They Brought Us Back to the Movies

These Oscar contenders all soared beyond $100 million at the global box office — and the producers behind them are in the running for the Darryl F. Zanuck Award, the PGA’s top prize

AVATAR:

THE WAY OF WATER $1.4 billion James Cameron, Jon Landau

The sequel to the 2009 box office behemoth (which earned Cameron and Landau their second nom for the PGA award; they won in 1998 for Titanic) is a similar critical success — and its box office totals will likely rise as audiences keep returning to Pandora.

THE BATMAN $771 million Dylan Clark, Matt Reeves

Reeves’ gritty, threehour action epic brought audiences a new version of the caped crusader (this time played with brooding magnetism by Robert Pattinson), effectively relaunching the superhero franchise once again for Warner Bros. and DC.

BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER $820 million Kevin Feige, Nate Moore

Disney/Marvel’s return to Wakanda — a film that also serves as a tribute to late actor Chadwick Boseman — recaptured the spectacle of Ryan Coogler’s first Black Panther, which earned Feige a nom for the PGA award as well as an Oscar nom for best picture.

ELVIS $286 million

Gail Berman, Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Patrick McCormick, Schuyler Weiss

The musical biopic of the King of Rock ’n’ Roll is a return to form for director Luhrmann, who previously won the PGA award in 2002 for Moulin Rouge! Berman, meanwhile, recently stepped down as co-president of the PGA after serving in the role since 2018.

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE $104 million Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Jonathan Wang

The most wildly original film of the year — and one of two on this list not inspired by preexisting IP — comes from the idiosyncratic minds of duo Daniels (who wrote and directed as well as produced). It’s also A24’s highestgrossing film to date.

NOPE $171 million Ian Cooper, Jordan Peele

Two-time PGA nominee Peele (who earned nods for his debut feature Get Out and for producing Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman) returns with another genre-bending thriller that subtly examines the entertainment industry’s rabid desire for trauma and spectacle.

TOP GUN: MAVERICK $1.5 billion

Jerry Bruckheimer, Tom Cruise, David Ellison, Christopher McQuarrie

The biggest film of the year could earn Bruckheimer, one of the most successful and prolific producers in Hollywood, his first PGA nom. It would be Cruise’s second — he was nominated in 2004 for The Last Samurai.