The 10 Biggest Entertainment Stories Of 2022, From Whatever Is Happening At Warner Bros. To Avatar 2 Being A Real Movie

As we near the end of the year, it's hard not to be surprised by exactly how much was packed into the last 12 months. With theaters open, we got big budget movies at a remarkable clip. There were also a number of big time corporate shake ups, Elon Musk buying/ruining Twitter, the loss of some beloved stars, and even an Avatar movie.

That's right, it may have taken 13 years, but we actually finally got to see Avatar 2! We also got a new Batman film, more Marvel movies than we can count, an upcoming relaunch of the DC movies universe, and huge creative changes at WWE.

It felt like now is as good a time as any to look back on 2022 and recount the biggest entertainment stories of the year. Can you believe the Will Smith/Chris Rock Oscars slap happened this year? While it seems like something from a decade ago, we can guarantee you that it went down in 2022 and made the list because how could it not?

As you settle in to enjoy the holidays and count down the end of another year, take a look below at the 10 news stories that truly rocked the entertainment industry, for better or worse. Then do yourself a favor and take a look at the best movies, TV shows, and games that GameSpot loved in 2022.

This was certainly something none of us saw coming. After retiring from his job as the head of the Walt Disney Company, Bob Iger made his return to the company just before Thanksgiving, replacing his own replacement. Bob Chapek was let go from the company, with Iger resuming his role as CEO. However, he's only back for two years and has been tasked with finding the right person to succeed him in the role--pointing to the idea that Chapek just wasn't getting the job done.

Image credit: Getty Images/Kristina Bumphrey /Contributor

It was a rollercoaster year for Ezra Miller, who we will presumably next see starring in The Flash. After a slew of arrests and reports of erratic behavior, it was announced in August that the actor has "begun ongoing treatment." There's no telling what, exactly, that entails. However, it was reported that at one point Warner Bros. Discovery was considering shelving The Flash indefinitely, unsure of how to proceed in the face of Miller's ongoing issues. Since the August news that they'd begun treatment, Miller has kept a relatively low profile. And thus far, all signs point to us finally seeing the Flash movie on June 23, 2022.

Nobody lives forever, sadly, not even our heroes. The loss of Kevin Conroy, the longtime voice of Batman, rocked fans to their core. After first voicing the Dark Knight in Batman: The Animated Series in the '90s, Conroy kept on lending Bruce Wayne and his caped alter ego until his death at 66. Conroy's final performance as Batman will appear in the upcoming Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League video game.

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Another loss fans weren't ready for was the sudden death of Bob Saget, who became a household name in the late-'80s and early-'90s thanks to his starring role on Full House. In January of this year, the 65-year-old comedian was found dead in his hotel room while on tour. It was eventually determined that the cause of his death was an injury to the back of his head from what was believed to be an accidental fall.

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Most wrestling fans assumed Vince McMahon would rule over WWE as long as he was alive. Shockingly, that wasn't the case. Back in July, McMahon left the company amid an ongoing investigation into sexual misconduct, which was revealed publicly by the Wall Street Journal. In his place, Paul "Triple H" Levesque took over control of WWE's creative output, while Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan took on co-CEO roles.

With McMahon gone, several massive changes have been made to WWE. A number of previously released talent have returned, while the War Games concept made its main roster debut at this year's Survivor Series event.

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Does this one really need to be mentioned? Is there anyone out there that hasn't seen the clip of Will Smith walking onstage at the Oscars and slapping Chris Rock? It started when Rock made a joke about the bald head of Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith, who has alopecia. It ended when Will Smith repeatedly and very publicly apologized for the act. Meanwhile, the Emancipation star has been banned from Academy events--including the Oscars--for a decade.

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For a long time, Netflix seemed impervious to any kind of downfall, even when their own talent was making transphobic jokes and not being held accountable for it by the streamer. However, for the first time, Netflix experienced subscriber losses in April. The company announced at that time a loss of 200,000 subscribers for the first financial quarter of 2022, with an expected 2 million more canceling their service the quarter that followed.

The losses meant a lot of people at Netflix lost their jobs, a number of shows were canceled, some even before they ever premiered. Netflix has been able to bounce back from the losses, but now knows that the pool of subscribers isn't as endless as they once thought it was.

When Warner Bros. and Discovery merged into a single mega-corporation, everyone expected costs to be cut. But what's happened at that company throughout 2022 has been utterly baffling. The most shocking decisions have been the removal of beloved shows and movies and upcoming projects--including some that have been filmed--being canceled, all in the name of tax cuts. The Batgirl film that was on the way will now never be seen, while Westworld was not only canceled before finishing its story but will be outright deleted from the HBO Max streaming service, as if it never existed. What a bizarre series of decisions.

Ultimately, though, it all led to the installation of James Gunn and Peter Safran as the heads of DC Studios. Lots of big changes are coming to the DC universe and for the first time in a long time, we're excited about it.

It hasn't been a great year for Henry Cavill, though it was originally shaping up to be one. After making his highly-anticipated return to the DC universe in Black Adam as Superman, Cavill told the world he would play the superhero again in a new movie. However, then James Gunn and Peter Safran took over DC Studios and came up with their own plan. Cavill is out as Superman (and Black Adam 2 is dead in the water).

Meanwhile, Cavill also left his other job as the lead on Netflix's The Witcher. There's been no confirmation of why Cavill was departing the show, but many certainly believed it had to do with his upcoming Superman responsibilities.

It's not all bad news for the actor, though. He's now developing a Warhammer 40,000 series for Amazon, so that's something.

They said it would never happen, mostly because it was taking so long that it seemed impossible (and irresponsible, given the price tag). But in this, the year 2022, Avatar: The Way of Water was actually released. Over a decade after James Cameron made 3D cool again with the first Avatar film, his blue cat space opera entered its second chapter (of at least three, possibly five or more). The end result is a bunch of other great looking 3D and, if GameSpot's Mason Downey has it right in his review, not much else.

After a week in theaters, Avatar was nearing the half billion mark at the box office. And while that might sound like a bunch of money, it's actually an underperforming title given how much was spent to make and market the film. That said, there's still plenty of time for Avatar 2 to swim its way to profit. We'll see you again in 2024 when the next movie also looks pretty.