Tom Cruise’s triumphant return to screens as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in the belated sequel to 1986 hit movie Top Gun has been elevated this weekend as the film soared past the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office. In a celebratory post, Cruise shared his thanks with audiences, seemingly not only on behalf of the Top Gun: Maverick cast and crew for their movie’s achievement, but for everyone who has supported theaters and the cinema experience.
After what has been a tough couple of years for cinemas, Top Gun: Maverick became only the second movie to hit $1 billion since 2019, although Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has fallen fractionally short of making it a trio. While there was always going to be a nostalgic interest in the new Top Gun movie, which comes over three decades after the original, no one has been prepared for just how popular the film has been at the box office, with critics and with audiences.
In his post on Twitter, Cruise said:
“To all the films in release, to all the studios, and to all the exhibitors: congratulations. To the audience: thank you for venturing out and allowing us to entertain you. See you at the movies.”
Top Gun: Maverick Has Been Worth The Wait
Paramount Pictures
It has been a long road for Top Gun: Maverick to make it to screens, and that is not just talking about the 30+ years it has taken to get the movie sequel made. Thanks to the Covid pandemic, the movie has seen a number of delays after initial reshoots pushed the release date to 2020. Having had numerous releases slated, promoted and abandoned, it looked at one point that the movie would end up going straight to streaming on Paramount+. However, after sticking to their guns, Paramount are now reaping the rewards with Top Gun: Maverick becoming their second highest grossing movie ever. After taking another $30 million domestically this weekend, there is every possibility that the film could end its run by overtaking its current biggest seller, Transformers: Age of Extinction.
Paramount recently revealed that despite many movies sticking to a 45-day theatrically exclusive window before heading to streaming platforms, they have not yet decided on a date for Top Gun: Maverick’s release on streaming and on home media. This suggests that they are going to allow the movie to continue to run for as long as it is still bringing in audiences in large numbers. With the film having outsold new release Elvis on most of the days of its opening weekend, and only just being overtaken when final takings were added on Monday morning, it is clear there is still a lot of appetite to see Top Gun: Maverick in all its glory on the big screen.
When it comes to Tom Cruise, he will now have his sights set on another box office hit for his two part finale to the Mission: Impossible series, with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 coming to cinemas in July 2023, with Part 2 following in 2024.
