Alpha1Media launches A1Film Awards for 2022
London, UK (30 December 2022): Global media and entertainment firm Alpha1Media on December 30 launched its A1Film Awards for 2022, its tenth awards, highlighting the achievements of the global cinema industry over the year, as sequels to iconic major blockbusters returned to cinemas globally.
The A1Film Awards for 2022 highlights films, writers, producers, actors and directors, from Hollywood, Bollywood, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa and the Far East which are reflective of the best of global popular cinema in 2022,Alpha1Media said.
“2022 has been the Year of Cinema’s Next Quantum Leap, as I stated in my opinion-editorial of cinema in ‘The Independent’ to mark the 75th Festival de Cannes and the official selection premiere of Tom Cruise’s blockbuster sequel, ‘Top Gun: Maverick’,” said Talal Malik, CEO and Writer-Producer of Alpha1Media.
“Global popular cinema in 2022 has been dominated at the box office by the likes of Tom Cruise’s 36-year later sequel to ‘Top Gun’ and by James Cameron’s 13 years later sequel to ‘Avatar’, ‘Avatar 2: The Way of Water’, demonstrating the resilience of global cinema in terms of its heritage, whilst commencements its next quantum leap.”
Global box offices revenues have risen by 21% from 2021 to a projected $25.8 billion in 2022, but still far from pre-pandemic revenues in 2019 at $42.3 billion.
To demonstrate 2022 as the Year of Cinema’s Next Quantum Leap, Alpha1Media CEO and Writer-Producer Talal Malik, as an official participant at the 75th Festival de Cannes, published his exclusive milestone perspective on the future of global cinema on May 23 in prestigious British newspaper, The Independent’ (Premium Section), expanded exclusively on Alpha1Media.com as ‘Cinema’s Next Quantum Leap’, and also published in Arabic in Fortune Magazine (US) and also in Mandarin, while ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ had its Official Selection Screening in Cannes on May 18.
In addition, Alpha1Media CEO Talal Malik as a Writer-Producer was also an official participant at the Berlinale – The 72nd Berlin International Film Festival in Germany where the company’s blockbuster film project was featured on the use of artificial intelligence (A.I.) on February 11 and was then featured as a key speaker on a panel discussion in Lausanne, Switzerland, on ‘Financing movies with the help of A.I.’
Alpha1Media on December 28, 2022, launched its A1Film Top 10 2022, celebrating the Top 10 Films of 2022, and from this list, Alpha1Media awards the following colleagues in the global film industry with the A1Film Awards 2022,recognising their achievements across the year.
“Now in its tenth year, the A1Film Awards List continues to be the only list of its kind, focusing on the achievements ofour industry colleagues in global popular cinema over 2022,” said Ms. Maria Felce, Alpha1Media’s official spokesperson.
In total, the A1Film In Memoriam Achievement Award 2022 has been awarded to stars of cinema including Sidney Poitier, Ivan Reitman, William Hurt, Ray Liotta, James Caan, Olivia Newton-John, Irene Papas, Angela Lansbury andKirstie Alley, cited at the time of their passing, with an honouring of Bruce Willis on his retirement from cinema from illness.
The A1Film In Memoriam Achievement Award 2022 is given to Sidney Poitier, the Bahamian American actor, director, activist and ambassador who became the first black male and first Bahamian to win the Best Actor Oscar in 1964 and who became the highest grossing box office star in 1967, died on January 6, 2022, aged 94. In 1958, Poitier starred with heartthrob American actor Tony Curtis as chained-together escaped convicts in ‘The Defiant Ones’, which received 9 Oscar nominations, including the first ever Best Actor Oscar nomination for Poitier as a black actor. In 1964, for ‘Lilies of the Field’, Poitier made history to win the Best Actor Oscar. In 1967, Poitier then made milestone films dealing with US race relations such as ‘To Sir, with Love’, ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner’, alongside actors Spencer Tracey and Katherine Hepurn and ‘In the Heat of Night’ as the famous police detective, Mr. Tibbs, all critically-acclaimed and with Poitier becoming the top box-office star of the year. In the 1970s, he moved also into directing, from making films like ‘Stir Crazy’ with Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder in 1980 to the likes of ‘Sneakers’ with Robert Redford and Ben Kingsley in 1992, with his last theatrical film role in ‘The Jackal’ in 1997 with Bruce Willis and Richard Gere. For a decade, from 1997 to 2007, Poitier served as US Ambassador to Japan. He was also famous as a leading human rights activist at the height of the US civil rights struggle, making him world-renowned. His plethora of awards includes a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II, the Kennedy Center Honor and the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The A1Film In Memoriam Achievement Award 2022 is given to Olivia Newton-John, the British-Australian best-selling singer and actress from the iconic film, ‘Grease’, died August 8, 2022, aged 73. Born in the UK, Newton-John emigrated to Australia at the age of 6 before returning to the UK as a singer. She moved to the US and topped the charts with her 1975 album, ‘Have You Ever Been Mellow’, with hit record single and album after the next. In 1978, she then starred opposite Hollywood icon, John Travolta, in ‘Grease’, becoming the biggest hit of the year with a historic best-selling soundtrack, with singles such as ‘Grease’, ‘Summer Nights’ and ‘You’re the One That I Want.’ Her singing career lasted for decades with more hit albums and singles, such as ‘Physical’, earning her an iconic status. In 2006, she released her album, ‘Grace and Gratitude’, in which she sings the Arabic panegyric song ‘Tala’ al Badru ‘Alayna’ (‘The Full Moon Has Appeared Upon Us’) in reference to the Prophet Muhammad’s arrival in the city of Madinah in Arabia in 622, with its 14th century anniversary in 2022.
