‘Top Gun: Maverick’ rises to a huge $124 million

Tom Cruise may have pulled off one of his most risky feats yet: convincing audiences to go to the theatres for reasons other than superheroes.

“Top Gun: Maverick” boosted ticket sales in its first weekend, grossing $ 134 million from a record 4,732 U.S. theaters. The American action adventure of Paramount and Skydance is expected to raise $ 151 million by Monday, defying expectations and setting a new record for Memorial Day opening weekends. This is thanks to dazzling reviews, accumulated doses of nostalgia, and getting Cruise back in the cockpit to perform real aerial stunts like pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell.

“Top Gun: Maverick” is Cruise’s highest-grossing debut in its 40-year career and the first to surpass $ 100 million on opening weekend. “War of the Worlds,” which opened with $ 64 million in 2005, was previously Cruise’s most important opening weekend.

Audiences over 40, who were the most important when Paramount approved a sequel to “Top Gun” in 1986, performed admirably, which is impressive given that this demographic has been the most hesitant to return to the theatres. Positive word of mouth about the picture should help it attract younger audiences who were not alive when “Top Gun” was released 36 years ago.

The film’s three-day number, according to David A. Gross of film consultancy Franchise Entertainment Research, is “extraordinary.”

“The original material is still strong, the workmanship is excellent and Tom Cruise makes it work flawlessly well,” he says.

“Top Gun: Maverick” continues a stellar box office streak for Paramount, marking the studio’s fifth film to be released for the first time this year. Without the help of comics or furious dinosaurs, the 2022 studio blackboard, which also features “Sonic the Hedgehog” ($ 182 million in North America), “The Lost City” ($ 100 million in North America), “Scream” ($ 81). million in North America) and “Jackass Forever” ($ 57 million in North America) – has resonated in theaters. It’s an impressive boost, as Paramount released almost no films during the pandemic, but released major titles such as “The Tomorrow War” by Chris Pratt, “The Trial of the Chicago 7″ by director Aaron Sorkin and ” Coming to 2 America “by Eddie Murphy on streaming services.

Despite numerous delays (the “Top Gun” sequel was set to debut in the summer of 2020 until COVID-19 shifted those plans), Cruise was adamant that “Maverick” not follow in their footsteps. movies. Since the film received positive reviews, the two-year wait has began to bear fruit. It has a CinemaScore of “A +” and a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 97 percent.

The PG-13 “Top Gun: Maverick,” directed by Joseph Kosinski, follows up decades after the original and sees Maverick prepare a new batch of cocky aviators for a key mission. Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Jon Hamm, Jennifer Connelly, and Val Kilmer, who played Iceman in the first “Top Gun,” are among the cast members.

“Top Gun: Maverick” also needs movie theaters to justify its high $ 170 million production budget, which doesn’t include the tens of millions spent on promoting the film to audiences around the world. These efforts included a splendid premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, culminating in eight fighter jets flying over the Croisette (paid for by the French government). Skydance Media co-produced and co-financed the film.

Just one movie, Disney and “The Bob’s Burgers Movie” of the 20th century, was brave enough to open against “Top Gun: Maverick.” For a film that is based on a full-length animated television show, “The Bob’s Burgers Movie” grossed an impressive $ 12 million from 3,425 places, enough for third place on the box office charts. The film is expected to end Memorial Day with $ 15.3 million.

“The Bob’s Burgers Movie” landed just behind “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” which dropped to No. 2 after three weeks on the national box office charts. Disney’s new Marvel Cinematic Universe installment was down 50% to add $ 16 million from 3,805 theaters in its fourth-weekend release. The sequel to Superhero, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, has grossed $ 375 million so far.

“Downton Abbey: A New Era,” which debuted at No. 4, has dropped 63 percent since its premiere, generating $ 5.9 million between Friday and Sunday. By Monday, it is expected to have grossed $ 7.5 million from 3,830 screens. The sequel to big-screen sequel to the iconic British television program has grossed $ 30 million in North America and $ 68.9 million worldwide after two weeks in theatres. The next film will cost $ 40 million to make, so “Downton Abbey’s” latest adventure has a long way to go before it goes dark.

With $ 4.6 million from 2,944 venues, Universal’s animated robbery “The Bad Guys” topped the top five. The family film is predicted to earn $ 6.1 million on Monday, bringing its total domestic earnings to $ 82 million.