Tom Cruise’s latest movie Top Gun: Maverick has soared at the box office, clearing one billion dollars worldwide. The sequel to the 1986 original is Cruise’s first film to hit that milestone —and Parmount Pictures’ second highest grossing film of all time (behind 1997’s Titanic).
“It’s rare to get the special kind of alchemy that creates a true event film, and we have been absolutely blown away by the global response,” Brian Robbins, Paramount Pictures’ president and CEO, said in a statement.
From CNN Business…
“Maverick” has gotten tremendous word of mouth, and audiences — especially ticket buyers over the age of 35 — have gravitated to the film. That’s notable because this demographic has been somewhat reluctant to return to theaters since the onset of the pandemic.
It’s also only the second movie of the pandemic era to make $1 billion at the global box office, joining December’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”
“For any film to join the $1 billion club is a monumental achievement,” Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscor, told CNN Business. “But ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ hitting $1 billion during the pandemic is a bit different.”
The film now ranks 15th on the all-time domestic chart between Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker ($515 million in 2019) and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story ($532 million in 2016).
Actor Randy Quaid offered up his thoughts on why the film is doing so well on Twitter:
“The reason Top Gun is doing so well is the same reason Trump won, America wants to return to a pre Clinton era!”
The reason Top Gun is doing so well is the same reason Trump won, America wants to return to a pre Clinton era!
— Randy Quaid (@RandyRRQuaid) June 27, 2022
Paramount and Skydance’s Top Gun: Maverick earned another $30.5 million in its fifth weekend of domestic release. The Joseph Kosinski-directed flick just cracked $1 billion worldwide. https://t.co/wKi9VcAq5d pic.twitter.com/dCVcaUXltf
— Forbes (@Forbes) June 27, 2022