When 2022 is over, we’ll look back at Top Gun: Maverick as one of the year’s biggest box office successes. The Tom Cruise-led sequel is entering its fourth weekend in theaters, and having collected $806.4 million worldwide at the time of this writing, it stands as the second highest-grossing movie of the year across the globe, trailing only behind Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. With such a large haul come a number of box office accomplishments, and that now includes Maverick becoming Cruise’s highest-grossing domestic movie.
As a result of crossing the $800 million mark, Top Gun: Maverick has overtaken Mission: Impossible - Fallout as Tom Cruise’s best-performing movie commercially. Ethan Hunt’s 2018 adventure that co-starred Rebecca Ferguson, Henry Cavill and Angela Bassett took home $791.1 million worldwide. Granted, there are two more Mission: Impossible movies on the way, so there’s a chance Dead Reckoning Part One and/or Part Two could rake in way more money than Fallout did. But for now, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell stands above Hunt as a box office champion.
Top Gun: Maverick had already shined specifically within the lens of Tom Cruise’s resume through being both the actor’s best opening weekend and surpassing War of the Worlds as his highest-grossing movie domestically. Breaking down Maverick’s current $806.4 million worldwide total, the sequel has made roughly $422.2 million domestically and $384.2 million internationally, and along with being 2022’s highest-grossing domestic release, it’s now Paramount Pictures’ second highest-grossing release in that same category ever, with Titanic, a co-production with 20th Century Fox, still sitting comfortably in the top spot. While not a guarantee, Deadline mentioned in its report that there’s a chance that Maverick could end up making over $1 billion worldwide, as it still hasn’t opened yet in Korea, where Tom Cruise has a huge following.
In addition to its massive box office run, Top Gun: Maverick also has the benefit of enjoying critical acclaim among both professionals and the general public. Over on Rotten Tomatoes, the sequel enjoys a 97% Tomatometer and a 99% Audience Score. CinemaBlend’s own Eric Eisenberg stamped Maverick with 4 out of 5 stars in his review, saying that this is “a movie that feels like it is the best version of itself, and it's a thrill.”
Set over three decades after the events of the original Top Gun movie, Top Gun: Maverick’s sees Tom Cruise’s protagonist being assigned to train a group of aviator graduates from TOPGUN for a dangerous mission. Cruise is joined in the cast by Val Kilmer (who recently shared a throwback with his Top Gun costar), Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Ed Harris, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Monica Barbara, Charles Parnell, Jay Ellis and Danny Ramirez, among others. Joseph Kosinski directed the feature, and Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie all worked on the script.
Top Gun: Maverick’s theatrical run isn’t ending anytime soon, but if you’re keen on watching it in the comfort of your own home, it’ll be available to stream with a Paramount+ subscription sometime later in the year. Speaking of which, check out the 2022 release schedule to learn what movies are left to come out this year.
