The following tables list films released in 2012. Most notably, the two oldest surviving American film studios, Universal and Paramount both celebrated their centennial anniversaries, marking the first time that two major film studios celebrate 100 years, and the Dolby Atmos sound format was launched for the premiere of Brave. The James Bond film series celebrated its 50th anniversary and released its 23rd film, Skyfall. Six box-office blockbusters from previous years were re-released in 3D and IMAX. Also 2012 in film marked the debut for high frame rate technology. The first film using 48 F.P.S., a higher frame rate than the film industry standard 24 F.P.S., was .
Evaluation of the year
of The New Yorker said, "2012 has been a good year for Hollywood and off-Hollywood. Note, once more, the remarkable Hollywood nexus of the Gotham and Independent Spirit nominees, as the path of independent financing becomes ever more significant for filmmakers whose work doesn’t fit into franchise formatting. And that’s a good thing, from the perspective of filmmaking—whether it means that directors and actors share producers’ risks in getting their work made, or that complicit producers give a director's vision free rein. But the latter notion makes some critics uneasy. There's an undercurrent of thought—one rooted in an antiquated and nostalgic vision of a halcyon classic Hollywood that supposedly both reached the masses and made modest and un-self-conscious art—that looks to producers to restrain the idiosyncrasies of directors and fit them into a readily marketable package of popular appeal. These critics yearn for the adversarial relationship of producer and director, seeing the producer as the supporter of democratic values and the director as a sort of egomaniacal élitist who, unrestrained, would spend someone else's money frivolously to make a movie that would please himself and his friends. Of course, that relationship becomes adversarial only if the producer doesn't see himself as a sort of benefactor, a patron of the arts whose very role is to finance and to foster individual expression—and, as ever, it all depends on who the individual is and what the nature of the vision is. It's fairly obvious that strong producers improve films made by mediocre directors but often constrain or dilute the distinctiveness and individuality of the work of good ones. There is a political agenda hidden within the critics’ aesthetic preference for the strong hand of the producer, as critics demagogically put themselves in the position of defenders of the people—defending them from radical outliers and finding popular tastes with which to align themselves. It's another case of left and right agreeing without common ground and leading to bad policy—and, in this case, bad art."
Highest-grossing films
The top 10 films released in 2012 by worldwide gross are as follows:
The Hunger Games was the first film of 2012 to pass the $500 million mark worldwide, and is also the first film since Avatar to place at No. 1 at the U.S. box office for four consecutive weekends.
The Dark Knight Rises grossed $1.084 billion, becoming the 30th highest-grossing film of all time.
Skyfall grossed over $1.108 billion, becoming the 28th highest-grossing film of all time. It also became the first film to gross more than £100 million, amassing a total of £102.9 million.
', are also among the 50 highest-grossing films of all time ; it grossed over $1.021 billion.
With their 3-D re-releases, two films achieved new milestones: ' reached $1.027 billion, and Titanic reached $2.186 billion, becoming the second film to surpass the $2 billion mark, following Avatar.
2012 was the first year to see four films cross the billion-dollar milestone, surpassing the previous year's record of three billion-dollar films.