The A1Film Lifetime Achievement Award 2022 is given to Francis Ford Coppola, the Italian-American director, producer and writer, the iconic director of ‘The Godfather’ trilogy of films. In his career since the 1960s, Coppola has been the recipient of five Academy Awards, six Golden Globe Awards, two Palmes d’Or, and a British Academy Film Award (BAFTA). He directed ‘The Godfather’ in 1972 to global commercial and critical acclaim, which won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay, and then ‘The Godfather II’ in 1974, which won Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, with the trilogy concluding with ‘The Godfather III’ in 1990. In 1979, he also directed ‘Apocalypse Now’, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes.‘The Godfather’ was released in cinemas in 2022 to mark its 50th anniversary, which Alpha1Media described as being a “still absolutely riveting 3 hour masterpiece.”
The A1Film Best Original Screenplay Award 2022 is given to Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie, who co-wrote ‘Top Gun: Maverick’. ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ was recognised as No. 1 on the A1Film Top 10 2022. Christopher McQuarrie has been a frequent collaborator especially on the ‘Mission: Impossible’ franchise with Tom Cruise, the star of ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, on ten films, only not co-writing one of them, ‘Jack Reacher: Never Go Back’ and was the auteur of ‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’, No. 7 on the A1Film Top 10 2018 and the co-writer of ‘Edge of Tomorrow’, No. 8 on the A1Film Top 10 2014. Ehren Kruger has written three films in the ‘Transformers’ franchise whilst Eric Singer began his career writing the international thriller, ‘The International’ in 2009 followed by an Oscar-nomination for co-writing ‘American Hustle’ in 2013, which was No. 4 on the A1Film Top 10 2013.
The A1Film Best Producer Award 2022 is given to Jerry Bruckheimer, the producer of ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, the No. 1 film on the A1Film Top 10 2022, and the producer of the original ‘Top Gun’ in 1986. ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ was meant to be released on July 12, 2019, but was delayed to shoot several complex action scenes, and then delayed from release in 2020 and 2021 due to the global pandemic, before its release in May 2022, becoming the world’s highest grossing film in 2022 at $1.49 billion, and and won the Best Film from the National Board of Review.
The A1Film Best Actor Award 2021 is given to iconic American superstar actor Tom Cruise for ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, No. 1 on the A1Film Top 10 2022, the smash-hit blockbuster sequel to 1986’s ‘Top Gun’. ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ success is largely based on both Tom Cruise’s star and producing influence, and was recording breaking for Tom Cruise himself, the first film in Tom Cruise’s career to pass $1 billion at the global box office, and also the world’s highest grossing film at $1.49 billion. Two of his films have appeared on the A1Film Top 10 in the past decade, including ‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’, No. 7 on A1Film Top 10 2018 and ‘Edge of Tomorrow’, No. 8 on the A1Film Top 10 2014.Alpha1Media CEO and Writer-Producer Talal Malik has also attended two premieres of Tom Cruise’s leading franchise, ‘Mission: Impossible’, including the European Premiere of ‘Mission: Impossible’ in Leicester Square, London, UK, on July 4, 1996, and the World Premiere of ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’ in Dubai, UAE, on December 7, 2011, in where he met HH Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, UAE Vice-President and Prime Minister and the Ruler of Dubai, who also attended.
