over Memorial
Day, grossing $160.5 million (domestic) and $300
million (worldwide). Since then, it became a worldwide phenomenon
at the box-office, with $718.7 million (domestic), and $1.49
billion (worldwide), and was the # 1 film for the year 2022. By the
end of 2022, the film surpassed Titanic (1997) as
the 5th-biggest film ever at the domestic box office. Some commentators noted that the message of the film was pro-America, pro-patriotism, and pro-American pride and military strength - echoing Republican Party values, and a portend to the coming wave of support for the GOP in the November 2022 mid-term elections. It was notable that the film contained no left-wing Progressive policy positions, on issues such as climate change, transgender equality, racial justice, gay rights, and many other 'woke' ideologies. For those looking at minor details, one of the disputed aspects of the film before it opened was the depiction of the Taiwanese flag on the back of star Tom Cruise's iconic bomber jacket. Hollywood has regularly been censoring its films to make them more acceptable to the lucrative Chinese consumer market. Although the Taiwan (Republic of China) and Japan flags were replaced with the US and UN flags in the 2019 trailer for the film (seemingly to appease and cater to China), the flags on the jacket were restored for the widespread release. The film was not, however, expected to be released in China - in part due to an expected boycott due to China's anger and objections to the flags that represented symbols of independence and defiance. [Note: Two other blockbuster films from Marvel Studios that have been deliberately kept from Chinese screens (due to related criticisms of China) were Eternals (2021) and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021).] The original film Top Gun (1986) was also released during Republican President Ronald Reagan's second term when America (through its Reagan Doctrine) had made a strong resurgence, had stood up to the Soviet Union, won the Cold War, and rolled back Communism. |
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| In mid-2022, corporate entertainment giant
Paramount (the owner of Paramount Pictures, CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, England's
Channel Five, and the rights to thousands of films and well-known franchises
such as Star Trek and South Park), announced that it was
pushing back against censorious woke-ism. The corporation reportedly
refused to censor old films and shows to comply with today's left-wing
standards of "politically correct." Paramount's CEO Bob Bakish was quoted as saying: "By
definition, you have some things that were made in a different time and
reflect different sensibilities. I don't believe in censoring art that
was made historically, that's probably a mistake. It's all on demand -
you don't have to watch anything you don't want to." On the other hand, Netflix, Disney +, and the BBC removed, modified, or put trigger warnings on certain films that didn't comply with the modern "PC" line. It provided more evidence that woke leftists have often mis-characterized and mislabeled as 'offensive' or 'threatening' facts or opinions that were inconsistent or incongruent with their collectivist worldview. |
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| There were indications that the movie-theatre
business was finally making a significant comeback after nearly two years
of dismal returns at the theatrical box-office due to COVID fears and pandemic
restrictions. No longer were moviegoers waiting for big-budget Hollywood
movies to end up on streaming services that could be watched from home,
rather than attending the local multiplex. According to a poll from the
National Research Group, a record-high of 88% of moviegoers had now become "very
or somewhat comfortable" going out to the movies, compared to
59% a year earlier. However, there was still considerable ground to
make up - box office tallies were down 33% compared to the same weekend
in 2019, possibly in part also due to fewer movies being released
by the studios. In mid-2022, there were three straight weekends when more than one major movie managed to sell a sizeable number of tickets. Quite a few films were bringing in healthy figures, in addition to bolstering support from two long-lasting holdovers - the perfect escapist popcorn film Top Gun: Maverick (2022) at $718 million (domestic) and Jurassic World Dominion (2022) (at $376 million domestic). Previously, the only films that had been successful were one-off superhero franchise films, such as Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) (at $213.6 million domestic), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) (at $814.1 million domestic), and the comic-book film The Batman (2022) (at $369.3 million domestic). |
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| Universal Pictures' gay rom-com Bros (2022) was a major flop during its opening weekend premiere (at $4.8 million), on a budget of approximately $60 million. The studio primarily marketed the film as a milestone first - it was the first LGBTQ mainstream studio romantic comedy to feature an almost entirely 2SLGBTQIA+ cast - rather than promoting it as a series of funny situations, as many reviewers claimed. Variety noted: "While inclusivity and glass-ceiling breaking are important factors worth celebrating and can stir up interest in a movie, they can't be the sole focal point of a movie’s marketing." Producer Judd Apatow's LGBTQ comedy's plot was about two white, cisgender, gay men falling-in-love - popular, NY queer history podcast host Bobby Leiber (Billy Eichner) and hunky estate lawyer Aaron (Luke Macfarlane). Actor and co-writer Eichner claimed that the reason for the film's under-performance could be blamed on straight people not showing up, although LGBTQ advocates probably didn't show up either. The writer and star directly blamed the box office disappointment on homophobia. | |
| Versatile Irish-British and American actress and singer Angela Lansbury passed away on October 11th at the age of 96. She had performed for eight decades in various venues, including film, the stage, and on television. She never won a competitive Academy Award Oscar, but was nominated three times for Best Supporting Actress for Gaslight (1944), The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), and The Manchurian Candidate (1962). She received an Honorary Oscar Award in 2014 for being "an entertainment icon who has created some of cinema's most memorable characters, inspiring generations of actors." Her best film role was as Mrs. Eleanor Iselin - the "Queen of Diamonds" matriarch who controlled her son Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) as a sleeper agent. She also appeared in a number of childrens' films, including Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), The Last Unicorn (1982), Beauty and the Beast (1991), and Anastasia (1997). Another of her most well-known roles was in the American who-dunit series Murder, She Wrote (1984-1996) as Jessica Fletcher - a fictional writer, and sleuth. | |
