Top Gun: Maverick has been playing in theaters for a week now, and its box office performance is already shining in several ways. In addition to overtaking Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End to have the most financially successful Memorial Day weekend opening, Tom Cruise’s return to the role of Pete “Maverick” Mitchell has also given the actor his best opening weekend ever. Going into its second weekend on big screens, Maverick is now about to break yet another record for Cruise.
At the time of this writing, Top Gun: Maverick has made approximately $390.6 million worldwide, $205.6 million of which comes from domestic ticket sales. According to Deadline, the sequel is expected to hit $273.6 million on Saturday, at which point it will become Tom Cruise’s highest-grossing movie at the domestic box office. This honor was previously held by 2005’s War of the Worlds, which collected $234 million domestically.
Now, it’s important to clarify that when looking at how Tom Cruise’s movies do financially through a global lens, three of his Mission: Impossible movies reign supreme, with 2018’s Fallout sitting at the top of the pack with a $791.6 million worldwide haul. However, Fallout’s domestic total sits at $220.1 million, so War of the Worlds has held onto this personal Cruise record for over a decade and a half. But now it’s time for the H.G. Wells adaptation to surrender that position, as Top Gun: Maverick will now become Cruise’s biggest cinematic accomplishment domestically.
Along with these accomplishments, Top Gun: Maverick ended its opening weekend by becoming the seventh highest-grossing movie of 2022, which prompted Tom Cruise to thank fans across the world for their support. In the days since then, Maverick has slotted itself into 2022’s #6 spot, but going off of this weekend’s projection, it will overtake Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore’s $396.1 million and Uncharted’s $401.9 million. From there, the only three movies ahead of it will be Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, The Batman and Chinese release The Battle at Lake Changjin II, although there will be plenty of other blockbusters to follow in the latter half of the year.
Taking place over three decades after the events of the original Top Gun (which this sequel ends up improving), Top Gun: Maverick sees Pete Mitchell, who’s still a Captain in the U.S. Navy, being tasked to train a group of young fighter pilots who’ve graduated from the Top Gun program for a dangerous mission. Among these pilots is Miles Teller’s Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, son of the late Nick “Goose” Bradshaw, who was Mitchell’s RIO and best friend. Maverick’s cast also includes Val Kilmer, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Ed Harris, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Monica Barbara, Charles Parnell, Danny Ramirez and Jay Ellis, while behind the cameras, Joseph Kosinski directed, and Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie all worked on the script.
In addition to its commercial success, Top Gun: Maverick has also been met with critical acclaim, including CinemaBlend’s own Eric Eisenberg giving it 4 out of 5 stars in his review. CinemaBlend will continue sharing updates on Maverick’s theatrical run alongside our coverage of upcoming movies.