Top Gun: Maverick, from Paramount and Skydance, earned another $30.5 million (-31 percent) in its fifth weekend of domestic release. That returned the film to the top spot for the weekend, a remarkable feat in any era, let alone our frontloaded, opening weekend-centric theatrical environment, and with two strong openers on its tail. That fifth-weekend gross is the second-highest of its kind (American Sniper didn’t go wide until its fourth weekend), trailing only Titanic ($30 million in 1998) and Avatar ($42 million in 2010).
The $521.723 million figure also represents the domestic total. Tom Cruise’s $170 million legacy sequel has now made $1.005 billion globally with a new international total of $487 million (it was once again the top movie overseas dropping just 26%). Yes, the Joseph Kosinski-directed movie recently passed the $1 billion mark globally. That is the first miracle.
Between Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker ($515 million in 2019) and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story ($532 million in 2016), the movie is currently ranked 15th on the all-time domestic chart. After The Lion King ($543 million), it is currently the second-highest-grossing film. The greatest domestic grosser since Spider-Man: No Way Home ($804 million) and Avengers: Endgame ($858 million), it will surpass the Jon Favreau-directed adaptation (and The Dark Knight’s unadjusted $534 million total) to become the 12th-highest domestic of all time.
It will finish its run with about $585 million domestically, just below Incredibles 2 ($608 million), assuming a “normal” rate of decline. With no holiday blitz giving it a boost and a June slate that is halfway full, it is somehow pulling James Cameron-worthy legs in the middle of the summer. More than $625 million is practically certain.
It might surpass Titanic’s $658 million lifetime earnings (including the 2012 3-D reissue) to become Paramount’s highest-earning domestic release and the seventh-highest domestic grosser of all time. Even after accounting for inflation, it may come in third place behind only Titanic ($1.2 billion adjusted) and Grease ($188 million in 1978; $706 million adjusted) among Paramount films, and only Thunderball ($65 million in 1965; $886 million adjusted) among all non-fantasy action films. In terms of global box office, it is now the 50th film to surpass $1 billion and is now positioned just cents behind The Dark Knight ($1.006 billion).
It will shortly surpass Joker ($1.073 billion) to become the second largest “never played in China” grosser behind Spider-Man: No Way Home ($1.9 billion), joining The Dark Knight, Rogue One, and Black Panther as movies that topped $1 billion with more than 50% of the revenue originating from North America. Since Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible II in 2000, Top Gun: Maverick is the first non-fantasy action film to top the domestic summer box office. Top Gun: Maverick is also the greatest global and domestic grosser of 2022. It has drawn a sizable audience of regular moviegoers, Tom Cruise and Top Gun enthusiasts, as well as the kind of sporadic moviegoers who only attend (roughly speaking) once-in-a-generation spectacles like Avatar, American Sniper, The Passion of the Christ, and Black Panther.
It has performed so absurdly well that it somewhat compensates for a lighter-than-expected summer theatrical schedule. It could also be that those sporadic moviegoers discover they enjoy coming to the movies and start attending more “regular movies” in a rising tide lifts all boats scenario. That would be the second miracle.