Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick has reached an extreme high right after the film’s debut. Now, it’s the actor’s best domestic movie – with millions of dollars more to come.
Following The Original Top Gun
Top Gun: Maverick became one more achievement Tom Cruise can add to his resume. The actor has already been named a fearless stuntman in the past and garnered over $4.2 billion for his works at the domestic box office. Yet, since his debut in 1981, only one of his films soared to $65 million as it opened in the movie theaters. Now, Top Gun debuted with $124 million just the first weekend! That said, the Paramount and Skydance films matched the sum internationally, adding up to $248 million in total. It’s not just outstanding news for Cruise, but also a good sign for the cinema industry after the coronavirus pandemic crisis. “The summer movie season is back,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.
“The performance of ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ is a stunning reminder that when you combine one of the last genuine movie stars with great, old-fashioned story telling, audiences of all ages will rush out to the theater to be a part of the communal bigger than life moviegoing experience.” Many fans were excited to come back to their nostalgic past in the new Top Gun: Maverick movie. After all, several actors returned to star in the follow-up, including Val Kilmer in the role of Lieutenant Tom “Iceman” Kazansky. Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Monica Barbaro, Ed Harris, Jon Hamm, and Jay Ellis also take part besides Kilmer.
2022 Trendsetter
In 2022, Top Gun: Maverick brought more people to the movie theaters, which is a great change from 2020. Older audiences, in particular, were hesitant to go back to crowded spaces to see new releases. This year, though, around 9 million were expected to be in the theaters for the first three days of the movie debut, per EntTelligence. During the original Top Gun debut in 1986, the number was down to two million. Joseph Kosinski, the director responsible for the Maverick sequel, wanted the continuation to be as close to the original plot as possible. Moreover, the new opening was closely inspired by the credit sequence in the original film. “I wanted that first few minutes to just tell you, this is a Top Gun movie, we love it as much you do,” the director said about the Tony Scott homage.
“From there, our story goes in a very different direction, but I wanted the first few minutes to let the audience know: Don’t worry, we love it too, this is going to be a Top Gun movie.” His idea was successful. On June 18, Top Gun: Maverick has already garnered $800 million at the global box office. That’s when it became the highest-grossing film for Cruise. Previously, 2018’s Mission Impossible: Fallout with $791.1 million worldwide was the biggest hit for the actor.
As the month came to an end, Top Gun: Maverick grossed over a billion dollars in the global box office.