The A1Film Best Actress Award 2021 is given to Guyanese-British actress Letitia Wright, for her portrayal of Shuri, the Marvel Cinematic universe character, in ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’, No. 4 on the A1Film Top 10 2022. Wright’s role in the original, ‘Black Panther’, a film which was a global cultural milestone and also ranked No. 4 on the A1Film Top 10 Movies 2018, was a critical support role but not a leading role. However, with the passing of the lead actor, Chadwick Boseman, portraying the African superhero, on August 20, 2020, as commemorated in the A1Film In Memoriam 2020, and with a script already written by auteur Ryan Coogler, meant effectively re-writing the script and boosting the role of Wright as Shuri as the lead, and also as the new Black Panther, a role which had never been originally envisaged and which Wright admirably carries over the film. Wright has also appeared in ‘Avengers: Infinity War’, No. 1 on the A1Film Top 10 2018 and the A1Film Best Picture 2018, and also in ‘Avengers: Endgame’, No. 1 on the A1Film Top 10 2019 and the A1Film Best Picture 2019.
The A1Film Best Foreign Picture Award 2022 is given to ‘Jhund’ (‘Herd’) from India, as represented by iconic actor Amitabh Bachchan, which is a real-life biography about how teacher Vijay S. Barse set up Slum Soccer in India to use football to motivate underprivileged children in India. The film ‘Chehre’ (‘Visages’) was also recognised at No. 8 in the A1Film Top 10 2021 and also as the A1Film Best Foreign Picture 2021, with Amitabh Bachchan celebrating the A1Film Top 10 List himself on Twitter as his famous T 4144 Tweet to 46.8 million followers. With over 40 years as a leading actor, and veritable one-man industry, Amitabh Bachchan was recognised as the greatest star of stage or screen of the millennium on the BBC on July 1, 1999. Alpha1Media CEO Talal Malik has met Amitabh Bachchan in March 1989 in Montreux, Switzerland, and in November 2006 at the House of Lords, British Parliament, London, UK. Alpha1Media recognised Amitabh Bachchan with the A1Film Lifetime Achievement Award 2013, with his film, ‘Wazir’ (Hindi/ Urdu for ‘Minister’) at No. 8 in the A1Film Top 10 2016, winning the A1Film Award for Best Foreign Picture 2016, and his film, ‘Badla’ (Hindi/ Urdu for ‘Vengeance’) at No. 9 in the A1Film Top 10 2019.
The A1Film Best Director Award 2022 is given to James Cameron, the Canadian blockbuster director of ‘Avatar 2: The Way of Water’, No. 2 on the A1Film Top 10 2022. Cameron has written and directed ‘Titanic’ and ‘Avatar’, both films which have becoming the world’s highest-grossing films upon their release. For the past 13 years, Cameron has been working on the sequel to Avatar, and as usual, innovated new technology to bring his vision to the big screen, with three more sequels intended in the future.
The A1Film Best Picture Award 2022 is given to Tom Cruise for ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, the No. 1 film on the A1Film Top 10 2022, and also has won three awards at the A1Film Awards, including Best Original Screenplay, Best Producer and Best Actor. Released 36 years after the original film, ‘Top Gun’, it has become the first film for Tom Cruise in his four-decades career to reach $1 billion at the global box office and the first time to reach $100 million at the US domestic box office, with critical acclaim as well.
“In May 2022, when I published my opinion-editorial about ‘Cinema’s Next Quantum Leap’ in ‘The Independent’ and ‘Fortune Magazine’ to envisage the future of cinema at the 75th Cannes with the official selection of ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, no one, including myself, had any expectations that it was going to receive the critical acclaim, box office performance and cultural milestone status it did,” said Talal Malik, CEO of Alpha1Media. “But with its immediate worldwide release and ensuing rapturous reception, it is best to quote a line in the film about Tom Cruise’s character, Maverick – ‘You’re where you belong’ – which is not only about Tom Cruise cementing his status as a global cinematic institution after four decades, but also to global cinema audiences themselves – this is an event movie that is best experienced in a cinema, and where they belong.”
‘Top Gun: Maverick’ topped the A1Film Top 10 2022, with Maria Felce, the leading spokesperson for Alpha1Media,explaining the reasons why.
“In the decade-long history of the A1Film Awards, this is the closest it has ever been to determining who would win the Best Picture, with it being a two-contender race, between Tom Cruise’s ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ and James Cameron’s ‘Avatar: The Way of the Water’, and ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ just edged out to win the A1Film Best Picture for 2022 for a plethora of reasons,” said Maria Felce about the top movie in the A1Film Top 10 2022.
