There have been many controversies surrounding Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, mostly revolving around Shuri actress Letitia Wright and her views on vaccines. Additionally, fans online are still in favor of T'Challa being recast, which is something that Marvel Studios won't be budging on. Despite all this Wakanda Forever is still highly anticipated by fans.
2022 looks to be another banner year in the world of the blockbuster movie. After 2021 saw mostly releases that were meant for 2020 and pushed back, next year looks like it will be a little more back to normal.
And, new data shows off what 2022 movies are being looked forward to the most.
Black Panther Is Still the King
After surveying more than 6,000 Fandango users, by December 16, 2021, Fandango was able to determine the top ten most anticipated movies in 2022, which is listed below with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever taking the lead as the most anticipated blockbuster of 2022:
Top Ten Most Anticipated Blockbusters:
1. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
2. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One)
3. The Batman
4. Thor: Love and Thunder
5. Jurassic World: Dominion
6. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
7. Avatar 2
8. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
9. Top Gun: Maverick
10. Mission: Impossible 7
In addition, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One) was deemed the most anticipated animated/family movie:
2022's Most Anticipated Animated/Family Movies
1. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One)
2. Pixar's Lightyear
3. Minions: The Rise of Gru
4. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
5. Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Finally, Fandango asked its users several questions, which showed that 94% of users want to go to the theater more often in 2022 than they did in 2021, 80% hope to see five or more movies on the big screen in 2022, and 70% plan to attend in premium large-screen formats whenever possible.
Audiences Not Tired of Superheroes
Superhero fatigue seems to be taking a rest, considering the top four most anticipated movies in 2022 are more superhero blockbusters. One of them is even the sequel to the Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and another Batman reboot helmed by Matt Reeves. However, considering the emergence of another variant of Covid-19, Omicron, audiences might be disappointed about being able to go to theaters more often in 2022.
As for Wakanda Forever reaching number one, despite its many controversies surrounding it, that can be explained by both Black Panther as a franchise being that popular and general audience not following those controversies like more attentive online users.
Of course, there's also Thor: Love and Thunder and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which both managed to get into the top ten. Keep in mind this poll was done before the trailer for the Doctor Strange sequel was released. So, who knows how much more anticipation from audiences this sequel would have gained with the trailer.
Not to be outdone entirely, DC managed to rouse enough anticipation for The Batman for it to reach third place. Also, despite not having a trailer and fans only seeing a tiny sneak peek at DC FanDome, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is trailing just behind Avatar 2 in anticipation with audiences.
Fans will be able to enjoy all these films in 2022 unless this new variant of Covid-19 causes more potential release delays like the pandemic has caused in the past two years.
