Joseph Kosinski’s Top Gun: Maverick is showing no signs of slowing down.
The Paramount and Skydance tentpole, starring Tom Cruise, is doing massive business in its second weekend. If estimates hold, the sequel will earn $85 million or more in its sophomore outing to boast the smallest decline ever — 33 percent — for a movie opening domestically to $100 million more.
In North America, the summer tentpole earned $25 million on Friday to finish the day with a jet-fueled cume of $230 million.
That number should rise to $290 million by the end of Sunday and as much as $540 globally. Top Gun 2 also continues to fly high overseas, where it crossed the $200 million mark on Friday and is likewise holding strong.
On Saturday, Top Gun: Maverick became Cruise’s top-grossing film domestically when passing up 2005’s The War of the Worlds ($243.3 million), not adjusted for inflation. That’s after zooming past the first Top Gun ($180.3 million) and Cruise’s Mission: Impossible films, including the last installment, Mission: Impossible — Fallout ($220.2 million).
Internationally, Top Gun: Maverick is already well ahead of the $176 million earned by the first Top Gun, not adjusted for inflation. The U.K. leads with $39.7 million. However, it is far from matching many of the recent Mission: Impossible films at the foreign box office. One reason — the sequel isn’t getting a release in China or Russia.
The movie’s overall performance is a huge win for the summer box office and shows that people are eager to return to theaters after two years of sparse Hollywood product due to the pandemic.
In North America, Top Gun: Maverick has the playing field largely to itself until next weekend when Jurassic World: Dominion lands across the U.S.
Overseas, Jurassic World 3 began opening midweek week in 15 markets for a cume of $25.9 million through Friday. It’s doing strong business in Mexico, Brazil and Italy in particular.
Opening at the U.S. specialty box office this weekend is Cannes Film Festival entry Crimes of the Future, from David Cronenberg. Neon is launching the film in more than 750 cinemas, a wide footprint for a specialty title. Estimates show the movie opening in the $1 million range.
