Is 2022 the year we finally hit peak reboot?
The top two highest-grossing films of 2022 so far are reboots: Top Gun: Maverick and Jurassic World: Dominion. The reboot of the 1986 Tom Cruise film has made over £1.2 billion worldwide, while the latest iteration of the Jurassic World franchise has grossed over £830 million. Another reboot, The Batman, also made the top ten.

A new generation

In Top Gun Maverick, Tom Cruise reprises his role as Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, but now he trains the next generation of pilots portrayed by Miles Teller, Glen Powell and Lewis Pullman.

As Jurassic World Dominion is the last instalment of the Jurassic World trio of films, Universal Pictures clearly wanted to give the franchise a good send-off with members of the original Jurassic Park trilogy cast such as Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Sam Neill joining the new generation represented by Chris Pratt and DeWanda Wise. With the film proving so popular, there is 830 million pounds worth of reasons why it may not be the last time we see the deadly dinosaurs on the big screen.

Many film franchise reboots have traditionally been accompanied by video game releases and this year saw the Jurassic World Dominion video game expansion Jurassic World Evolution 2: Dominion Biosyn, which gives players the chance to manage their very own dinosaur park. This form of cross-media promotion of films and video games is a feature of successful film franchises.

The iGaming industry has also been able to capitalise on the steady supply of reboots with a wide range of slot games such as Jurassic Kingdom, which benefits from the hype generated by the Jurassic film franchise. There is a long list of online casino real money games inspired by movies, such as the slot title Lost Treasure has more than a passing resemblance to The Lost City, the 2022 adventure starring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum. The range of slot games is showing no signs of abating with the title Genesis Island clearly inspired by the Planet of the Apes series of films. This incidentally is another seemingly inexhaustible film franchise with the latest iteration of the pugnacious primates, entitled Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, slated for release in 2024.

The year of the reboot

There is plenty of evidence that this year is the year of the reboot, with further film franchises from the 1980s and 1990s finding favour amongst a new generation of moviegoers. This year also witnessed a reboot of the Predator franchise, the 1987 sci-fi film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. The latest film, entitled Prey, which is inspired by the original movie, brought the franchise into the 21st century with Native American actress Amber Midthunder in the starring role.

Father of the Bride was also given the reboot treatment this year. The original film, which was released in 1950, was based on the novel of the same name written by Edward Streeter in 1949. The 1991 remake, which featured Steve Martin, Diane Keaton and Kimberly Williams, was a box office smash, making over £112 million on a budget of just over £17 million. While the 2022 version has a Cuban-American twist and stars Andy García, Gloria Estefan and Adria Arjona, it was not a movie that persuaded the film critics!

Of course, any claim to the title of the year of the reboot simply has to feature a film from the Halloween franchise! The original film was released in 1978 with Jamie Lee Curtis making her big screen debut. 44 years later she returned to star in Halloween Ends, the thirteenth, but surely not the final, version of the film franchise.

There has been something for everyone in the 2022 selection of reboots. While 2022 may indeed be the year we hit peak reboot, the huge box office success of the two biggest hits ensures that reboots are here to stay.