‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Soars to Another Box Office Milestone
Top Gun: Maverick gave star Tom Cruise one personal box-office record — it was the best opening weekend of his career. The long-awaited sequel took some time to come together, and Cruise needed convincing before he said yes, but it’s been nothing but successful since it hit theaters on May 27, 2022. Two months after its debut, Top Gun: Maverick hit another box office milestone few movies have reached before.
‘Top Gun: Maverick’ dominated the box office and set several records on its way to $1 billion
Maverick needed just a few days to become the movie with Cruise’s best opening weekends. That was just the first record the film set during its theatrical run.
Top Gun: Maverick’s gross makes it an all-time winner. Its $651.6 million domestic box office haul makes it a top-10 movie, just ahead of the first Avengers movie and a little behind Jurassic World, per Box Office Mojo.
In terms of all-time worldwide gross, Maverick sits inside the top 20. Its $1.32 billion (and counting) box office puts it just ahead of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and less than $10 million behind Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi as of Aug. 3, 2022.
Maverick broke Titanic‘s record as the highest-grossing Paramount movie ever during its first theatrical release. Titanic earned just over $600 million during its first run in theaters, but it eclipsed $659 million after a second release.
Two months after Maverick soared into theaters, it checked off yet another box office milestone.
‘Maverick’ hits another box office milestone for its IMAX ticket sales
Two months after its theatrical debut, it seems like nothing can shoot down Maverick and its high-flying appeal. The blockbuster movie added yet another milestone by the time the calendar flipped to August.
First, it gave Cruise his best opening weekend. Then it lodged itself in the top 20 for all-time grosses before sinking Titanic as Paramount’s most successful movie. Top Gun: Maverick added another feather in the cap when it crossed $100 million in IMAX ticket sales, as Collider reports.
Maverick might never knock off Avatar and its $250 million IMAX lifetime gross (per Yahoo), but its staying power helped it achieve a milestone few films have reached before.
‘Top Gun: Maverick’ budget and the prospects for ‘Top Gun 3’
Maverick filmed with an estimated $170 million budget, according to IMDb, so it only took a few days for it to start turning a profit for Paramount. The studio wanted a Top Gun sequel before the first movie came out, and it’s safe to assume Top Gun 3 would get permission to buzz the tower after Maverick’s billion-dollar haul.
However, Top Gun 3 will probably never take off.
Cruise remains busy and has several projects lined up well into the future. Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part 2 hits theaters in 2024, and the sequel to Edge of Tomorrow could be a 2025 release. Cruise will be in his mid-60s at that time and less able to pull off the Naval aviator role, let alone the intense filming.
A lawsuit against Paramount over rights to Top Gun could also slow down the Hollywood machinery. The studio has a strong defense should the case ever reach court, but it’s another hurdle standing in the way of a third Top Gun.
Plus, Maverick hit all the right notes. Rotten Tomatoes scores it 96% fresh. Recreating the magic that made the movie a smash hit would be nearly impossible. A lesser-than threequel would leave a bad aftertaste for fans and sully Maverick’s sterling reputation.
Top Gun 3 might never happen, but it doesn’t change the fact that Maverick crossed several box office milestones on its way to $1 billion.
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