Top Gun: Maverick has defied the odds by soaring into hearts around the world and now, the box office record books. Over the weekend, the legacy sequel to the 1986 classic notched a billion dollars at cinema, joining an elite group of movies and becoming the highest grossing Tom Cruise movie of all time.
It took Cruise and his gaggle of fresh-faced aviators just 31 days to hit the milestone, which is a pretty impressive feat for a sequel to a movie that predates many of the people in the audience. It also bolsters the flagging fortunes of many movie theaters, the prospects of which have been bleak since the Covid-19 era pulled the rug out from movie lovers. Conventional knowledge has held that the only way for your movie to really triumph is to come from Disney or one of its in-house studios, like Marvel. But Top Gun: Maverick survived on pure jet fuel and Tom Cruise energy, but we repeat ourselves.
Avatar and Avengers: Endgame hold the first and second spots for highest grossing movies of all time. After that, it’s the usual mix of Marvel movies, Harry Potter films, Star Wars entry and the occasional James Cameron situation. But nobody should get too cozy. Cameron’s Avatar sequel in waiting in the wings, after all.
As for this summer, Maverick leads the way, but Jurassic Park: Dominion and Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness both performed well too, proving going to the movies really might become a thing again. Even A24’s surprise hit Everything, Everywhere All at Once became the studio’s highest grossing movie ever. Now, everyone’s panting for a little bit of that Thor: Love and Thunder action. If that succeeds as well, it’s safe to assume that at least one pre-pandemic norm is settling back into place: People like going to movies.
