Top Gun: Maverick has been commanding the box office, appealing to a specific demographic that has allowed audiences to come together to experience the long-awaited film. The sequel to the 1986 classic was initially set to release in 2020 but suffered delays due to the pandemic and Paramount’s unwillingness to release the film straight to streaming to combat the potential loss of time. However, waiting out the proverbial storm seems to have paid off tremendously.
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Per Deadline, Top Gun: Maverick has officially earned $1.006 billion worldwide, which is an accumulated sum of the movie’s $521.7 million domestic earnings and the $484.7 million it has generated internationally. Crossing milestones seem to be no difficult task for this highly-entertaining drama above the clouds, which recently surpassed Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as the best-performing film of the year domestically.
The tremendous accomplishment is the first time Cruise has reached such a milestone within this career, which just speaks to the level of care and promotional strategy the studio placed within the film to see it undoubtedly perform well. The earned worldwide total places the film in rare company, as the second project to cross the coveted number within the pandemic era. Only Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home has put forth a better worldwide performance over the past two years.
Alongside Cruise, Top Gun: Maverick included the new additions of Miles Teller and Jennifer Connelly, along with the return of Val Kilmer as the emblematic Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky. Domestically the Paramount sequel continues to make its mark at the box office, presenting even newer releases with hefty competition in its fifth theatrical weekend. It’s unclear how long the film’s upward trajectory will last, but the imprint it’s left is already one that other narratives will struggle to replicate.
It’s possible that Top Gun: Maverick could surpass the impressive performance of Spider-Man: No Way Home, but it would need to earn roughly $900 million to dethrone the webslinging hero. The releases of Marvel’s upcoming project Thor: Love and Thunder may make the upward journey difficult, but the upcoming holiday weekend will open the door for even more audiences to experience the Paramount film. Nostalgia is an element that can work beautifully in a studio’s favor, but if done right, the experience can materialize into one that audiences hunger for with incredible passion.
Top Gun: Maverick is currently playing in theaters.
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Source: Deadline
