Paramount and Skydance’s all-American blockbuster “Top Gun: Maverick” is still flying high at the box office, crossing the coveted $1 billion milestone over the weekend.
It’s the first movie of the year and only the second in COVID times (following Sony’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home” with $1.9 billion) to reach that benchmark. It’s even more impressive that “Maverick” hit the $1 billion mark without playing in China or Russia, two major markets.
After only 31 days on the big screen, “Top Gun: Maverick” has become Tom Cruise’s first movie to surpass $1 billion at the worldwide box office. Previously, 2018’s “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” ranked as the actor’s most successful film with $791.1 million worldwide.
Prior to this weekend, the sequel to the 1986 action flick “Top Gun” was already the highest-grossing movie of the year at the domestic box office with $521 million. Now in its fifth weekend of release, “Maverick” added $30.5 million and stands in a close race with newcomer “Elvis” for the No. 1 spot on domestic box office charts.
With another $484.7 million at the international box office, revenues for “Maverick” currently stand at a staggering $1.006 billion worldwide. Those ticket sales were enough to overtake Disney’s Marvel adventure “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” ($943 million) as the highest-grossing movie of the year at the global box office.
Thanks to critical praise and stellar word-of-mouth, “Top Gun: Maverick” has been crushing box office records since opening in theaters over Memorial Day weekend. During the extended holiday, the film earned $160.5 million, marking the first movie in Cruise’s 40-year career to surpass $100 million in a single weekend.
According to Paramount, repeat customers and Imax screens have been fueling momentum in the weeks since its theatrical debut. By its fourth weekend in North American movie theaters, 16% of the audience has returned more than once and 4% has returned three times or more.
Directed by Joseph Kosinski, the $170 million-budgeted “Top Gun: Maverick” centers on Cruise’s Pete “Maverick” Mitchell as he trains a new group of cocky aviators for a crucial assignment. The cast includes Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Jon Hamm, Jennifer Connelly and Val Kilmer, who played Iceman in the first “Top Gun.”
For Paramount, the movie extends a stellar 2022 box office streak. After barely releasing any films during the pandemic, the studio has struck gold at the box office with “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” ($190 million in North America), “The Lost City” ($105 million in North America), “Scream” ($81 million in North America) and “Jackass Forever” ($57 million in North America). Notably, there’s not a Spandex superhero in the bunch.