Film Release Highlights for 2022
2022 Film ReleasesBest in EntertainmentFilm Release Highlights for 2022

So 2021 was another oddly patchy film for year - with numerous postponements and rescheduling. This is the third year that Top Gun is featured, and second year for MI-7! They will for sure materialise this year - while 2022 has gotten off to a somewhat dodgy start because of Omicron - and I’m sensibly staying out of the Cinema until things calm down.
In 2020 I managed to get to the cinema 7 times, and last year I got to 10! Again a faltering attendance as I got benched into isolation the first two times I went back to the cinema and had to sit things out for a while. I also got used to more VOD premiers and releases in 2021 - courtesy of Disney and Amazon. And I think that trend will for sure continue.
I like going to the cinema for the big blockbuster events - while I’m happy to watch most other films at home. So the most anticipated films for the year are all Cinema spectaculars really - be interesting to see what my stats are at year end!
As always I do the release schedule for the year with the standout films represented by Trailers - where available. The schedule for the latter half of the year is always a touch sketchy - but it seems like we’re going to have a pretty decent year this time around - culminating in two Aquatic spectaculars - in the guise of Aquaman 2 and Avatar 2. I feel there’s much to look forward to here!
10 Favourite Films from 2021
- 1 : Dune - Cinema [Sci-Fi / Space Opera]
- 2 : Last Night In Soho - Cinema [Thriller / Horror]
- 3 : No Time To Die - Cinema [Action Adventure / Thriller]
- 4 : The French Despatch - Cinema [Art-House Fantasy]
- 5 : Riders of Justice - Amazon (Danish) [Thriller / Caper / Dramedy]
- 6 : Another Round - Amazon (Danish) [Dramedy]
- 7 : Pig - Amazon [Drama]
- 8 : The Truffle Hunters - Amazon (Italian) [Documentary]
- 9 : Coda - Apple TV [Coming-of-Age Dramedy]
- 10 : Promising Young Woman - Sky / Now TV [Psychological Thriller / Black Comedy]
20 of the Likeliest 2022 Oscar Best Picture Nominees / Contenders (Aggregated & Alphabetical)
- Belfast - Dir : Kenneth Branagh [Focus Features / Universal Pictures]
- CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) - Dir : Sian Heder [Vendôme Pictures / Pathé Films / Apple TV+]
- Don't Look Up - Dir : Adam McKay [Hyperobject Industries / Netflix]
- Drive My Car (Doraibu mai kā) - Dir : Ryusuke Hamaguchi [C&I Entertainment / Culture Entertainment / Bitters End]
- Dune - Dir : Denis Villeneuve [Legendary Pictures / Warner Bros. Pictures]
- The French Dispatch - Dir : Wes Anderson [Indian Paintbrush / American Empirical Pictures / Searchlight Pictures]
- King Richard - Dir : Reinaldo Marcus Green [Westbrook Studios / Warner Bros. Pictures]
- The Last Duel - Dir : Ridley Scott [Scott Free Productions / TSG Entertainment / 20th Century Studios]
- Last Night in Soho - Dir : Edgar Wright [Film4 Productions / Perfect World Pictures / Working Title / Focus Features]
- Licorice Pizza - Dir : Paul Thomas Anderson [Focus Features / Bron Creative / Universal Pictures]
- The Lost Daughter - Dir : Maggie Gyllenhaal [Endeavor Content / Pie Films / Netflix]
- Nightmare Alley - Dir : Guillermo del Toro [TSG Entertainment / Searchlight Pictures]
- No Time To Die - Dir : Cary Joji Fukunaga [MGM / Eon Productions / Universal Pictues]
- Parallel Mothers - Dir : Pedro Almodóvar [El Deseo / Pathé / Radio Televisión Española / Sony Pictures]
- The Power of the Dog - Dir : Jane Campion [Bad Girl Creek / BBC Film / See-Saw Films / Netflix]
- Red Rocket - Dir : Sean Baker [A24 / FilmNation Entertainment / Cre Film / Universal Pictures]
- Spencer - Dir : Pablo Larraín [Komplizen Film / Fabula / Shoebox Films / FilmNation Entertainment]
- Tick, Tick... Boom! - Dir : Lin-Manuel Miranda [Imagine Entertainment / 5000 Broadway Productions / Netflix]
- The Tragedy of Macbeth - Joel Coen [A24 / IAC Films / Apple TV+]
- West Side Story - Dir : Steven Spielberg [Amblin Entertainment / TSG Entertainment / 20th Century Studios]
12 Most Anticipated Films for 2022
- The Batman [March]
- The Northman [April]
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness [May]
- Top Gun [May]
- Elvis [June]
- Jurassic World : Dominion [June]
- Thor: Love and Thunder [July]
- Mission: Impossible 7 [September]
- Spider-Man : Across the Spider-Verse [October]
- Black Panther : Wakanda Forever [November]
- Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom [December]
- Avatar 2 [December]
2022 Film Release Schedule
Film release schedule for the year with most anticipated titles punctuated with trailers - where available!
