Cinema News: Movies Update: Prestige Films and the Box Office

December 12, 2022

By Stephanie Goodman

Film Editor

Hi, film fans!

Hope you had a great weekend. On the film desk, we're already focused on next weekend, when "Avatar: The Way of Water" opens. The looooong-awaited sequel to the 2009 smash is expected to dominate theaters for the rest of the month, and box office analysts are predicting it will rake in $150 million to $170 million.

That's a jaw-dropping figure, but Hollywood isn't taking it for granted. As my colleague Brooks Barnes reports, "It has been carnage" at the box office for the prestige movies that make up the awards season currently underway. "One after another, films for grown-ups have failed to find an audience big enough to justify their cost." Those releases include "Tár" and "The Fabelmans," widely expected to contend for the best picture Oscar, as well as "Armageddon Time" and "She Said."

The team behind "Avatar: The Way of Water" is well aware of the pressure they face both in terms of the box office and audience expectations. "You can't be a slave to the outside forces," Sam Worthington, a star of the film, told my colleague Kyle Buchanan. "You've just got to go to work and be fearless and as true as you can."

Will "Avatar: The Way of Water" lift up all boats (to mangle a metaphor)? Stay tuned.

Focus Features

Highbrow Films Aimed at Winning Oscars Are Losing Audiences

The kind of critically praised dramas that often dominate the awards season are falling flat at the box office, failing to justify the money it takes to make them.

By Brooks Barnes

Merie Weismiller Wallace/Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment, via Associated Press

Golden Globes Announce 2023 Nominations After Recent Troubles

The tarnished awards ceremony will air on NBC in January in a one-year trial. But which stars will show up to collect their trophies?

By Brooks Barnes

NBCUniversal

Jerrod Carmichael to Host Golden Globes as Broadcast Returns From Scandal

The tarnished ceremony will air on NBC in January after questions were raised about the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's diversity and ethics.

By Stephanie Goodman

Continue reading the main story

AWARDS SEASON NEWS

Andrew Kelly/Reuters

THE PROJECTIONIST

'Everything Everywhere' Takes Top Prize at the Gotham Awards

The film's Ke Huy Quan also won the supporting-performance trophy at the season's first big ceremony, where honoree Adam Sandler brought down the house.

By Kyle Buchanan

Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

THE PROJECTIONIST

Michael J. Fox, Diane Warren and Cher at the Raucous Governors Awards

The actor and songwriter, along with Euzhan Palcy and Peter Weir, received honorary Oscars as current contenders like Jennifer Lawrence worked the crowd.

By Kyle Buchanan

Erik Carter for The New York Times

THE PROJECTIONIST

Can Movie Theaters and Netflix Coexist? Rian Johnson Makes His Case.

The "Glass Onion" director explains why he sold the "Knives Out" franchise to a streamer, and how he feels about its theatrical test: "I want more."

By Kyle Buchanan

BEST OF 2022

Universal Pictures

Best Movies of 2022

Amid endless agonizing over the State of Cinema, the actual releases proved a bounty for film lovers, whether fans of the art house or the multiplex.

By Manohla Dargis and A.O. Scott

Ryan McGinley for The New York Times

The 10 Best Actors of 2022

See a portfolio of this year's Great Performers, including Michelle Yeoh, Daniel Kaluuya, Michelle Williams.

By The New York Times Magazine

A24	BEST OF 2022 11 Ways I Escaped Reality This Year Our critic was haunted, in a good way, by the performances she saw in movies, theater and TV that offered glimpses into other worlds. By Salamishah Tillet