Avatar: The Way of Water missed out on top spot as most profitable movie of 2022

Avatar: The Way of Water made big numbers in Hollywood last year, making it the highest-grossing movie of all of 2022.

The sequel beat out Top Gun: Maverick to be the world's biggest box office draw last year.

The James Cameron directed film took over 13 years to make, so there is no doubt that a lot of fans were excited and ended up loving the film.

And for the most part, the film was a big success, with it receiving an impressive score of 76 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, just behind the first film, which sits at 82 percent.

The Way of Water also made $2.3 billion at box office, though the overall profit was only $531.7 million, according to Deadline.

That is because the sequel had a massive production budget, and in terms of ratio, a non-franchise horror actually beat the mammoth title to the highest grossing film of 2022.

The film to take the top spot is Smile - an endlessly creepy and successful film from director Parker Finn.

20th Century Fox

The trailer alone for Smile had people 'throwing their phones' in terror, and it's not hard to see why – alongside plenty of curveball jump scares and traumatic themes, a shape-shifting supernatural force causes people to break into the most grotesque grins.

In short, it's pure nightmare fuel. And beyond the scarier moments, the film cleverly weaves into it themes on mental health and trauma as our leading character, a psychiatrist named Dr Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon), is plagued by said smiles at every corner she turns.

Much like those who were cursed before her, Rose struggles to convince those around her including her partner Trevor (Jessie T. Usher) that she's not just losing her mind.

The analysis that suggests that Smile is the most profitable movie of 2022 comes from Deadline, who factored in production costs as well as advertising, residuals and participations.

For Avatar 2, the cash on cash return is estimated to be at 1.49, which brings a net profit of $531.7 million.

While Smile, which had a production budget of around $17 million, earned a massive $217 million at box office.

This brought it a net profit of approximately $101 million, with a 1.94 cash on cash return - making Smile the most profitable movie of 2022.

I'm sure everyone involved in the film will be smiling.