Maverick’ Passes $900 Million Worldwide

Paramount has announced that Skydance’s Top Gun: Maverick has crossed $900 million at the global box office. It has earned $474.76 million domestic and $427.1 million overseas (without a penny from China, Russia or the Ukraine) for a $901.9 million global cume. That’s just 25 days in global theatrical release, which means that Tom Cruise’s insistence in a 120-day theatrical window is obviously paying off. We’ll see if the last two Mission: Impossible films (in summer 2023 and Fall 2024) are given similar treatment, but Cruise certainly has the high ground in terms of theatrical exclusivity.

Oh, and the film will today or tomorrow pass China’s The Battle at Lake Changjin ($911 million) to become the third biggest Covid-era grosser behind Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ($945 million) and Spider-Man: No Way Home ($1.91 billion). It has Tom Cruise’s biggest opening weekend ($160.5 million domestic and $300 million worldwide over the long Memorial Day weekend) and is already his biggest domestic earner (passing World of the Worlds’ $235 million cume) and his biggest global grosser (topping Mission: Impossible – Fallout’s $792 million worldwide total).

The $170 million legacy sequel, co-starring Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller, Jon Hamm and Glen Powell, has sold more tickets in North America than even Top Gun ($180 million mostly in 1986/$440 million adjusted), making it Cruise’s biggest domestic grosser even adjusted for inflation. Maverick will pass Frozen II ($477 million) today to become the 18th biggest domestic earner. It should enter the 100 biggest inflation-adjusted earners this week.

Top Gun: Maverick has soared past Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ($402 million in 2009) to become Paramount’s second-biggest domestic earner behind Titanic ($600 million in 1997/1998, $658 million counting the 2012 reissue). It’s now likely that the film will pass $600 million and flirt with $660 million by the end. It may sell more tickets than Goldfinger ($52 million in 1964/$606 million adjusted) and end behind just Thunderball ($65 million in 1965/$685 million) among non-fantasy/non-superhero action movies.

It will likely end up behind only Transformers: Dark of the Moon ($1.2 billion) and Titanic ($1.8 billion in 1997/$2.2 billion total but distributed overseas by Fox) among Paramount global grossers. In terms of inflation, it could end up behind Titanic ($1.2 billion adjusted), Grease ($707 million adjusted) and Beverly Hills Cop ($616 million adjusted) among Paramount’s domestic earners. Oh, and it’ll eventually pass Joker ($1.073 billion) to be the second biggest “didn’t play in China” flick behind Spider-Man 3 version 2.0.

The film has obviously entered the pop culture zeitgeist among general moviegoers, irregular moviegoers and those who aren’t perpetually online. Paramount is noting that 16% of the domestic audience has seen the film more than once, with 4% seeing it at least thrice. It’s the kind of film my older brother, who barely follows Star Wars anymore (he likes Obi-Wan well enough), saw and loved.

It already dropped just 15% in weekend four and nabbed the second-biggest fourth weekend ever between The Force Awakens ($43 million) and Avatar ($50 million). Offhand, it could drop 30% this weekend and still earn $31 million, which could be big enough to top the box office if Elvis and Black Phone stay under $30 million and Jurassic World 3 and Lightyear take 45-50% drops and remain over/under $25 million. Again, rank is immaterial, but it’s still a hell of a thing. Now let’s see if this crowd-pleasing blockbuster will turn irregular moviegoers into regular ones. That would be miracle number two.