- The 355 - Dir : Simon Kinsberg [Freckle Films / Universal Pictures]
- Amulet - Dir : Romola Garai [Head Gear Films / Kreo Films FZ / Trigger Films]
- Belfast - Dir : Kenneth Branagh [Focus Features / Universal Pictures]
- Boiling Point - Dir : Philip Barantini [Ascendent Films / Vertigo Releasing]
- The Electrical Life of Louis Wain - Dir : Will Sharpe [Studio Canal / Amazon Studios]
- Embrace Again - Dir : Xiaolu Xue [China Film Co.]
- Cyrano - Dir : Joe Wright [MGM / Working Title / Universal Pictures]
- A Journal for Jordan - Dir : Denzel Washington [Columbia Pictures / Sony Pictures]
- Licorice Pizza - Dir : Paul Thomas Anderson [MGM / Focus / Universal Pictures]
- Mass - Dir : Fran Kranz [7 Eccles Street / Cica 1888 / Sky Cinema]
- Memoria - Dir : Apichatpong Weerasethakul [185 Films / Anna Sanders Films / Beijing Contemporary Art Foundation]
- Nightmare Alley - Dir : Guillermo del Toro [TSG Entertainment / Searchlight Pictures]
- Parallel Mothers - Dir : Pedro Almodóvar [El Deseo / Pathé / Radio Televisión Española / Sony Pictures]
- Save the Cinema - Dir : Sara Sugarman [Future Artists Entertainment / Head Gear Films / Kreo Films FZ / Sky Cinema]
- Scream - Dir : Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gille [Paramount Pictures]
- Sing 2 - Dir : Garth Jennings [Illumination / Universal Pictures]
- The Souvenir : Part II - Dir : Joanna Hogg [BBC / BFI / Element Films / A24]
- The Amazing Maurice - Dir : Toby Genkel, Florian Westermann [Cantilever Group / Red Star 3D / Sky Cinema]
- Death on the Nile - Dir : Kenneth Branagh [TSG Entertainment / 20th Century Studios]
- The Duke - Dir : Roger Michell [Pathé / Warner Bros. Entertainment]
- Dog - Dir : Reid Carolin / Channing Tatum [CAA Media Finance / FilmNation Entertainment / Free Association / MGM / United Artists]
- The Eyes of Tammy Faye - Dir : Michael Showalter [TSG Entertainment / Searchlight Pictures]
- Fireheart - Dir : Theodore TyLaurent Zeitoun [Main Journey / Caramel Film / Entertainment One]
- Jackass Forever - Dir : Jeff Tremaine [MTV Entertainment / Paramount Pictures]
- Marry Me - Dir : Kat Coiro [Nuyorican Productions / Universal Pictures]
- Moonfall - Dir : Roland Emmerich [Huayi Tencent / Lionsgate]
- A Touch of Vengeance - Dir : Jordan-Kane Lewis [Studio Silent]
- Uncharted - Dir : Ruben Fleischer [Columbia Pictures / Sony Pictures Releasing]
- A Violent Man - Dir : Ross McCall [Ascendant Films / Burton Fox Films / Vertigo Releasing]
- The Wanting Mare - Dir : Nicholas Ashe Bateman [Anmaere / Gravitas Ventures]
- Zeros and Ones - Dir : Abel Ferrara [Maze Pictures / Hammerstone Studios / Lionsgate]
- Ali & Ava - Dir : Clio Barnard [BBC / BFI / Moonspun Films / Altitude Film Entertainment]
- Ambulance - Dir : Michael Bay [New Republic Pictures / Universal Pictures]
- The Batman - Dir : Matt Reeves [DC Films / Warner Bros. Pictures]
- Benedetta - Dir : Paul Verhoeven [SBS Productions / Pathé / Canal+ / Mubi]
- Downton Abbey: A New Era - Dir : [Focus Features / Universal Pictures]
- The Lost City - Dir : Aaron Nee, Adam Nee [Fortis Films / Paramount Pictures]
