'Top Gun: Maverick' wins Tom Cruise 1st $100 million opening
Forget breaking the sound barrier: Tom Cruise just flew past a major career milestone.
The 59-year-old superstar just got his first $100 million opening weekend with 'œTop Gun: Maverick.'ť In its first three days in North American theaters, the long-in-the-works sequel earned an estimated $124 million in ticket sales, Paramount Pictures said Sunday. Including international showings, its worldwide total is $248 million.
It's a supersonic start for a film that still has the wide-open skies of Memorial Day itself to rake in even more cash. According to projections and estimates, by Monday's close, 'œTop Gun: Maverick'ť will likely have over $150 million.
'œThese results are ridiculously, over-the-top fantastic,'ť said Chris Aronson, Paramount's president of domestic distribution. 'œI'm happy for everyone. I'm happy for the company, for Tom, for the filmmakers.'ť
Though undeniably one of the biggest stars in the world - perhaps even 'œthe last movie star,'ť according to various headlines - Cruise is not known for massive blockbuster openings.
Before 'œMaverick,'ť his biggest domestic debut was in 2005, with Steven Spielberg's 'œWar of the Worlds,'ť which opened to $64 million. After that it was 'œMission: Impossible - Fallout'ť with $61 million in 2018. It's not that his films don't make money in the long run: They just aren't enormously frontloaded.
'œTop Gun: Maverick'ť had an extremely long journey to get to the theaters. The sequel to the late Tony Scott's 'œTop Gun,'ť which was released in 1986, was originally slated to open in the summer of 2020. Its marketing campaign technically started back in July 2019. The pandemic got in the way of those plans, however, and it was delayed several times. Directed by Joseph Kosinski, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and co-produced and co-financed by Skydance, the sequel reportedly cost $152 million to make.
But even as the months, and years, went by and many other companies chose to compromise on hybrid releases, Cruise and Paramount didn't waver on their desire to have a major theatrical release. A streaming debut was simply not an option.
'œThat was never going to happen," Cruise said in Cannes.
And it is major, with 4,735 North American theaters (a record) showing 'œTop Gun: Maverick.'ť It also opened in 23,600 locations in 62 international markets.
'œThis is one of the longest runways for a marketing campaign for any film ever. And it only served to create more excitement around the movie,'ť said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. 'œThis movie literally waited for the movie theater to come back.'ť
The build up has been just as flashy, with fighter-jet-adorned premieres on an aircraft carrier in San Diego and at the Cannes Film Festival, where Cruise was also given an honorary Palme d'Or, and a royal premiere in London attended by Prince William and his wife Kate.
'œThe feeling you get when you watch this film with an audience, it's pretty special,'ť Aronson said. 'œThe first big screening we had, there was spontaneous applause during the movie.'ť
Reviews have been stellar, too, with the film notching a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences, who were 58% male, gave it an A+ CinemaScore, according to exit polls.
The new film has Cruise reprising the role of Maverick, who returns to the elite aviation training program to train the next generation of flyers, including Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Monica Barbaro, Greg Tarzan Davis, Danny Ramirez, Lewis Pullman and Jay Ellis. Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm and Val Kilmer, reprising his role from the original, also star.
'œThis solidifies the notion that the movie theater is a singular and a vitally important outlet for people,'ť Dergarabedian said. 'œPeople are looking for a great escape from everything that's going on in the world right now.'ť
'œMaverick'ť is now among the top pandemic era openings, still led by 'œSpider-Man: No Way Home'ť with $260 million, followed by 'œDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness'ť with $187 million and 'œThe Batman'ť with $134 million.
Notably, 'œTop Gun: Maverick'ť is the only non-superhero movie in the bunch. It also attracted a wide swath of age groups to the theater. An estimated 55% of the audience was over 35.
'œSuperhero movies aren't for everybody. This movie is for everyone and that's what sets it apart," Aronson said. 'œThe theatrical exhibition business has challenges ahead of it, but this is a shot in the arm for that.'ť
'œThe Bob's Burgers Movie'ť was the only new release that dared go up against 'œTop Gun.'ť Released by 20th Century Studios and Disney, the animated pic earned $12.6 million from 3,425 locations. It opened in third place, behind 'œDoctor Strange 2,'ť which earned $16.4 million in its fourth weekend in theaters.
'œTop Gun'ť will continue to essentially have the skies to itself until 'œJurassic World: Dominion'ť opens on June 10.
'œIt has a really nice, open marketplace to play,'ť Dergarabedian said. 'œTom Cruise has always been about consistency. His movies are about the marathon. This is the first movie of his that is sprinting to big box office numbers. Here, he gets the sprint and the marathon.'ť
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Tuesday.
1. 'œTop Gun: Maverick,'ť $124 million.
2. 'œDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,'ť $16.4 million.
3. 'œThe Bob's Burgers Movie,'ť $12.6 million.
4. 'œDownton Abbey: A New Era,'ť $5.9 million.
5. 'œThe Bad Guys,'ť $4.6 million.
6. 'œSonic the Hedgehog 2,'ť $2.5 million.
7. 'œEverything Everywhere All At Once,'ť $2.5 million.
8. 'œThe Lost City,'ť $1.8 million.
9. 'œMen,'ť $1.2 million.
10. 'œF3: Fun and Frustration,'ť $1 million.
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Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr