‘Top Gun 2’ Passes ‘Incredibles 2’ As ‘Elvis’ Tops $100 Million

In holdover news that isn’t about Thor: Love and Thunder ($13.8 million for a $45 million weekend), Minions: The Rise of Gru earned another $8.13 million (-44%) for a likely $25.33 million (-45%) third weekend and $262 million 17-day total. That’s a solid hold and a strong overall gross. It’s possible (but not yet inevitable) that Minions 2 will end up higher than both Thor: Love and Thunder (which may top out at a still-terrific $315 million domestic) and Jurassic World Dominion (which will gross $4.9 million this weekend, -43% despite debuting on PVOD, for a $360 million domestic cume). Presuming it legs somewhere between Minions ($336 million after a $262 million 17-day total) and Despicable Me 3 ($272 million after a $188 million 17-day total), Minions: The Rise of Gru is likely to end between $335 million and $379 million.

Meanwhile, Top Gun: Maverick continued to pass various box office milestones. The $170 million legacy sequel passed $1.2 billion yesterday and earned another $3.4 million (-24%) on Friday for a new $609 million cume. That puts it past Incredibles 2 ($608 million) to make it the biggest-grossing “part two” sequel ever in unadjusted domestic earnings. We’re looking at another $11.79 million (-24%) eighth-weekend gross for a new $617.7 million domestic cume. It’s already the second-biggest domestic earner ever for Paramount (behind Titanic’s $659 million lifetime gross) and now it will pass the inflation-adjusted total of Beverly Hills Cop ($234 million in 1984/$616 million adjusted). Presuming its domestic/overseas split remains unchanged, it’ll be at around $1.232 billion, between Iron Man 3 ($1.215 billion) and The Fate of the Furious ($1.236 billion). Top Gun 2 has now earned 55% more than any previous Tom Cruise movie globally.

Not to be outdone, Warner Bros.’ buzzy and well-reviewed Elvis passed $100 million on Friday. The Baz Luhrmann-directed music biopic earned $2.3 million (-31%) on Friday for a new $100.9 million cume. The Austin Butler/Tom Hanks flick will earn $7.55 million (-32%) in weekend four for a $106.15 million domestic cume. It has passed movie theater savior Godzilla Vs. Kong ($100 million) and will pass Dune ($108 million) this coming week and become WB’s second-biggest domestic earner since Joker ($335 million in October of 2019) behind The Batman ($370 million). Top Gun 2 and Elvis show the “I’m still standing” strength of older and irregular moviegoers when the right movie is available and sold as an actual event. Once again, Warner Bros. Discovery is more than Batman and Harry Potter. I’m newly optimistic for DC League of Super-Pets and Don’t Worry Darling.

The Black Phone passed $100 million worldwide this week, which propelled Blumhouse’s lifetime total past $5 billion. Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill’s acclaimed and buzzy horror flick (based on a short story from Joe Hill) earned another $1.62 million (-32%) on Friday for a likely $5.3 million (-32%) fourth weekend despite also debuting on PVOD on Friday. That gives the $19 million, R-rated flick a $72 million domestic cume. Meanwhile, Pixar’s Lightyear earned $395,000 (-58%) on Friday for a likely $1.2 million weekend and $116 million 31-day cume. Alas. Finally, A24’s delightful Marcel the Shell with Shoes On expanded to just 170 theaters (not a wide release as previously reported) and earned $176,540 (+73%) on Friday. That positions the charming family-friendly fantasy (whose director was just hired to helm Disney’s live-action Lilo and Stich remake) for a $540,000 (+68%) weekend and 41.66 million 24-day cume.