Paramount’s wondrous year at the box office shows no sign of stopping, as Top Gun: Maverick fell by a minuscule 9% for an estimated $34 million finish over the extended Fourth of July holiday weekend. This will take the film’s running domestic total to $572 million, further increasing its lead over Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as the year’s biggest hit.
The legacy sequel is expected to make $26.8 million across the three-day weekend. This is currently the fourth-biggest sixth weekend haul at the domestic box office, trailing Frozen ($28 million in 2013), American Sniper (30 million in 2015) and Avatar ($34 million in 2009). It’s worth pointing out that American Sniper was given a platform release, and had essentially been playing wide only for a couple of weeks.
Maverick is also the year’s top-grossing film worldwide, with over $1 billion in the bank — the first film of star Tom Cruise’s over four-decade career to have crossed the milestone. During the pandemic, Cruise was firm about holding out for a theatrical release, despite interest in the film from at least a couple of major streamers. But the $170 million action spectacle was always intended to be a big screen experience—Maverick has made over $85 million worldwide from IMAX alone—and Paramount’s patience has paid off handsomely.
Directed by Joseph Kosinski, Maverick is Paramount’s fifth hit of the year, following Scream, Jackass Forever, The Lost City and Sonic the Hedgehog 2—a remarkable change of fortunes for a studio that was until recently struggling because of high-profile flops and behind-the-scenes change-ups. Celebrating the film’s box office success, Paramount Pictures President and Chief Executive Officer Brian Robbins said:
“It’s rare to get the special kind of alchemy that creates a true event film, and we have been absolutely blown away by the global response to Top Gun: Maverick. Thank you to the incomparable Tom Cruise, our visionary filmmakers and talented cast, and our amazing marketing and distribution teams, for delivering an absolutely perfect movie and theatrical experience for audiences around the world.”
The $572 million domestic haul puts it at the number 12 spot on the all-time list, ahead of major hits like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story ($532 million), The Dark Knight ($534 million) and The Lion King ($543 million). On the taxiway in front of it are Incredibles 2 ($608 million), Star Wars: The Last Jedi ($620 million) and The Avengers ($623 million), Jurassic World ($652 million) and Titanic ($659 million).
Maverick 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 as it next eyes the $600 million mark domestically, 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).