“As outlined by Alpha1Media CEO, Talal Malik, the first is the weight of expectations: whilst everyone was expecting James Cameron set to beat global box office records with the ‘Avatar’ sequel, the expectations on Tom Cruise for ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ had not been there, with the delays due to new film scenes and COVID-19 as well as reported discussions with Paramount Studios about a streaming release; the second is that ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ surpassed all expectations, both in terms of both office, with it being the first films for Tom Cruise to reach over $1 billion globally and over $100 million in the US, with accompanying critical acclaim, whilst the ‘Avatar’ sequel has, as expected, reached over $1 billion in less than two weeks of its release;- the third is that ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ is a movie star-led marquee film, with Tom Cruise front and centre to sell and market the film and bring in the audiences, whilst in the ‘Avatar’ sequel, it is the auteur James Cameron who is bringing audiences in, making Tom Cruise one of the very few marquee actors left in the world with that influence outside of IP-based franchises; the fourth is that ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ utilised some of the real-life stunt and camerawork of Tom Cruise’s franchise, ‘Mission: Impossible’, with real jets and real stunts as much as possible, whilst in ‘Avatar’, the focus is very much on building a sci-fi spectacular world, with human actors such as Sam Worthington and Sigourney Weavers getting brief on-camera work as befitting the story; and fifthly, James Cameron as a genius innovated technology for performance capture under water and built a visual spectacular theme ride story experienced in Imax and 3-D, as much as a theme park ride in a cinema, but in reality, an allegory on the need to protect the oceans, environment and Earth, and in ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, the focus is essentially is about legacy with a 60-year old Tom Cruise doing playful stunts in jets which every generation of men and boys in every generation below him still want to do in emulation and admire him for doing it.”
Upon the launch of the A1Film Top 10 2022 on 28 December, 2022, Maria Felce also said, “‘Top Gun: Maverick’ , unsurprisingly, leads the A1Film Top 10 2022 as it finely represents 2022 as ‘The Year of Cinema’s Next Quantum Leap,’ as outlined by CEO, Talal Malik. It substantiates the decision of Tom Cruise to wait 36 years to have a sequel to a film which made him an iconic which had a story worthy of a sequel; it substantiates the decision of Tom Cruise, producers like Jerry Bruckheimer and David Ellison and Paramount as a studio to delay the release of the film till audiences could view it at critical mass in cinemas; its use of real life technology, specifically actors being used in actual jet-fighter planes to shoot realistic scenes versus CGI; a story which has heart at its centre with its inclusion of Tom Cruise’s cinematic statesmanship, inclusion of predecessor actors like Val Kilmer and a new generation of actors for the franchise; its anonymisation of the antagonist in the film to help with global box office; its breaking box office records both domestically in the US and internationally, the highest grossing film of the year with $1.49 billion, the fifth-highest grossing domestic film of all time at $718 million, the first Tom Cruise to ever cross $100 million at the domestic box office and the first Tom Cruise film to ever cross $1 billion at the global box office over his four decade career; critically it has met both critical and audience expectations, winning the Best Film for the National Board of Review, recognised as one of the top ten films of the year from the American Film Institute and is ranked 84th as a Top Ranked Film on IMDB.com with a score of 8.4/10; thereby boosting global popular cinema in 2022, surpassing all expectations.”
The A1Film Top 10 2022 launched on 28 December, 2022, are 1) ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, 2) ‘Avatar 2: The Way of Water’, 3) ‘The Batman’, 4) ‘The Fabelmans’, 5) ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’, 6) ‘Jhund’ , 7) ‘Elvis’, 8) ‘Bullet Train’, 9) ‘DC League of Super Pets’ and 10) ‘Black Adam’.
There have been many films in 2022 which cannot be included in the A1Film Top 10 List, either due to limited theatrical releases globally, not representative of global popular cinema, delayed international release, being primarily released onstreaming platforms, for under-performance or deserve honourable mentions such as ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’, ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’, ‘Living’, ‘The Whale’, ‘Empire of Light’, ‘Amsterdam’, ‘Three Thousand Years of Longing’, ‘Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio’, ‘Death on the Nile’, ‘Ambulance’, ‘Nope’, ‘The Adam Project’, ‘Samaritan’, ‘Prey’, ‘Hustle’, ‘Decision to Leave’, ‘Champions/ Abtal’, ‘Cairo Conspiracy’, ‘RRR’, ‘Uunchai’, ‘Runway 34’, ‘Vikram Vedha’, ‘The Battle of Lake Changjin’ (English release) and ‘Water Gate Bridge’.
Alpha1Media will release the A1Film Preview for 2023, highlighting the forthcoming movies that global cinema audiences can enjoy.
Alpha1Media (Media. ENHANCED) is a global media and entertainment firm. Alpha1Media produces and advises onmedia creation using 10×10 types of media including phone, print, TV, radio, billboard, computer, cinema and futuristicmedia based on scale, motion and holograms.
In the film sector, Alpha1Media focuses on film development, production, financing and cultural advisory services. Itcurrently has six film projects in development with production value estimated at over USD $500 million.