Top Gun: Maverick Becomes 2nd Film To Surpass $1B At Box Office Since The Pandemic Began

Top Gun: Maverick is the second film following Avengers: Endgame in 2019 to reach the $1 billion mark at the global box office. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, played by Tom Cruise, returns in the movie directed by Joseph Kosinski, which serves as a follow-up to the acclaimed 1986 film Top Gun. Rooster (Miles Teller), the son of Maverick’s late former wingman Goose (Anthony Edwards), is one of the Top Gun pilots that Maverick, playing a teaching part this time, instructs in the movie as they prepare for a perilous quest in hostile territory.

Source: Paramount

Audiences and critics have virtually unanimously given the movie favorable reviews, with many complimenting the film’s stunning aerial battle sequences. The performers had to undergo extensive training to be able to film themselves while inside the cockpits of actual fighter jets, according to Kosinski, who previously claimed that they shot more than 800 hours for the movie. Along with Rooster, Top Gun: Maverick also has a number of new characters for viewers to talk about, including Penny (Jennifer Connelly), Cyclone (Jon Hamm), Phoenix (Monica Barbaro), Bob (Lewis Pullman), Payback (Jay Ellis), and Hangman (Glen Powell). Val Kilmer, who played Tom “Iceman” Kazansky in the first Top Gun movie, returns in this one as well.

According to a recent Deadline article, the film has now successfully surpassed $1 billion at the global box office, becoming the second movie to achieve that since in 2019 following Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2018. $521.7 million of the $1 billion was grossed domestically, and $484.7 million was from foreign markets. Since Avengers: Endgame broke box office records upon its release in 2019, only Top Gun: Maverick and Spider-Man: No Way Home have achieved this remarkable feat.

Source: Paramount

The movie’s box office performance has obviously benefited from Cruise and Paramount’s marketing, but the it also received favorable reviews and word-of-mouth. With only a 21 percent drop from the previous weekend, the critical acclaim for Cruise’s most recent blockbuster has assisted it to stay on top of the box office from weekend to weekend. Top Gun: Maverick is now up against Jurassic World Dominion, another classic sequel, which has been doing well at the box office with more than $700 million made globally regardless of the movie’s mostly negative reviews.

Even though the Top Gun sequel was released for over 3 decades after the first movie, it is obvious that fans are still fascinated by Cruise’s daring pilot. Crucially, the film features plenty for both longtime fans of the original and newcomers alike to enjoy, with Top Gun: Maverick’s aerial combat alone making it worth the price of admission for many viewers. With movie theaters having struggled for the last few years under the restrictions brought on by the Coronavirus pandemic, the movie’s record-breaking performance could suggest that, at least for many audiences, blockbuster movies are back and better than ever.