Maverick Flies High at Box Office With $124 Million Opening

Top Gun: Maverick is a huge box office success. While it had been anticipated that the new film would draw in filmgoers, the sequel has still managed to exceed expectations with an astronomical weekend haul of $134 million in North American theaters. It’s expected to clear $151 million through Monday as it continues to blaze its way through theaters for the Memorial Day holiday weekend, though that will put it just short of breaking the 2017 record set by Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End with $153 million. Factoring in worldwide ticket sales, Top Gun: Maverick is at $248 million total.

The sequel also sets a new career-best for star Tom Cruise. It is the highest-grossing domestic movie debut of the veteran actor’s decades-long career, also marking the first film of his to surpass the $100 million mark in its opening weekend. His previous record was $64 million for War of the Worlds in 2005. The film falls just behind Spider-Man: No Way Home ($260 million), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ($187 million), and The Batman ($134 million) as one of the highest earners of the pandemic era.

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As for Doctor Strange 2, the superhero sequel has been dethroned by Top Gun: Maverick, falling down into the No. 2 spot with $16.4 million pulled in for that film. The Bob’s Burgers Movie made its debut at No. 3 with $12.6 million, while the rest of the films that make up the top five are Downton Abbey: A New Era at $5.9 million and The Bad Guys at $4.6 million.

Related: Top Gun: Maverick Receives Rare A+ CinemaScore, Becomes Tom Cruise’s Best Reviewed Film

Top Gun: Maverick Is a Hit at the Box Office

Paramount Pictures

It’s always a challenge for any sequel to match the quality of a popular original film, but Top Gun: Maverick has exceeded expectations with critics just as much as it’s surpassed its box office goals. It has gotten a rare A+ CinemaScore as most everyone who sees the film feels it’s an incredible movie. It also has a 96% fresh rating with critics at Rotten Tomatoes while its audience score is even higher with a near-perfect 99% score. Couple this with the huge profits coming in, and Top Gun: Maverick has already proven to be a tremendous hit.

Rated PG-13, Top Gun: Maverick stars Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, and Val Kilmer. It is directed by Joseph Kosinski and written by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and Christopher McQuarrie.

You can read more detailed box office information at The Numbers, and you can see the full top 10 list for the weekend below.

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Jeremy Dick
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Jeremy Dick has been a writer and editor since 2014. He is a self-professed horror expert, pop culture enthusiast, and Bob Saget fanatic.

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