No points for second place
Top Gun: Maverick has taken off at theatres, raking in $156m in the US over the extended Memorial Day weekend. That haul not only breaks the previous record for the holiday from 2007, but it also marks Tom Cruise's own personal record for a box office weekend debut — which is good going for an actor that is sixth on the all-time list of highest grossing actors.
With sky-high ratings — 8.7 / 10 on IMDB and 96% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes — the coming weeks are likely to see Top Gun: Maverick go on to become one of the biggest box office hits of the year. That's important because Top Gun is pretty much the first non-superhero movie to be a really big hit since the pandemic.
As we highlighted two weeks ago, the superhero genre (in particular Marvel), has kept the box office in business over the last two years, leaving many to wonder whether non-superhero movies could thrive at the box office post-pandemic. Last weekend proves they can — even if Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which is hardly a flagship character of the MCU, brought in some 73% more than Top Gun: Maverick managed on its first day.
The nostalgia factor
What's particularly exciting is that the equally quotable sequel to Top Gun proved to be a draw for the generation who were teenagers when the first movie came out. Indeed more than half of the attendees (55%) were over 35. Back in 1986, the original movie reportedly led to a 500% increase in applications to become naval aviators — maybe the same people can apply again.
