Top 10 lists are a common occurrence around this time of year. As the ranks of what were once upcoming movies are evaluated by critics and audiences alike, the winners and losers of 2022 are starting to shake out in greater detail. Which makes one recent study measuring the most popular titles of the year pretty shocking thanks to some surprising choices making the grade.
OnePoll conducted a survey of 2000 movie fans, with three different fields being measured. When it came to the “Top Ten ‘Best’ Movies” of the year, the results saw some unexpected hits grabbing some slots, and even tying with some of the more popular titles of 2022. Here’s the full field of movies named in that listing:
- Top Gun: Maverick – 19%
- Jurassic World: Dominion – 17%
- Enola Holmes 2 – 15%
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2 / The Batman – 14%
- Thor: Love and Thunder / Death on the Nile – 13%
- The Whale / Amsterdam / Bodies Bodies Bodies - 11%
Obviously, it’s no surprise that Top Gun: Maverick walked away with the top slot. Nor is it all that shocking to see Jurassic World: Dominion right behind it, as that’s what the worldwide grosses of 2022 are also reflecting. However, looking further down the list and seeing Enola Holmes 2 landing the only streaming exclusive to chart is a bit of a surprise. This is, after all, the year that reportedly saw Red Notice making Netflix history.
Also shocking is how movies like Amsterdam and Death on the Nile have tied for placements on this list with mass appeal favorites like The Whale and Thor: Love and Thunder. With both of those films being written off as flops to varying degrees, Amsterdam especially being in danger of losing $100 million, the public apparently seems to differ in their opinion. Though it also should be noted that Disney certainly saw Kenneth Branagh’s return to Hercule Poirot as notable, as we’re already going to see the franchise continue in A Haunting in Venice, which hits theaters next September.
The other two fields that were surveyed in this study were the “Most Watched Streaming-Only Movies,” as well as the “Most Universally Liked Movies.” Respectively topping those results were Tyler Perry’s A Madea Homecoming with 19% of the vote, and Where The Crawdads Sing, which was named most universally liked by 60% of participants.
As both of those films are also part of Netflix’s catalogue of titles, a case could be made for the streamer’s influence on viewer habits. That’s especially true in the case of Crawdads, which inspired some funny thoughts once it hit streaming.
Like any other year in cinematic history, 2022 has its well entrenched victors, as well as those who snatched victory out of the blue. Only a handful of days remain before the book is closed on this page of the calendar, allowing us all to start fresh with the 2023 new movie releases heading our way.