Box Office: Tom Cruise’s ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Opens With $248 Million Worldwide

Tom Cruise shattered his own box office records this weekend, as Skydance and Paramount's PARA +4.7% Top Gun: Maverick soared to the top of the box office. The sequel earned $124 million over the Fri-Sun frame. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is the second-biggest Memorial Day weekend opening of all time with $138 million. I wouldn't be surprised if Paramount finds $1 million between their couch cushions or a block ticket purchase to push it past by the time the final grosses are made.

The three-day figure alone is nearly double his earlier personal best Fri-Sun opening weekend, which was $65 million for Mission:Impossible-Fallout in July of 2018). The four-day gross of War of the World is larger than any other Tom Cruise movie since The Firm in 1993 and Jerry Maguire in 1996. During that time, $30 million was a big budget, 15 million was a solid opening and $200 million was an unmitigated commercial success. In the year 1986, Top Gun made $176 million, which would be around $420 million today.

Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible opened with a $45 million Fri-Sun gross and a then-record $75 million six-day gross over the Memorial Day weekend. Mission: Impossible II opened with $58 million more than the Fri-Sun part of the movie, which had a $92 million debut. It has been awhile since Cruise set box office records. The biggest Fri-Sun opening of Cruise's career was the $37 million debut for Kosinski's Oblivion. The post-Spider-Man wave of mega-bucks openings seemed to coincide with Cruise's decline as a box office draw.

In the summer of 2005, Cruise got too excited on the Oprah Winfrey show and the clip became an early example of YouTube. Most of Cruise's pictures since Knight and Day in 2010 affirm that Tom Cruise was still a global box office star. It is a case of a big-deal actor reprising his first or second most famous character for the first time in 36 years. I will argue that the film wouldn't have opened this well had it not been for another big summer tentpole in a non- Covid universe.

The $170 million question has been haunting me since the film was initially shot, and Pete Mitchell is absolutely a marquee character. Tom Cruise may be limited in his bankability when it comes to playing a new character like Jack Reacher, not James Bond in Knight and Day. It's not like Harrison Ford's later years. Ford hasn't been an opener since 2000. Put him in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull or Star Wars: The Force Awakens and he is worth his weight in gold.

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Air Force One broke the R-rated record with a $37 million launch in July of 1997. The earlier record-holder was... Interview with the Vampire, starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, had a record opening weekend of $36 million. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the first Indy movie in 25 years, opened with over a hundred million dollars over its opening weekend. The reviews and the buzz are even better than for Top Gun: Maverick, and that seems like the comparison we should have been making. It feels like a long-term prediction for Top Gun: Maverick, as Indy 4 earned $312 million domestic by the end.

It's $295-$315 million domestic, which is about the same as Solo: A Star Wars Story. The film has received positive reviews and an A+ Cinemascore grade. It was played mostly by males, with 45% over 35 and 34% Caucasian. Some people said it exceeded their expectations, while others said they would see it again theatrically. The theatrical slate is unforgivably slight due to a combo of studio cowardice, streaming-specific priorities and Covid-caused post-production delays. Top Gun could have legs closer to a Tom Cruise December release (A Few Good Men, Jerry Maguire, Vanilla Sky, The Last Samurai, Jack Reacher, etc.) than a more front loaded Memorial Day weekend opener. It could be the summer movie for adults.

If it does the same as the first two Mission:Impossible films, it will be a record-breaking $75 million six-day debut and $215 million from a $92 million frame. It will end up under $400 million if it legs like Men in Black III or Pearl Harbor. The second part of A Quiet Place will end with $160 million and will be tied with the total of Top Gun. Aladdin earned $353 million from a $117 million launch. It would give Top Gun: Maverick $450 million. It could challenge for the summer crown.

Credit Cruise's artistic reputation, the nostalgia for Top Gun and the Maverick character, two years of Covid-caused delays and the final product earning strong reviews and IMAX buzz. The Joseph Kosinski-helmed action drama blends the genre goods from his Cruise-starring sci-fi romp Oblivion with the emotional melodrama of his spectacular knockout firefighter drama Only the Brave. It's similar to Tony Scott's early work but has a more level-headed sincerity and four-quadrant wholesomeness. Whatever Paramount has been doing right this year, they will keep doing it. They scored their second-biggest opening ever behind Iron Man 2.

The film broke Tom Cruise-specific records in 32 marketplaces when it earned $248 million worldwide over its global debut. The film has a $124 million overseas gross and a $124 million domestic debut. The film doesn't need the likes of China, Russia and Ukraine. By tomorrow, it could be past $300 million worldwide, and even a mere 2.0x ZRX +0.7% global multiplier will push it to over $600 million, making it Cruise's third-biggest grosser behind Ghost Protocol and Fallout. China is both a lost cause and an unnecessary variable according to a high global total for Top Gun: Maverick. Either way, Tom Cruise and Paramount are partying like they did in 1996.