Gregory Ellwood’s Top 10 Films & TV Programs Of 2022

A pair of studies released Monday from San Diego State’s annual The Celluloid Ceiling report and USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative showed few gains for women and people of color working in the film industry in 2022.

As 2022 draws to an end, Deadline’s critics have each chosen their top three movies of the year to hail from abroad. Some were festival world premieres, and some have made the International Feature Oscar shortlist (not all were put forth by their country of origin, nor are they each in a foreign language). Donkeys certainly made a splash, including in one 2020 French title that only saw U.S. release this year.

We say this every year when we talk about Barack Obama’s annual list of his favorite films, but the former President of the United States actually has pretty great taste in cinema. Sure, you could argue that maybe this is a cultivated list pulled from the minds of various people in his orbit, but regardless, Obama is still highlighting some of the best films of the year and giving some deserving artists a bit of a push.  READ MORE: The 25 Best Films Of 2022 For 2022, Barack Obama, once again, delivers a list with some of the best films of the year.

Top Gun: Maverick is soaring to new heights on Paramount+, becoming the most-watched film to ever debut on the streaming service domestically.

There’s a lot of talk about how 2022 was a ‘flop’ year for film. The quality of the movies was constantly called into question without considering that many of these films were shot during the height of the pandemic where money, space, and resources were limited. Regardless of what anyone thinks, this year produced some phenomenal cinema, with even better performances. My best of 2022 list is meant to highlight some of the titles that left an impression on me. The choices range across genres from action, drama, documentary, and animation. 

We say this every year when we talk about Barack Obama’s annual list of his favorite films, but the former President of the United States actually has pretty great taste in cinema.

A producer and aspiring actor, as well as a production company with which he is a principal, are suing a second producer and his firm in a dispute over alleged unpaid commissions and other promises concerning financing of three films with the likes of Chris Pine, Annette Bening, Danny DeVito, Anna Kendrick and Kate Beckinsale.

If you’re tapped into the world of Film Twitter, you probably noticed that social media exploded recently when Sight & Sound updated its Best Films of All Time list. People were debating for weeks about what films would end up getting booted out of the top 100, which would have huge leaps in popularity, etc… It was a whole thing.

When film critics hand out negative judgements, we’re often called “mean.” And if that were actually the case, our list of the year’s worst movies would be the meanest thing we do. Yet where the word mean suggests an element of malice, we like to think that this particular occasion for insult and invective isn’t really about us.

Film Comment revealed its top 20 films of 2022 at a special live talk at Lincoln Center in NYC last night, as well as its top 10 list for 2022 films still without US theatrical distribution. Their best film of 2022?  David Cronenberg‘s “Crimes Of The Future,” with Jerzy Skolimowski‘s “EO” and Charlotte Wells‘ feature debut “Aftersun” not far behind.

Learning from a pro. While reflecting on his Top Gun: Maverick role, Glen Powell credited Tom Cruise for helping him elevate his performance as Jake “Hangman” Seresin.

Top Gear host and former cricketer Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff was injured in an accident this week while filming the BBC show on its test track at Dusnfold Park Aerodrome in Surrey, England. Flintoff received medical care at the scene and was airlifted to a hospital for further treatment. 

Bill Thompson, whose career spanned Miramax Films, Gramercy Pictures, Lot 47 and other key indie distributors, died Monday of cancer in Manhattan. He was 73.

One film that has been surprisingly absent from many of the U.S. year-end awards lists is Ruben Östlund’s “Triangle of Sadness.” The social media skewing farce took the Palme d’Or at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival but fizzled with critics in the U.S.

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: this was a really good year for horror movies. In an industry that often takes an all-or-nothing-at-all approach to film financing, horror remains the little engine that could, and plenty of smaller horror films outperformed both critically and at the box office.

Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once) has joined Universal’s two-part film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical Wicked, Deadline can confirm. She’s set to star alongside previously announced cast members including Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jeff Goldbum, Jonathan Bailey and Ethan Slater.

2022 was a generous year for movie lovers: a new Sight and Sound list was released to stir the pot about the greatest 100 films of all time; film festivals around the world returned to in-person experiences; even the whimsical gibberish from Nicole Kidman and AMC Theaters about going to see a movie gave us something to bond over as things adjusted to a strange but safer normal.  READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2023 It was a year of cinematic memoirs, with Steven Spielberg, Alejandro G.

Newcomer Elliott Heffernan, Harris Dickinson, Erin Kellyman, Stephen Graham, singer-songwriter Paul Weller (his film debut) and Kathy Burke have joined the cast of Steve McQueen’s next film Blitz from Apple Original Films. Saoirse Ronan is also on board with McQueen writing, directing and producing the film, which tells the stories of Londoners during the Blitz of World War II. It is scheduled to begin filming later this year.