- Operation Fortune: Ruse De Guerre - Dir : Guy Ritchie [Miramax]
- Red Rocket - Dir : Sean Baker [A24 / FilmNation Entertainment / Cre Film / Universal Pictures]
- This Nan's Life - Dir : Josie Rourke [Warner Bros. Pictures]
- Turning Red - Dir : Domee Shi [Pixar Animation Studios / Walt Disney Pictures]
- Unwelcome - Dir : Jon Wright [Tempo Productions / Warner Bros. Pictures]
- 65 - Dir : Scott Beck, Bryan Woods [Beck Woods / Bron Creative / Raimi Productions / Sony Pictures]
- The Bad Guys - Dir : Pierre Perifel [DreamWorks Animation / Universal Pictures]
- Casablanca Beats (Haut et Fort) - Dir : Nabil Ayouch [Les Films du Nouveau Monde / Curzon Artificial Ey]
- Easter Sunday - Dir : Jay Chandrasekhar [Amblin Partners / Rideback / Universal Pictures]
- Fantastic Beasts : The Secrets of Dumbledore - Dir : David Yates [Heyday Films / Warner Bros. Pictures]
- The Feast - Dir : Lee Haven Jones [BFI / Ffilm Cymru / S4C]
- Fisherman's Friends 2 : One And All - Dir : Meg Leonard / Nick Moorcroft [Fred Films / Powderkeg Pictures / Entertainment Film Distributors]
- Morbius - Dir : Daniel Espinosa [Marvel Entertainment / Sony Pictures]
- Mrs Harris Goes to Paris - Dir : Anthony Fabian [Moonriver Content / Superbe Films / Focus Features]
- The Northman - Dir : Robert Eggers [Focus Features / Universal Pictures]
- Operation Mincemeat - Dir : John Madden [Archery Pictures / FilmNation / Warner Bros. Pictures]
- The Outfit - Dir : Graham Moore [FilmNation Entertainment / Focus Features]
- The Phantom of the Open - Dir : Craig Roberts [BBC / BFI / Entertainment One]
- Reign of Chaos - Dir : Rebecca Matthews [Proportion Productions]
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - Dir : Jeff Fowler [Sega Sammy Group / Paramount Pictures]
- Thirteen Lives - Dir : Ron Howard [MGM / United Artists / Universal Pictures]
- The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent - Dir : Tom Gornican [Saturn Films / Lionsgate]
- Benediction - Dir : Terence Davies [BBC / BFI / Vertigo Films]
- The Bob's Burgers Movie - Dir : Loren Bouchard, Bernard Derriman [20th Century Animation / 20th Century Studios]
- DC League of Super-Pets - Dir : Jared Stern [Warner Animation / Warner Bros. / HBO Max]
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness - Dir : Sam Raimi [Marvel Studios / Walt Disney Pictures]
- Top Gun : Maverick - Dir : Joseph Kosinski [Skydance Media / Paramount Pictures]
- Vortex - Dir : Gaspar Noé [Rectangle Productions / Wild Bunch / Picturehouse Enterainment]
- The Black Phone - Dir : Scott Derrickson [Blumhouse Productions / Universal Pictures]
- Elvis - Dir : Baz Luhrmann [Bazmark Films / Warner Bros. Pictures]
- Firebird - Dir : Peeter Rebane [Factory / Film Estonia / Firebird Producitons]
- Jurassic World : Dominion - Dir : Colin Treverrow [Amblin Entertainment / Universal Pictures]
- Lightyear - Dir : Angus MacLane [Pixar Animation Studios / Walt Disney Pictures]
- Black Adam - Dir : Jaume Collet-Serra [DC Films / New Line Cinema / Warner Bros. Pictures]
