‘Top Gun: Maverick’ seriously top at weekend box office
“Top Gun: Maverick” lifted Tom Cruise to new box-office heights.
The high-flying action movie — a long-awaited sequel to 1986’s original “Top Gun” — opened with $124 million at domestic cinemas, giving Cruise far and away the biggest film debut of his career.
That three-day haul is nearly twice as big as Cruise’s previous best-opening film, “War of the Worlds,” which debuted with $64 million in 2005.
“Top Gun: Maverick” is projected to pass $150 million at North American theaters over the four-day Memorial Day Weekend. It’s made $248 million worldwide so far.
“These results are ridiculously, over-thetop fantastic,” Chris Aronson, the president of domestic distribution for Paramount Pictures, told Associated Press. “I’m happy for everyone. I’m happy for the company, for Tom, for the filmmakers.”
Cruise (photo below) reprises his role in the film as hotshot Navy pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, who is tasked with training a new generation of aviators ahead of a highstakes mission. The movie also stars Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Monica Barbaro and Lewis Pullman as the new pilots.
The release of “Top Gun: Maverick” comes after nearly two years of postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film boasts a 97% approval rating among critics included on the Rotten Tomatoes reviews website, and 99% of fans viewed it favorably.
The impressive opening by “Top Gun: Maverick” allowed the film to dominate the domestic box office and end a three-week win streak for Marvel’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” which came in second by adding $16.4 million.
The “Doctor Strange” sequel, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen as superhero sorcerers, has made more than $350 million in North America and more than $800 million worldwide since its debut in early May.
Finishing third at the box office was the animated comedy “The Bob’s Burgers Movie,” which opened Friday and made $12.6 million over the weekend.
Rounding out the top five were the historical drama “Downton Abbey: A New Era,” which made $5.9 million, and the animated heist movie “The Bad Guys,” which added $4.6 million.
Next month features more high-profile theatrical releases, with “Jurassic World Dominion” out June 10, the “Toy Story” spinoff “Lightyear” out June 17 and the musical biopic “Elvis” out June 24.