Tom Cruise may have accomplished one of the most daring stunts of his career: getting the audience to go to the movies for something that doesn’t involve superheroes.
“Top Gun: Maverick” boosted ticket sales in its first weekend, grossing $ 134 million from a record 4,732 U.S. theaters. The American action adventure of Paramount and Skydance is expected to raise $ 151 million by Monday, defying expectations and at the same time looking to set a new record for Memorial Day opening weekends. (Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: End of the World”, which grossed $ 153 million over the long weekend of 2017, currently holds the holiday record). This is a testament to the dazzling reviews, the accumulated doses of nostalgia and Cruise’s return to the cockpit to perform real aerial stunts like pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell.
At the international box office, the sequel to “Top Gun” in 1986 took flight with $ 124 million, an impressive amount as the film does not play in key territories, China and Russia. In total, “Top Gun: Maverick” has grossed $ 248 million worldwide.
“Top Gun: Maverick” is the highest-grossing national debut in Cruise’s 40-year career, and the first to surpass $ 100 million on opening weekend. “War of the Worlds,” which opened with $ 64 million in 2005, was previously Cruise’s most important opening weekend.
The audience over the age of 40, the people who were the most important when Paramount gave the green light to another “Top Gun”, was in effect (55% of ticket buyers), which is impressive because it’s the demographic group that has been more reluctant to return. theaters. However, the dazzling acrobatics of “Maverick” managed to attract a significant percentage of millennial viewers (45% of people were 35 years old or younger) who were not alive when “Top Gun” premiered 36 years ago. . The film’s positive word of mouth should be useful in continuing to reach younger audiences.
David A. Gross, who directs film consultancy Franchise Entertainment Research, called the film’s three-day figure “exceptional.”
“The source material is still strong, the workmanship is excellent and Tom Cruise makes it work flawlessly well,” he says.
Imax and 3D displays increased “Maverick” revenue by 22% of total box office returns from premium formats. Imax alone is expected to contribute $ 21 million nationally and $ 32.5 million worldwide over the extended weekend.
“If you thought the movies were dead, go to ‘Top Gun: Maverick,’ and then let me know what you think,” says Rich Gelfond, CEO of Imax. “This film heralds the return of summer blockbuster and is a catalyst that will accelerate the demand for cinema like an F-18 breaking the sound barrier. There is no way to sit in a theater, with a huge screen and speakers that beat the chest, and come out thinking that there is another way to live ‘Top Gun: Maverick’.
“Top Gun: Maverick” continues a stellar box office streak for Paramount, marking the studio’s fifth film to be released for the first time this year. Without the help of comics or furious dinosaurs, the 2022 studio blackboard, which also features “Sonic the Hedgehog” ($ 182 million in North America), “The Lost City” ($ 102 million in North America), “Scream” ($ 81 million). in North America) and “Jackass Forever” ($ 57 million in North America) – has resonated in theaters. It’s an impressive boost, as Paramount released almost no films during the pandemic, but released major titles such as “The Tomorrow War” by Chris Pratt, “The Trial of the Chicago 7″ by director Aaron Sorkin and ” Coming 2 America “by Eddie Murphy on streaming services.
Despite countless delays (the “Top Gun” sequel was scheduled to open in the summer of 2020 until COVID-19 shuffled those plans), Cruise insisted that “Maverick” did not follow in the footsteps of those Direct films to the transmission. The two-year wait has already begun to bear fruit since the film was enthusiastically reviewed. It has 97% Rotten Tomatoes and a rare CinemaScore “A +”.
Joseph Kosinski directed the PG-13 “Top Gun: Maverick,” which picks up decades after the original and sees Maverick train a new group of arrogant aviators for a crucial task. 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 movie theaters to justify its high $ 170 million production budget, which doesn’t include the tens of millions spent on promoting the film to audiences around the world. These efforts included a splendid premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, culminating in eight fighter jets flying over the Croisette (paid for by the French government). Skydance Media co-produced and co-financed the film.
Just one movie, Disney and “The Bob’s Burgers Movie” of the 20th century, was brave enough to open against “Top Gun: Maverick.” For a film based on a full-length animated television show, “The Bob’s Burgers Movie” grossed an impressive $ 12.6 million from 3,425 places, enough for third place on the box office charts. . The well-reviewed film should end the long Memorial Day weekend with $ 15 million.
“The Bob’s Burgers Movie” landed just behind “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” which dropped to No. 2 after three weeks on the national box office charts. Disney’s new Marvel Cinematic Universe installment was down 50% to add $ 16.5 million from 3,805 theaters in its fourth weekend release. It is expected to reach $ 21.1 million in four days. The superhero sequel, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, has grossed $ 375 million in North America and a whopping $ 868.7 million worldwide so far.
At No. 4, “Downton Abbey: A New Era” fell 63 percent since its opening, grossing $ 5.9 million between Friday and Sunday. It is estimated to earn $ 7.5 million from 3,830 theaters by Monday. After two weeks in theaters, the sequel to the big-screen sequel to the beloved British television show, has grossed $ 30 million in North America and $ 68.9 million worldwide. The production of the next film cost $ 40 million, which means that “Downton’s” latest adventure has a long way to go before it goes black.
Universal’s animated robbery “The Bad Guys” topped the top five with $ 4.6 million from 2,944 locations. On Monday, the family film is expected to gross $ 6.1 million, bringing its national revenue to $ 82 million.
Without much anticipation until “Jurassic World: Dominion” on June 10, expect “Top Gun Maverick” to continue to fly high over movie theater canopies.
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