AP Top 25 Movies, by the numbers: From dollars to donkeys
By Andrew Dalton, The Associated Press on January 19, 2023.
The films in the inaugural AP Top 25 Movies ranking yield a host of numbers, facts, figures and trivia if examined perhaps a little too closely. Here’s a look at the money, the minutes, the men and women, the minutiae and the many, many animals involved in the best movies of 2022. LARGEST WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR 2022: $1.5 billion “Top Gun: Maverick” (No. 7), was the box office champ by the end of 2022, per studio figures compiled by Comscore. “Avatar: The Way of Water” (tied for No. 16) was a close second despite a December release (it surpassed “Top Gun” a few weeks into 2023). LONGEST RUNNING TIME: 3 hours, 12 minutes “Avatar: The Way of Water” was the lengthiest, but “Babylon” (No. 18) and “RRR” (No. 6) also surpassed three hours. AVERAGE RUNNING TIME: 2 hours, 11 minutes The shortest is “EO” (No. 23) at one hour, 26 minutes. CHARACTERS IN THE LONGEST TITLE: 33 That’s “Everything Everywhere All At Once” (No. 2), but if subtitles are considered, it ties with “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” (No. 10). ACCENT MARKS IN TITLES: 1 “Tár” (No. 3), often stylized in all caps, is the lone movie title with a diacritical mark. It’s also the second-shortest title, after “EO.” ACTORS CREDITED IN MULTIPLE FILMS ON THE LIST: 5 Cate Blanchett plays the eponymous elite conductor Lydia Tár, and voices the monkey Spazzatura and puppets in “Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio” (No. 13). Jenny Slate voices the titular “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” (No. 20) and plays Debbie the Dog Mom in “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” while Samantha Morton is in both “She Said” (No. 19) and “The Whale” (tied for No. 16). Jayme Lawson appears in “The Woman King” (No. 5) and “Till” (No. 22) James Hong provides a voice in “Turning Red” (No. 24) and is in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” AGE OF OLDEST LEAD ACTOR: 67 Brendan Gleeson, the oldest leading actor on the list, is arguably the co-lead of “The Banshees of Inisherin” (No. 1) even though he is being promoted as a supporting actor for awards. If the list’s lone documentary, “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” (No. 15), is considered, its subject – the photographer Nan Goldin – would be the oldest at 69. Sexagenarians also found representation with Tom Cruise of “Top Gun: Maverick” and Michelle Yeoh of “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” both 1962 babies. AGE OF YOUNGEST LEAD ACTOR: 13 Frankie Corio is close in age to her preteen “Aftersun” (No. 11) character Sophie. CELEBRITY CAMEOS IN “˜GLASS ONION’: 10 Spotted in the “Knives Out” sequel: Angela Lansbury, Stephen Sondheim, Hugh Grant, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Serena Williams, Ethan Hawke, Jake Tapper, Natasha Lyonne, Joseph Gordon-Levitt(‘s voice) and Yo-Yo Ma. Two – Lansbury and Sondheim – have since died. ROLES FOR DONKEYS: 3 Three films on the list had significant – and tragic – roles for the furry pack animals. The name of the title donkey in “EO” is derived from the Polish take on the sound donkeys make. “The Banshees of Inisherin” features a miniature donkey named Jenny (played by a miniature donkey named Jenny, shouted out in two Golden Globes speeches). The nameless, wounded donkey in “Triangle of Sadness” (No. 21) is a mysterious howl in the night before making a brief but unforgettable appearance. DONKEYS IT TOOK TO PLAY EO: 6 Their names are Marietta, Tako, Hola, Ettore, Rocco and Mela. MOVIES WITH WEAPONIZED ANIMALS: 2 N.T. Rama Rao Jr. hurls a leopard at British soldiers in “RRR,” and Slate swings a leashed Pomeranian at Yeoh in “Everything Everywhere All At Once.” FILMS WITH TITULAR ANIMALS THAT DO NOT APPEAR IN SAID FILMS: 2 “The Whale” has no whales, and “No Bears” (No. 25) has no bears. DIRECTORS’ DEBUT FEATURES: 3 “Aftersun,” directed by Charlotte Wells; “Turning Red,” directed by Domee Shi and “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On,” directed by Dean Fleischer Camp. FEATURE FILMS DIRECTED BY STEVEN SPIELBERG: 33 Of the directors with movies on the list, Steven Spielberg, at the helm of “The Fabelmans,” (No. 8) has directed the most by far. AGE OF YOUNGEST DIRECTOR: 33 That’s Shi, the Canadian director of Pixar’s “Turning Red.” AGE OF OLDEST DIRECTOR: 84 And that’s Jerzy Skolimowski of “EO.” FILMS WITH NON-WHITE DIRECTORS: 9 “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (one of “the Daniels,” Daniel Kwan, is Chinese American), No. 4 “Nope” ( Jordan Peele ), “The Woman King” (Gina Prince-Blythewood), “RRR” (S.S. Rajamouli), No. 12 “Decision to Leave” ( Park Chan-wook ), “Pinocchio,” “Till” (Chinonye Chukwu), “Turning Red” and “No Bears” ( Jafar Panahi ). FILMS DIRECTED BY WOMEN: 7 “The Woman King,” “Women Talking” (No. 9, directed by Sarah Polley ), “Aftersun,” “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” (Laura Poitras), “She Said” (Maria Schrader), “Till” and “Turning Red.” SEQUELS: 3 “Top Gun: Maverick” came 36 years after the original, and the story picks up after nearly that much time has passed. While an “Avatar” sequel took 13 years, it is conveniently set 15 years later. “Glass Onion” was released in a more typical three years after the original “Knives Out.” BASED ON A TRUE STORY: 9 Take that framing with a pinch of salt, as they vary wildly in how much truth they include. The main characters of “She Said,” “Till” and “Elvis” (No. 14) are real people. So are the two friends-turned-enemies-turned-friends at the center of “RRR,” but the events of the movie are almost pure speculation. It’s not called “The Spielbergs,” but “The Fabelmans” is a barely veiled autobiography of its director. “Babylon,” “Woman King” and “Women Talking” stem from true events but nearly all characters – and many events – are invented. “All The Beauty and the Bloodshed,” meanwhile, is a documentary. ANIMATED FILMS: 3 “Pinocchio” and “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” use stop-motion animation, while “Turning Red” is computer animation. FILMS FEATURING EXCESSIVE VOMITING IN OPULENT CIRCUMSTANCES: 2 “Triangle of Sadness” and “Babylon.” That’s all you’ll get from us here. FILMS WITH GOOGLY EYES STUCK ON A MAIN CHARACTER: 2 “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On.” FILMS THAT FEATURE SEVERED FINGERS: 2 “The Banshees of Inisherin” and “RRR.” FILMS THAT FEATURE HOT DOGS AS FINGERS: 1 “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” EXPERT VOTERS: 26 Our panel was sourced from top film experts at news outlets across the U.S. TOTAL FILMS SELECTED BY PANELISTS: 176 Of these, 76 appeared on only one ballot among the 26. POINTS RECEIVED BY “˜JACKASS FOREVER’: 2 This sequel was slotted at No. 25 by two voters, putting it above the work of Oscar-nominated filmmakers David O. Russell and Noah Baumbach. Their respective “Amsterdam” and “White Noise” received just one point apiece. ___ Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton. ___ For more on AP Top 25 Movies, including a breakdown of the votes and individual ballots, visit our hub at https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-movies. 70-69
