Top Gun: Maverick refuses to stop making money

The theatergoing public and the motion picture industry are ready to name Tom Cruise “president of movies.” After weathering a decade of bad press, including the Oprah couch thing, various Scientology controversies, and Knight And Day, Cruise is back on top, and so are the movies. How’d he do it? Cold, hard jingoism, of course. The people can’t get enough of America’s war machines. Plus, those planes go real fast, causing many audience members to turn their heads and say, “Wow, look at ‘em go!”

But despite seemingly stiff competition at the box office this week, Cruise and his F-18 flew Top Gun: Maverick to even higher heights this week: $900 million at the global box office. That number would be even larger if the film were released in Russia and China, but it’s still nipping at the heels of Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, which sits pretty at $950 million.

Top Gun and Strange are among three films that broke $900 million since the pandemic started. The third: Spider-Man: No Way Home, a title that makes less sense every time we write it. He can’t get home? From the multiverse? Why doesn’t he just ask his magician friend? Whatever.

Top Gun has also earned a healthy $474 million in the U.S., and apparently, people are seeing this thing multiple times—and Top Gun isn’t even that full of Easter Eggs and references to other films. Paramount says that 16% of Top Gun’s audience have seen the movie more than once, and 4% have seen it more than four times, and that is simply too many times.

How many more times will people see Top Gun: Maverick? Well, considering the only movies Hollywood has to offer are another Jurassic World and whatever the hell Lightyear’s supposed to be, probably a couple. What else is there to do? Summer’s here and the movies have that cool, cool air conditioning. Movies are the best.

[via The Hollywood Reporter]