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Tom Cruise has long been the flagbearer of Hollywood box office, a christening that ensued in the wake of the success that was 1986’s Top Gun. As the industry came to a halt due to the COVID-19 outbreak and grappling furthered, it was imperative for the Mission: Impossible star to rid it of milquetoast status in indomitable spirits and revive the summer blockbuster by galvanizing older and skeptical moviegoers. Ironically, it was once again his turn as Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in Top Gun: Maverick, which registered itself in history books for eternity.
Like in days of yore, and unlike today’s front-loaded events, Tom Cruise‘s Top Gun sequel managed to accentuate its box office like no film since Avatar, as well as no blockbuster opening at over $100 million has ever done — and possibly none ever will. Top Gun: Maverick opened in 2022 at an impressive $126.7 million — $160.5 million, enumerating the Memorial Day holiday — but none could have conjectured where its footfalls would fly it off to.
Top Gun: Maverick became the fifth-biggest hit at the North American box office with a domestic collection of $718.7 million (according to Box Office Mojo). Its final tally poses a multiplier of over 5.7x, an astronomical calibration both figuratively and literally.
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To contextualize further, even the biggest opening of all time — Avengers: Endgame’s $357 million — scarcely grazed the $850 million mark, indicating a multiplier of around 2.3× (via Box Office Mojo). This is congruent with the MCU, exemplified by the multipliers of Spider-Man: No Way Home (3×), Black Panther (3.4×), and Avengers: Infinity War (2.6×).
While Avatar: The Way of Water (5.1×) and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (3.7×) fared better, in part thanks to December releases, oversaturation seems to have worn them down, as audiences are no longer keen to be subject to redundant CGI worlds.
Classics like Avatar, Top Gun, and Titanic, despite opening in double digits, used to earn over 10 times their opening weekend, as it was not hype but word-of-mouth supplementing the impetus. Audiences were not in a race to be done with the movies at the earliest to part ways.
Top Gun: Maverick reintroduced that zeitgeist in keeping viewers hooked to an extent that theater owners couldn’t afford to take it off for months. Its practical stunts and aerial photography, alongside the nostalgic appeal and realistic themes of aging and resilience, resonated so much that a quarter of its audiences headed back to the big screens for repeat viewings. Vanquishing the one-way traffic of tiresome sequels like Thor: Love & Thunder, Lightyear, Jurassic World: Dominion, and Top Gun: Maverick’s paramountcy persevered.
Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick had treats for everyone. Much like its explosive opening, it also pulled the curtain on summer in style, landing at the number one spot during the Labor Day weekend in September like a war horn; this feat, like others, has never been replicated.
So there you have it. Not only did Tom Cruise and Top Gun: Maverick heal the box office, as even Steven Spielberg would proclaim, but its unmatchable box office record was affected by cinema lovers bouncing back from the pandemic. And getting all of these entities simultaneously once again is tantamount to a miracle, an occurrence inconceivable.
Stay tuned to Koimoi for more box office updates!
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