According to IMDb, Matt Reeves' The Batman is the most anticipated movie of 2022. Amusingly, there was once a time when The Batman was slated for this year. The DC film was originally scheduled to premiere in June, then October. However, production delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic and additional Warner Bros. scheduling changes bumped the film to March 2022. With moviegoing on a slight upswing, it seems likely that this date will stick. The Batman is just one of many DC movies planned for next year, yet it has received the most hype by far.
Starring Robert Pattinson as the titular hero, The Batman takes place during Bruce Wayne's second year as Gotham's dark knight. The city has been rocked by a series of murders, and it's up to Batman to take on the person responsible: The Riddler (Paul Dano). The Batman also features several notable supporting characters from the comics, such as Commissioner Gordon (Jeffery Wright), Catwoman (Zoe Kravitz), and the Penguin (Colin Farrell). Warner Bros. is evidently so confident about the film's prospects, there are already two HBO Max spin-offs in the works centered on both the Gotham PD and Penguin.
Perhaps WB has good reason to feel optimistic. IMDb has released its most anticipated of 2022 lists, and The Batman landed the #1 spot for the movies. IMDb determines its list of the most anticipated titles by the actual page views of the more than 200 million monthly visitors to IMDb. This exclusive and definitive data is derived from the IMDbPro movie and TV rankings, which are updated weekly throughout the year. The full list of 2022's most anticipated movies is as follows:
- The Batman
- Scream
- Thor: Love and Thunder
- Top Gun: Maverick
- Killers of the Flower Moon
- Jurassic World: Dominion
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
- Mission: Impossible 7
- Uncharted
- The Flash
The list is largely dominated by expected blockbusters, many of which were originally scheduled to premiere in 2021. That includes Top Gun: Maverick and Jurassic World: Dominion. Meanwhile, the only movie not attached to a major franchise is Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon, demonstrating just how respected a filmmaker he remains. The rest of the 2022 list is to be expected, though it's a pleasant surprise to see those like Scream and Uncharted rank among the superheroes and Tom Cruise.
At the top, though, is what could be the biggest comic book film of the year. The Batman has plenty of competition in that genre thanks to both the MCU and its own DCEU, but there are a few things that give Reeves' movie the advantage. Not only has The Batman been drumming up buzz for well over a year (the first trailer was released in August 2020), its visual style and darker story stands separate from the other 2022 offerings. We'll have to wait until next year to see if The Batman comes out on top, but its early prospects are pretty favorable.
Source: IMDb
