• by Wayne Friedman , January 2, 2023

Although the 2022 U.S. theatrical box office grew 64% to an estimated $7.4 billion compared to a year ago, it is still down 34% from the pre-pandemic 2019 when it was $11.4 billion, according to IMDb's Box Office Mojo.

Comscore says there were 75 wide releases in 2022 -- up slightly from 72 a year ago, when U.S. box-office revenue was $4.49 billion. This was 34% below the total of 113 wide releases in 2019.

Comscore defines a wide-release film as one with a weekend opening in more than 1,800 locations.

2022 theatrical box-office revenue was over three times the level of 2020 ($2.27 billion), which was the total from 34 releases.

The top movie of 2022 was Paramount Pictures' "Top Gun: Maverick," which pulled in $719 million in the U.S.

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” was next at $433 million; followed by Walt Disney's "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" with $411 million; Universal Pictures’ “Jurassic World” ($376 million); Universal's “Minions: The Rise of Gru”; 20th Century Studios’ “Avatar: The Way of Water” ($358 million); and Disney's “Thor: Love And Thunder” ($343 million).

For worldwide theatrical sales in 2022, “Top Gun: Maverick” led with $1.49 billion, followed by “Avatar: The Way of Water” in second place at $1.4 billion, according to IMDb. “Avatar” is now closing fast on “Top Gun” after a somewhat slower-than-expected start on December 16.

National TV movie advertising totaled $1.01 billion across all studios, according to iSpot.tv, delivering 85.6 billion impressions.

A year ago, movie advertising spending was $811.2 million, resulting in 87.4 billion impressions.