| Bahamian-American Sidney Poitier died at the age of 94, on January 6th. He was a breakthrough actor and director, who was best known for a number of films, mostly in the 50s and 60s, including The Defiant Ones (1958), Porgy and Bess (1959), A Raisin in the Sun (1961), Paris Blues (1961), Lilies of the Field (1963), A Patch of Blue (1965), To Sir, with Love (1967), In the Heat of the Night (1967), and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967). He was the first black actor and first Bahamian to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, for Lilies of the Field (1963). He was also nominated Best Actor for his performance in The Defiant Ones (1958). He received an Honorary Academy Award in 2001 to honor his life's career. | |
| By the end of 2022, there were 38% fewer new releases compared to pre-pandemic times, meaning that there were many blank spots in the cinematic entertainment yearly calendar. The major blockbusters of the year were mostly released during the summer - Top Gun: Maverick (2022), Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022), Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), Jurassic World: Dominion (2022), and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), although Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) was also a major blockbuster release during the Christmas holiday season. The post-summer period in September was disastrous for the industry, as well as the mostly dismal period surrounding Thanksgiving. Animated films that were disappointing included two Disney films - Strange World (2022) and Disney/Pixar's Lightyear (2022), raising some doubts about the decline of Pixar films' popularity, and Disney's streaming strategy. However, Disney and Marvel's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) was a major hit, as was Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), and Thor: Love and Thunder (2022). | |
| Cineworld, owner of the nation’s second largest theater chain, Regal, filed for bankruptcy in September, citing the weak slate of films and a heavy debt burden. The stock price of the number 1 chain, heavily indebted AMC Theatres, plummeted after surging the previous year. Film industry analysts theorized that releasing popular movies in theaters could still be profitable, as long as they remained in cinemas for multiple weeks before they became available for online rental or streaming. If a film was released to theaters on the same day that streaming was available, the streaming sales severely cut into the theatrical box-office. The theatrical window (the amount of time a movie was solely shown in theaters, before being released to digital streaming platforms) had definitely shrunk over recent years. The average theatrical time for a movie diminished from 72 days to 45 days. | |
| The box office in 2022 was dominated by big-budget, escapist entertainment based on established film franchises. Every film in the top 10 in 2022 was a sequel, reboot or part of a larger Cinematic Universe. The highest-grossing 'original' film was Warner Bros' musical biopic Elvis (2022) at # 11. | |
| In the midst of the pervasive "cancel culture" or "woke" social climate, edgy, irreverent and beloved comedy feature-length films from an earlier period of history wouldn't survive criticisms of racism, misogyny, sexual harrassment, insensitivity, political incorrectness, lack of diversity, homophobia, and more. Allegations, harsh opinions, attacks, and calls for censorship are often amplified with viral Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram posts. Many film critics and others weighed in on the debate, with some arguing that the beloved classics could never be produced with today's current sensitivities. Mel Brooks' parody western Blazing Saddles (1974), (National Lampoon's) Animal House (1978), Airplane! (1980), the Naked Gun films (1984-1994), the Police Academy films (1984- ), Scary Movie (2000), White Chicks (2004), and The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005) were amongst the most frequently-mentioned comedies that sparked the discussion. One often-told joke was this statement -- "Blazing Saddles has been edited for TV. It will air from 8:00-8:07." Some mentioned that the gate-keeping film studios have been kow-towing to the demands of the offended cancel culture (and thus absurdly over-analyzing things). As a result, Hollywood has been churning out mostly bland, watered-down, mediocre and unfunny modern comedies. However, there are some audiences that long for the bawdy comedy of old. Airplane! director David Zucker was quoted as saying -- "They're destroying comedy because of 9 percent of the people who don't have a sense of humor...I’d just like to see comedy filmmakers do comedy without fear. We just want to make people laugh." | |
| By the end of the year 2022, the domestic box office was $7.4 billion. Ticket sales remained down 33% from the $10.6 billion generated in 2019, the last normal box-office benchmark before COVID. Two factors accounted for the steep decline - substantial changes in consumer spending, and fewer releases during the year. US cinemas received 38 fewer wide-release movies as of Dec. 25, 2022 compared with the same point in 2019. The success of this year's box-office was mostly dependent on big blockbuster hits. The top 10 movies this year were expected to account for more than half of the industry’s total box office.. | |
| There were only three films in 2022 that surpassed $1 billion in worldwide revenue - some in record time - by the close of the year: Top Gun: Maverick (2022) (31 days) (at $1.48 billion), Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) (14 days) (at $1.4 billion and still counting), and Jurassic World Dominion (2022) (about 4 months) (at $1 billion). In contrast, before COVID, nine films surpassed $1 billion in 2019. Throughout film history - to date, only six movies have made $1 billion in their first two weeks of release. The most recent film Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) took only 12 days to reach $1 billion. | |
| Co-writer/director Andrew Dominik's NC-17 rated biographical drama Blonde (2022), running 2 hours and 47 minutes in length, was based on the 2000 best-selling novel Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates. It was remarkable as the first NC-17-rated film to be widely released and distributed via a streaming service (Netflix), since the mainstreaming and promotion of Showgirls (1995). The last NC-17 film was almost a decade earlier - Lucky Bastard (2014). | |
| The Best Picture Oscar winner - A24's head-twisting free-wheeling, and weird domestic drama and comedy Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) (with sci-fi and fantasy elements) was about a middle-aged, unfulfilled Chinese-American immigrant Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh), a laundromat owner who discovered that she had the ability to connect and traverse through time and space into parallel timelines, universes and worlds. It was considered the first bona fide science-fiction film to be awarded Best Picture. The film's first-time nominee Michelle Yeoh was the first Asian nominee ever in the Best Actress category, and became the first Asian actress to won the Oscar. She was also only the second non-white performer ever to win the award. [Note: The first was Halle Berry for Monster's Ball (2001).] |
