by Which movies have been the most searched in the last 12 months? As 2022 draws to a close, Top Gun: Maverick remains at the top of the global box office with over $1.4bn (£1.2bn).
It also tops many “best” lists on the internet (including Yahoo), so it’s no surprise that the Tom Cruise sequel was also the most searched movie of the year.
Read more: The most searched actors of 2022
Read more: The most searched TV of 2022
We dug into data from millions of web searches on Yahoo to find out what movies you were looking for in 2022.
10 | Where the Crawdads sing
Based on Delia Owens’ favorite book club novel of the same name and released in theaters in July, Where The Crawdads Sing was a box office success grossing $140 million against a budget of $24 million. The film’s research was likely prompted by fans of the book wanting to know if the film did the source justice.
9 | Hocus Pocus 2
Coming 29 years after the original, fans have been clamoring for Hocus Pocus 2 for decades and it’s finally arrived in time for Halloween on Disney+. Reuniting the original trio of Sarah Jessica Parker, Bette Midler and Kathy Najimy as the Sanderson sisters, it didn’t disappoint and became the streaming service’s most-watched film, and drove a cauldron full of online research. .
8 | Ground Meat Operation
This low-key thriller, based on Ben Macintyre’s excellent book of the same name, tells the incredible true story of one of WWII’s most outlandish spy capers. Starring Johnny Flynn as James Bond creator Ian Fleming, you can see the seeds of 007 being sown, and the film was a hit with British audiences, who turned to online research to investigate the real story behind the film.
7 | black adam
Development of Dwayne Johnson’s superhero debut predates the MCU itself, having first been announced in 2007, but Black Adam finally arrived in 2022 with his promise to “change the power hierarchy” of the world. DC movie universe.
Read more: The best movies on TV at Christmas
Fans were keen to find out more about the film online, but that didn’t translate to the box office pulling power that Warner Bros. hoped.
6 | The Batman
While Black Adam underperformed, The Batman delivered a DC hit just when the comic book franchise needed it. Released in early spring and running for nearly three hours, it saw Robert Pattinson make his debut as the brooding Bruce Wayne.
Read more: The best movies of 2022
It took $770 million and generated millions of searches online, proving there is still life in the ancient bat.
5 | Unexplored
Based on the hit PlayStation video game and starring Spider-Man’s Tom Holland, Uncharted had the makings of a smash hit. Although the reviews didn’t quite match the hype, the action-adventure film still generated plenty of buzz, with online searches boosted by the game series’ enduring popularity as well.
4 | Spider-Man: No Coming Home
Although technically a 2021 movie, Spider-Man: No Way Home was released in the latter days of last year and was therefore still one of the most searched movies of that year.
Read more: The best TV shows of 2022
It was also the most successful films of 2021, taking in $1.9 billion, dominating multiplexes — and online searches — for much of 2022, thanks to its many twists and audience-pleasing cameos. crowd.
3 | Elvis
Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis could have gone either way: be a glorious failure, or a glorious success and luckily for moviegoers, it was the latter. It opened the eyes of younger audiences to the power of The King through his unorthodox approach to his subject matter, and it sparked renewed interest in all things Elvis online.
2 | Encanto
Disney’s Encanto is another 2021 that snuck onto the 2022 list thanks – in large part – to its unforgettable soundtrack, written by Lin-Manuel Miranda and produced by Mike Elizondo. Although it was released in cinemas in November the previous year, it hit Disney+ at Christmas where it found a global following that pushed many of its songs to hit the charts in February 2022.
1 | Top Gun: Maverick
Top Gun: Maverick came close to being named Yahoo UK’s Movie of the Year (find out what it lost here), but in terms of box office and online searches, it was the undisputed ace. Tom Cruise’s return to his 1986 hit exceeded expectations in almost every way and fans couldn’t get enough, coming back to watch it again and again, while searching for it all year long.
Top Gun: Maverick airs on Paramount+ starting December 22 if you want to get back to the danger zone at home.
Watch a trailer for Top Gun: Maverick
