While the industry waits for Top Gun: Maverick to hit the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office – an inevitability that will likely happen in the coming days – Paramount’s legacy sequel has crossed yet another milestone domestically. With a running total of $499.472 million at the end of its fifth Friday, Maverick is hitting the half-billion mark at the domestic box office as we speak.
The $170 million blockbuster made $8.2 million on Friday number five, and although it fell short of Elvis’ $12.7 million haul (including $3.5 million from Thursday previews, by the way), the film has a real shot at reclaiming the top spot this weekend, with an estimated $30 million. Over the last month, Maverick registered near-unheard of drops as it flew past record after box office record. It’s already the biggest film of the year domestically, having overtaken Disney's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and will soon become the biggest film of the year worldwide as well. It is also the highest-grossing film of star Tom Cruise’s over four-decade long career.
Its estimated $30.1 million haul will either be the second or third-biggest fifth weekend in domestic box office history, alongside two James Cameron films –Titanic ($30 million) and Avatar ($42 million). This is excluding the $64 million that Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper pulled in 2015, since that film was basically in its second week of wide release after three weeks of limited exhibition.
Maverick is now the leggiest film to open with over $100 million at the domestic box office, overtaking Wonder Woman ($412.5 million from a $103.5 million debut) and Shrek 2 ($441 million from a $128 million five-day debut). The film made $160 million over its extended debut weekend, outpacing Aladdin among big Memorial Day launches. Maverick also returned to a handful of IMAX screens this weekend. If the film performs conservatively from here on out, it’ll still conclude its run with at least $550 domestic, with a $600 million finish on the cards.
The film also stars Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Ed Harris, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Danny Ramirez, Monica Barbaro, Manny Jacinto, and Val Kilmer. You can watch Maverick in theaters, and read the official synopsis down below:
Test pilot Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Cruise) has purposely dodged an advancement in rank after thirty years of service. One day Maverick is called to be put in charge of training a group of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission under the orders of his fellow naval aviator friend and former rival, Tom "Iceman" Kazansky (Kilmer), who is the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Among them is Lieutenant Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw (Teller), the son of Maverick's late best friend Nick "Goose" Bradshaw (Edwards).