It’s one for the record books. Not only did Top Gun: Maverick handily outfly its competition at the box office this week, it established an unexpected Memorial Day Weekend record turnout, taking in a staggering $156 million at the box office this holiday weekend.
After facing multiple release date delays over the past two years, Maverick has emerged like a phoenix 36 years after the original film’s debut to near-universal critical and fan acclaim. It’s also quickly become one of Cruise’s biggest non-Mission: Impossible-related hits and it’s charting a path to become one of his most successful films of all time, perhaps even on course to overtake the success of its blockbuster predecessor.
And now it’s toppled the previous Memorial Day weekend record-holder, Pirates of The Caribbean: At World’s End, by an entire $6 million — more than Paramount and Skydance studios were expecting. The movie exceeded expectations, but it has also broken through safe money expectations that have long held IP-weighted franchises such as Marvel, Star Wars, or the DCEU and the aforementioned Pirates franchise as the only safe bets in today’s blockbuster game.
The film also dominated the international market (proving it was a good decision not to straight-up identify the bad guys) taking in an additional $124 million, bringing the film’s take to a jaw-dropping $248 Million. That’s quite near Spider-Man: No Way Home’s Opening weekend take of $260 Million. It’s a sign of a lucrative summer blockbuster for Hollywood as well as an indicator that despite Covid infection levels creeping up again, audiences are ready to return to the theaters in numbers unseen for the previous two summers, danger zone, or no.
Top Gun: Maverick is playing in 4,732 theaters in North America and is undoubtedly currently in a theater near you.