Nobody, not even the always-optimistic Tom Cruise would have predicted that Top Gun: Maverick would make $700 million at the domestic box office, let alone in 15 weeks. The blockbuster legacy sequel passed the coveted milestone on Saturday, becoming only the sixth film in history to do so. It is now hours away from passing Black Panther’s $700.42 million lifetime haul to become the fifth-biggest domestic release of all time.
Worldwide, the film has made over $1.42 billion, making it the biggest film of the year, the biggest film in the history of Paramount Pictures, the biggest film of Cruise’s career, and the biggest film since December’s Spider-Man: No Way Home. Funnily enough, both Maverick and No Way Home are currently locked in a dogfight for the top spot at the Labor Day weekend box office.
Maverick debuted to record numbers over the Memorial Day weekend earlier this year, and remained a fixture on the top five list in all but one weekend when it slipped to the sixth spot. Originally slated for a 2019 release, Paramount wisely chose to not offload the film to one of the many interested streamers that were sniffing around in the wake of the pandemic. The studio’s patience paid off, and Maverick became the fifth box office success for Paramount this year, after Scream, Jackass Forever, The Lost City, and Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
Assuming that it will overtake Black Panther soon, Maverick will trail Avatar ($760 million, likely to increase after the upcoming re-release), Spider-Man: No Way Home ($812 million), Avengers: Endgame ($858 million), and Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($936 million) on the all-time list. Remarkably, Maverick is the only adult-skewing title of the lot.
On the worldwide list, Maverick is currently ranked 12th. It now trails Frozen II ($1.45 billion), Furious 7 ($1.516 billion), The Avengers ($1.518 billion), The Lion King remake ($1.656 billion), and Jurassic World ($1.671 billion).
Released 36 years after the original Top Gun, Maverick is directed by Joseph Kosinski. The original film was directed by the late Tony Scott and grossed $357 million worldwide against a reported budget of $15 million back in 1986. The sequel brings back Cruise’s Pete “Maverick” Mitchell to introspect about his own legacy and train a group of young pilots for a dangerous mission. 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 our interview with Kosinski here, and read the film’s 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).