Top Gun: Maverick is projected to become the highest-grossing Tom Cruise movie ever by the end of the weekend. Cruise is no stranger to box office success, having starred in big-budget blockbusters, including Interview with the Vampire, War of the Worlds, and the original 1986 Top Gun, for four decades. His Mission: Impossible franchise, in which he plays superspy Ethan Hunt, is well known around the world for the actor performing death-defying stunts including running down the Burj Khalifa and strapping himself to the outside of a flying plane. Cumulatively, the Mission: Impossible film franchise has made over $3.5 billion worldwide since the original Mission: Impossible film debuted in 1996.
Top Gun: Maverick, which came to theaters on May 27, 2022, isn't just the follow-up to his 1986 hit. The film, which sees Cruise return as hotshot pilot Maverick, is also a continuation of his newfound quest for adrenaline, featuring many shots of fighter planes actually being flown onscreen rather than being rendered in CGI. The film, which also features Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Glen Powell, Jake Picking, Jon Hamm, Val Kilmer, Lewis Pullman, Jay Ellis, Manny Jacinto, and Monica Barbaro, had a stellar opening weekend off the back of that instinct, making Top Gun: Maverick the first Cruise movie to earn a domestic opening weekend over $100 million.
Per Deadline, Top Gun: Maverick is projected to take in an additional $57 million at the domestic box office by the end of the weekend. Although that represents a drop of 55% from the previous weekend, this will bring it to a total of over $240 million. Even if it rakes in ticket sales at the lowest end of its projections, it is prepared to blast past his previous highest-grossing outing, Steven Spielberg's 2005 War of the Worlds, which made $234.3 million during its domestic theatrical run.
While Top Gun: Maverick has flown straight past Tom Cruise's domestic record, it still has a bit of distance to travel before it becomes his highest-grossing film internationally. War of the Worlds made $603 million internationally, and Maverick's international box office hasn't been quite as robust as its domestic take. As it stands now, the film has made $30 million less in international markets than it has in the U.S.
This is partially due to the fact that films about the American military aren't quite as easy to sell in overseas markets as other big tentpoles. This is still the case despite Top Gun: Maverick making a pointed effort to avoid specifying the enemy fighters are belonging to any particular country. However, if its domestic run can manage not to lose any more ground in the next few weekends, the film just might be able to compete with some of Cruise's biggest international successes.
Source: Deadline