- Bullet Train - Dir : David Leitch [Columbia Pictures / Sony Pictures]
- Minions 2: The Rise of Gru - Dir : Kyle Balda [Illumination / Universal Pictures]
- Nope - Dir : Jordan Peele [Monkeypaw Productions / Universal Pictures]
- The Railway Children Return - Dir : Morgan Matthews [Studio Canal]
- Thor : Love and Thunder - Dir : Taika Waititi [Marvel Studios / Walt Disney Pictures]
- Under The Boardwalk - Dir : David Soren [New Republic Pictures / Paramount Animation / Paramount Pictures]
- Where the Crawdads Sing - Dir : Olivia Newman [3000 Pictures / Sony Pictures]
August
- Beast - Dir : Baltasar Kormákur [RVK Studios / Universal Pictures]
- The Bride - Dir : Jessica M. Thompson [Scren Gems / Sony Pictures]
- BROS - Nicholas Stoller [Apatow Productions / Universal Pictures]
- The Man from Toronto - Dir : Patrick Hughes [Columbia Pictures / Sony Pictures]
- Oh Hell No - Dir : Kitao Sakurai [Matt Tolmach Productions / Sony Pictures]
- Secret Headquarters - Dir : Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman [Jerry Bruckheimer Films / Paramount Pictures]
September
- Dark Harvest - Dir : David Slade [MGM / United Artists]
- Distant - Dir : Josh Gordon / Will Speck [Amblin Entertainment / Universal Pictures]
- Don't Worry Darling - Dir : Olivia Wilde [New Line Cinema / Vertigo Entertainment / Warner Bros. Pictures]
- Mission: Impossible 7 - Dir : Christopher McQuarrie [Skydance Media / Bad Robot Productions / Paramount Pictures]
- Salem's Lot - Dir : Gary Dauberman [New Line Cinema / Vertigo Entertainment / Warner Bros. Pictures]
- Ticket to Paradise - Dir : Ol Parker [Working Title / Universal Pictures]
- White Bird : A Wonder Story - Dir : Marc Forster [Mandeville Films / Lionsgate]
October
- Halloween Ends - Dir : David Gordon Green [Blumhouse Productions / Universal Pictures]
- Puss in Boots : The Last Wish - Dir : Joel Crawford [DreamWorks Animation / Paramount Pictures]
- Spider-Man : Across the Spider-Verse - Dir : Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin Thompson [Marvel Entertainment / Sony Pictures Animation]
November
- Black Panther : Wakanda Forever - Dir : Ryan Coogler [Marvel Studios / Walt Disney Pictures]
- Creed III - Dir : Michael B. Jordan [MGM / New Line Cinema / Warner Bros. Pictures]
- The Fabelmans - Steven Spielberg [Amblin Entertainment / Universal Pictures]
- The Flash - Dir : Ryan Coogler [DC Films / Warner Bros. Pictures]
- Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile - Dir : Will Speck, Josh Gordon [Columbia Pictures / Sony Pictures]
- Strange World - Dir : Don Hall [Walt Disney Animation Studios / Walt Disney Pictures]
December
- Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom - Dir : James Wan [DC Films / Warner Bros. Pictures]
- Avatar 2 - Dir : James Cameron [Lightstorm Entertainment / 20th Century Studios]
- I Wanna Dance with Somebody - Dir : Kasi Lemmons [TriStar Pictures / Sony Pictures]
- Mario - Dir : Aaron HorvathMichael Jelenic [Illumination / Nintendo / Universal Pictures]
- Matilda - Dir : Matthew Warchus [Working Title / Netflix / Sony Pictures]