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The high profits continue to roll in for Top Gun: Maverick. The film has officially garnered more than $1 billion at the global box office, putting it above Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which earned $943 million, as the year's highest-grossing movie. It was already the highest-grossing film in North America with $521 earned, which couples with another $484.7 from international ticket sales to land at a current haul of $1.006 billion.
Top Gun: Maverick has also managed to land back at the top of the box office side by side with the newly-debuted Elvis. The two movies have both pulled in around $30.5 million domestically, essentially sitting at a tie to share the top spots. This comes after the sequel had set some other notable box office records, which includes becoming the highest-grossing film of Tom Cruise's career.
Better yet, the critics and filmgoers have been pretty much unanimous in their love for the film. It has an A+ grade at CinemaScore, and at Rotten Tomatoes, it has a critics' rating of 97% fresh and an even higher audience score of 99% fresh. The strong reviews and word of mouth has likely contributed greatly to the movie's continued success in theaters as there has been a lot of encouragement to catch this film on the big screen for it to be best enjoyed. Cruise made it a point for the film to have a theatrical debut and a streaming release was never considered.
"That was not going to happen ever. That was never going to happen," he said, per The Hollywood Reporter.
Top Gun: Maverick Surpasses the Original According to Many Fans
The original Top Gun is a popular and highly successful movie, and that of course contributed to the interest in the sequel. Initially, many fans were leery about doing a sequel, as that's always the case when a beloved classic gets a follow-up movie decades later. But the results are better than anyone involved had even been hoping for with many fans and reviews declaring Top Gun: Maverick to be superior to Top Gun.
Joseph Kosinski directs Top Gun: Maverick using a screenplay by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and Christopher McQuarrie. Along with Cruise, the film stars Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, and Ed Harris. Original Top Gun star Val Kilmer also returns for a special reunion with Cruise. This was something that Cruise was adamant happen, according to producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Kilmer has also since spoken out about how much he appreciates the love for him from everyone who enjoyed his appearance in Top Gun: Maverick.
"I can’t believe how kind the whole world has been. I get hundreds of fan letters every week. It’s very humbling," Kilmer said of the reaction to his return.
Top Gun: Maverick is playing in movie theaters. A streaming date has not yet been set by Paramount.