It is time once again for me to unveil the Braddies – my strictly personal awards (distinct from the film section’s collegiate best of the year selection) for the calendar year.

This time last year, I somewhat naively said that the industry was emerging from its pandemic woes. And in fact, there was some optimistic talk this year about the industry resuming its pre-pandemic annual turnstile target of 200m admissions. Big films such as Doctor Strange and particularly Tom Cruise’s barnstorming blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick filled cinemas to bursting. (A cinema manager told me excitedly: “Why on earth should we schedule anything else when Top Gun will always pack out our venue?”)