36 years after smashing the sound barrier and achieving mega-stardom with the original Top Gun, Tom Cruise had already scored the biggest hit of his career with this year’s legacy sequel Top Gun: Maverick, and now the film has become the first release of 2022 to top $1 billion at the global box office, and only the second film to do so since the start of the pandemic.
By close of play this past weekend, Top Gun: Maverick has earned $520.8 million domestically, with a further $486.1 million from international markets giving it a grand total of $1.0069 billion after five weeks on screens. It’s achieved that without two major markets in China and Russia, and has overtaken Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ($943 million) to become the biggest movie of 2022 to date, and the second-biggest of the ‘pandemic era’ behind Sony and Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home ($1.9 billion).
“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 to Top Gun: Maverick,” said Paramount CEO Brian Robbins (via Deadline). “Thank you to the incomparable Tom Cruise, our visionary filmmakers and talented cast, and our amazing marketing and distribution teams, for delivering an absolutely perfect movie and theatrical experience for audiences around the world.”
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“This milestone is a testament to five years of collaboration with our incredible cast and crew, including the men and women of the US Navy,” added director Joseph Kosinski. “The enthusiasm from fans around the world has shown us there is no replacement for watching a movie in a packed theater. When I was 12, I sat in awe watching Top Gun, a film that defined the theatrical experience for me. To be part of something that is shaping moviegoing for a new generation of fans is the greatest achievement of all.”
After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him. When he finds himself training a detachment of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), call sign: “Rooster,” the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka “Goose”.
Facing an uncertain future and confronting the ghosts of his past, Maverick is drawn into a confrontation with his own deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who will be chosen to fly it.
Top Gun: Maverick features a cast including stars Tom Cruise (Maverick), Val Kilmer (Iceman), Jennifer Connolly (American Pastoral), Jon Hamm (Mad Men), Ed Harris (Westworld), Lewis Pullman (Bad Times at the El Royale), Glen Powell (Hidden Figures), Charles Parnell (Transformers: Age of Extinction), Bashir Salahuddin (Glow), Monica Barbaro (The Good Cop), Danny Ramirez (The Gifted), Manny Jacinto (The Good Place), Jay Ellis (Insecure), Kara Wang (Good Trouble), Jack Schumacher (Empire), Greg Tarzan Davis (Chicago P.D.), Jake Picking (Blockers), Raymond Lee (Mozart in the Jungle), Jean Louisa Kelly (Ant-Man) and Lyliana Wray (Strange Angel).
Top Gun: Maverick is in cinemas now.
Originally published June 28, 2022. Updated July 11, 2022.
