Tom Cruise's 'Top Gun: Maverick’ Lands Triumphantly On Opening Weekend

Top Gun: Maverick has outperformed expectations at the global box office, taking $248 million (£196 million) worldwide.

The film, which sees the return of Tom Cruise’s hotshot pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, after the character was first introduced in 1986’s Top Gun, has benefited from strong reviews and word-of-mouth, as well as a lengthy and high-profile publicity drive.

It marks the first time a film starring Cruise has broken the $100 million mark on opening weekend and makes it the highest-opening non-superhero movie released since the pandemic began, following Spider-Man: No Way Home (£206 million), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness with (£148 million) and The Batman (£106 million).

It also attracted a demographic higher than those of Marvel and DC films, with an estimated 55% of the audience over 35.

Tom Cruise in TOP GUN: MAVERICK

Some £151 million of the takings came from the US, where the film was screened at a record 4,732 cinemas. Around 19,000 other locations around the globe were reported to be screening the film.

Top Gun: Maverick was initially scheduled to open in summer 2020 but was delayed several times because of the pandemic.

Its marketing campaign began in 2019 and climaxed last week with an appearance by Cruise in Cannes and a royal premiere in London.

Speaking in Cannes, where the film was screened and its star was presented with an honorary Palme d’Or, Cruise reiterated his producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s vow that the film would not debut on a streaming site.

Cruise’s previous highest debut was Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds, which opened to £51 million in 2005.

The star has two more Mission: Impossible films scheduled for release in 2023 and 2024.