Showmax had a fantastic 2022: according to the interim MultiChoice results released in November 2022, paying Showmax subscribers increased by 50% and Showmax Pro subscribers increased by 111% – even before the FIFA World Cup.
This was, as usual, driven by the content. Showmax had more winners at the 2022 SAFTAs and Primetime Emmys than any other streaming service in Africa. Showmax content won Best Series – Drama (House of Dragons), Best Limited Series, Anthology Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television (The White Lotus), Best Actress – Drama (Zendaya for Euphoria), and Best Supporting Actress – Limited Series, Anthology Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television at the 2023 Golden Globes (Jennifer Coolidge for The White Lotus).
While awards are always a cause for celebration, the real prize is local audiences. The following are the ten most watched titles on Showmax in South Africa in 2022, in alphabetical order: a smash-hit telenovela and its behind-the-scenes documentary (The Wife and The Wife: Behind the Veil), three reality series (The Real Housewives of Durban and Lagos, and Living The Dream With Somizi), a tell-all interview (Mohale: On the Record), a local documentary series about sex (Sex in Afrikaans) and an Emmy-winning drama series (Euphoria). Six of the 10 titles are South African, with one from Nigeria and three American titles.
When it came to movies in 2022, it was two skop-skiet-en-donner blockbuster movies in Fast & The Furious 9 and Wrath of Man that took the bullet-riddled cake.
Fast and Furious 9: The Fast Saga
“No matter how fast you are, no one outruns their past, and mine just caught up with me,” Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) admits in the blockbuster F9: The Fast and the Furious. This time, Dom must confront a global terrorist plot led by his estranged brother (John Cena from Peacemaker).
F9 was nominated for Favorite Movie at the People’s Choice Awards, along with performances by Diesel, Cena, and Oscar winner Charlize Theron.
According to the Independent (UK), the hit franchise “is still delivering what audiences truly want: cars in places where cars should not be.”
Wrath of Man
Guy Ritchie and Critics Choice nominee Jason Statham, the action dream team behind Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, and Revolver, are back in Wrath of Man, which was nominated for Best Action Movie at the 2022 Critics Choice Super Awards.
Statham (best known in the Fast & Furious films as The Transporter, Crank, and Deckard Shaw) plays H, a new security guard for a cash truck company who faces mistrust from his crew after unleashing precision skills during a heist, leaving them questioning his identity and motives.
The blockbuster hit is described by RogerEbert.com as “a star vehicle for Jason Statham at his meanest” and “one of Guy Ritchie’s best-directed movies.”