Top Gun: Maverick is soaring high at the box office in its first few weeks, but how does it compare to the original Top Gun? The first Top Gun was also a huge box office success, but thanks to changes in inflation and the evolution of the theatrical market, the box office earnings of both movies can’t be directly compared.
Top Gun was the top-grossing film of 1986 and is one of the movies to propel Tom Cruise to superstardom. It may have taken 36 years for the sequel to arrive, but the property and Tom Cruise are still a big box office draw, as shown by Top Gun: Maverick’s box office results.
Top Gun opened to almost $8.2 million domestically in May 1986 and actually increased 15 percent during its second weekend (Memorial Day weekend) to $9.4 million. Then it dropped just 27 percent in its third weekend to $6.9 million, before returning to $8.2 million again in its fourth weekend, beating its opening weekend numbers by a few thousand dollars. It was in theaters for more than six months, earning a total domestic box office haul of $176.8 million.
Adjusted for inflation, Top Gun’s opening weekend is equivalent to $21.9 million, and its total domestic run is equivalent to $471.5 million. Based on these numbers, Top Gun: Maverick’s $156 million domestic opening is clearly superior, and with $357.4 million in total domestic earnings so far, it looks like it’ll surpass the original’s total domestic haul, too. Average ticket prices in 1986 were just $3.71 and average ticket prices in 2022 are $9.17. Dividing 1986 domestic revenue by ticket prices suggests the original Top Gun sold approximately 47.6 million tickets domestically, while Top Gun: Maverick has already sold approximately 38.9 million tickets in just a few weeks and will likely surpass Top Gun in two to three weeks.
Top Gun opened on 1,028 screens and increased to 1,531 screens a few weeks later, maintaining over a thousand screens for 24 weeks. Top Gun: Maverick opened on 4,735 screens, which is more than three times more theaters than the original Top Gun. While Top Gun maintained over 1,000 screens for 24 weeks of its 30-week run, Top Gun: Maverick’s box office will be way more front-loaded. Other recent Paramount movies hit streaming after 45 days in theaters, and while Tom Cruise is surely pushing for a longer theatrical exclusive window for Top Gun: Maverick, it’s guaranteed to be less than 30 weeks.
Top Gun was the highest-grossing movie in 1986, ranking well ahead of Crocodile Dundee at $116.8 million and The Karate Kid Part II at $115 million. Top Gun: Maverick is currently ranked second behind Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on the domestic box office chart and is likely to pass it in the next few weeks, although there are still a few big releases, such as Avatar, yet to come in 2022. Of course, none of this accounts for the international box office since the market has grown dramatically since 1986, ensuring Top Gun: Maverick's box office earnings will eclipse Top Gun's. Top Gun: Maverick is certainly making more money than the original Top Gun, but much of that success is building upon the power of the brand and Tom Cruise's star power established by the original movie.