Top Gun: Maverick soars to a massive $19.3 million in preview showings, the highest in Paramount history and a career-high for Tom Cruise. Set 36 years after the events of Tony Scott's classic 1986 film Top Gun, the long-awaited sequel finds the titular test pilot, Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, returning to the United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program (better known as Top Gun) to train a new generation of young fighter pilots. Among this group is Lieutenant Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, the son of Maverick's late RIO and best friend, Nick "Goose" Bradshaw.
Tom Cruise returns to lead the Maverick cast alongside a star-studded ensemble that includes Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Ed Harris, Monica Barbaro, and Val Kilmer. Oblivion helmer Joseph Kosinski reunites with Cruise on Maverick, directing a script that Mission: Impossible's Christopher McQuarrie had a hand in writing. Reviews for Top Gun: Maverick have been showering the film with praise, deeming it far superior to its predecessor for everything from its dazzling aerial sequences to its heartfelt story.
Now, the first box office figures for the film are in via Deadline. Top Gun: Maverick soared to a massive $19.3 million at the box office during its preview showings. This is the highest-grossing preview in the history of Paramount Pictures and a career-best for Cruise.
Before Maverick, Paramount's biggest preview was 2009's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, grossing $16 million on its opening night, which was actually a Tuesday. Paramount gave Maverick a similar treatment, hosting a "Top Gun Tuesday" event with premium formats hosting screenings early. Therefore, there is one slight caveat to Maverick's massive preview haul – the $19.3 million figure is comprised of ticket sales from both Tuesday and Thursday. Nevertheless, it's still an impressive opening that blows Cruise's previous best out of the water, 2018’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout, which made a measly $6 million in comparison during its Thursday previews. Triple that figure to compensate for Maverick's extra day and it still wouldn't surpass the Top Gun sequel's massive two-day total.
Top Gun: Maverick is projected to gross over $100 million during the four-day Memorial Day weekend, which would be the first time a Cruise movie surpassed the century mark in its opening weekend. All movie math considered, audiences are clearly excited about Cruise reprising his role as Maverick, but perhaps the even more enticing draw is the movie's spectacular aerial sequences, which were all filmed practically and required intense stunt training from the cast. This incredible commitment from Cruise and everyone involved has made Top Gun: Maverick one of the can't-miss movie events of this summer.
Source: Deadline
