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"Top Gun: Maverick" pulled in blockbuster
ticket sales in its opening weekend, collecting $134 million
from a record 4,732 North American cinemas. Paramount and
Skydance's all-American action adventure is expected to collect
$151 million through Monday, defying expectations while also
setting a new high-water mark for Memorial Day opening weekends.
That's thanks to dazzling reviews, heaping doses of nostalgia
and getting Cruise back in the cockpit to perform real aerial
stunts as pilot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell.
"Top Gun: Maverick" is the highest-grossing debut in Cruise's
40-year career, and his first to surpass $100 million on opening
weekend. "War of the Worlds," which opened to $64 million in
2005, previously stood as Cruise's biggest opening weekend.
Audiences over 40 years old, the people who were top of mind
when Paramount greenlit a sequel to 1986's "Top Gun," turned out
in force, which is impressive because that demographic has been
the most reluctant to return to theaters. The film's positive
word of mouth should be helpful in reaching younger audiences,
who were not alive when "Top Gun" opened 36 years ago.
David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise
Entertainment Research, called the film's three-day figure
"outstanding."
"The source material remains strong, the execution is excellent,
and Tom Cruise makes it work impeccably well," he says.
"Top Gun: Maverick" continues a stellar box office streak for
Paramount, marking the studio's fifth movie this year to open in
first place. Without the assistance of comic books or raging
dinosaurs, the studio's 2022 slate -- also consisting of "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 in a big way. It's an impressive
rebound since Paramount hardly released any movies during the
pandemic, instead sending big titles like Chris Pratt's "The
Tomorrow War," director Aaron Sorkin's "The Trial of the Chicago
7" and Eddie Murphy's "Coming 2 America" to streaming services.
Despite countless delays (the "Top Gun" sequel was scheduled to
open in the summer of 2020 until COVID-19 scrambled those
plans), Cruise was adamant that "Maverick" not follow in the
footsteps of those films. The two-year wait has already started
to pay off since the film has been rapturously reviewed. It has
a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes and an "A+" CinemaScore.
Joseph Kosinski directed the PG-13 "Top Gun: Maverick," which
picks up decades after the original and sees Maverick train a
new group of cocky aviators for a crucial assignment. The cast
includes Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Jon Hamm, Jennifer Connelly
and Val Kilmer, who played Iceman in the first "Top Gun."
"Top Gun: Maverick" also needs theaters to justify its hefty
$170 million production budget, which does not include the tens
of millions spent on promoting the movie to audiences worldwide.
Those efforts included a splashy premiere at the Cannes Film
Festival, which culminated with eight fighter jets flying over
the Croisette (the French government paid for those). Skydance
Media co-produced and co-financed the film.
Only one film, Disney and 20th Century's "The Bob's Burgers
Movie," was brave enough to open against "Top Gun: Maverick."
For a movie that's based on a long-running animated TV show,
"The Bob's Burgers Movie" served up an impressive $12 million
from 3,425 venues, enough for third place on box office charts.
The movie should finish 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 atop domestic box office charts. Disney's newest Marvel
Cinematic Universe installment declined 50% to add $16 million
from 3,805 cinemas in its fourth weekend of release. The
superhero sequel, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, has generated
$375 million to date.
At No. 4, "Downton Abbey: A New Era" plunged 63% from its
opening, collecting $5.9 million between Friday and Sunday. It's
estimated to earn $7.5 million from 3,830 theaters by Monday.
After two weeks in theaters, the sequel to the big-screen
continuation of the beloved British television show, has grossed
$30 million in North America and $68.9 million worldwide. The
follow-up film cost $40 million to produce, meaning the latest "Downton"
adventure has ways to go before getting into the black.
Universal's animated heist comedy "The Bad Guys" rounded out the
top five with $4.6 million from 2,944 locations. By Monday, the
family friendly film should rake in $6.1 million, which will
bring its domestic tally to $82 million.
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