The long-awaited sequel is flying high at the box office
It’s official, Top Gun: Maverick is Tom Cruise’s biggest film ever, having now surpassed £1 billion at the box office.
After dropping on May 25, the dogfighting sequel took off almost immediately, with early reactions calling it “the best sequel ever” and the audience reception doesn’t seem to have cooled off, with millions pouring into cinemas in the weeks since its release.
Maverick was already the highest-grossing movie of the year at the domestic box office, earning $521 million in the US alone prior to this weekend, but has now grossed approximately $1.006 billion worldwide according to Reuters.
"He's probably the most competitive dude I've ever met."
Top Gun: Maverick stars reveal what @TomCruise is really like when the cameras are switched off pic.twitter.com/LMwnAROs1R
— JOE (@JOE_co_uk) May 23, 2022
Cruise’s second turn as top gun pilot Pete Maverick some 36 years on from the original overtook Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as the biggest film of the year, which earned $943 million.
The only other post-pandemic movie to pass the billion-dollar mark was Spider-Man: No Way Home, passing the threshold within just 12 days of its release. Top Gun: Maverick took 31 days.
Cruise was just 24 years old when the first Top Gun dropped in 1986 and has made 43 movies since then, but has never come close to reaching the $1bn mark.

Prior to smashing this record, the 59-year-old’s highest-grossing film was Mission: Impossible – Fallout, his sixth outing as spy Ethan Hunt, which was released in 2018 and earned $791.1m.
We were lucky enough to speak to several members of the Top Gun: Maverick cast surrounding its release and even spoke to personal trainer Nick Mitchell on how he got stars like Glen Powell in shape for the film:
"Legs? Pfft… We didn't do any kind of bodybuilding-style leg training!"
This is how #TopGunMaverick star Glen Powell got in shape for the film, according to his trainer @HeyNickMitchell @UPFitness pic.twitter.com/QmVc8dwbNn
— JOE (@JOE_co_uk) June 14, 2022
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