Tag: Top Gun Maverick

‘Lightyear’ Loses to ‘Jurassic World 3’ While ‘Top Gun’ Continues to Soar

The numbers are in and, as sadly expected, Lightyear isn’t going to set the box office in flames. The Toy Story spinoff which isn’t necessarily an actual spinoff of the original franchise, but rather a fictional film that takes place in that same universe, has opened to $51M over the weekend. With a wide release in 4,255 North American which is on par with many current releases but it does seem like family audiences aren’t quite ready yet to return to theaters as initially hoped. David A. Gross, who runs Franchisee Entertainment Research, shared the following statement on its release:

This is a soft opening for a spin-off of one of the most successful animation series of all time. ‘Toy Story’ defied gravity at the box office during its 27 year run, each episode topping the last, the last two clearing a billion dollars worldwide. But like all spin-offs, the ‘Lightyear’ story is narrower now.
David A. Gross

The early expectations had the film at around $70M but it’s sadly now going to be one of Pixar’s least successful releases, especially with a high production cost of $200M. Lightyear isn’t a sign of Pixar losing its draw at the box office, but more a reflection of the pandemic’s influence on younger audiences and Disney+’s strategy of using one of its biggest franchises to boost subscription numbers. Internationally the film has also been a lukewarm release with $34.6M, which puts it at an international release of $85.6M, which is a far cry from its initial expected $135M+.

Jurassic World Dominion kept its dominance at the box office, as it held on to the top spot, but did face a harsh 60% drop in its second weekend. It’s not too far from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness‘ 67% and highlights how these franchise films operate. With a lower opening than the Marvel Studios project, it reflects how these drops normally operate, but the dinosaur epic still generated $58.6M which is a strong release and now stands at $259M domestically.

It’s second-weekend highlights even more how much Top Gun Maverick is an exception than the rule, as the film has taken a massive $44M in its latest weekend which is just a 15% drop. As such, it is the second-highest fourth weekend with the only exception being Avatar. The film is likely going to pass a billion in just a few weeks as it already stands at $885M and will likely become the highest-grossing film of the year very soon. It sparked the box office in a big way and is a testament to just how sudden some projects can pull in viewers.

Source: Variety

June 19, 2022
‘Top Gun Maverick’ Beats ‘Doctor Strange 2’ to $400M Domestically

Top Gun: Maverick continues to fly high. The Tom Cruise-led film has crossed the $400 million mark at the domestic box office, making it the highest-grossing movie of the year, pulling ahead of Marvel Studios’ Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which is sitting at $398.7 million domestically as of Monday. With a $401.8 million domestic haul, so far, Maverick has also earned a spot as the second-highest grossing movie of the pandemic following Spider-Man: No Way Home. When all is said and done, Top Gun: Maverick will easily find itself in the billion-dollar club at the worldwide box office.

As for Jurassic World: Dominion, the dino-flick pulled in another $12.7 million on Monday, bringing its four-day total to a decent $157.7 million. While that’s a less than impressive Monday haul for the month of June, it’s still notable during a pandemic. For comparison’s sake, though, Dominion’s first Monday was below 2015’s Jurassic World ($25.3 million) and 2018’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom ($14.7 million). With the release of Lightyear this weekend, Dominion is expected to see a fair 58% drop in its second weekend with experts predicting it’ll pull in another $61 million.

With a fresh rating of 82% on Rotten Tomatoes, Disney and Pixar’s Lightyear looks likely to upset Maverick and Dominion at the box office this weekend. As to how high Lightyear will fly, however, remains to be seen.

Source: Deadline

June 14, 2022
‘Top Gun Maverick’ Beats Out ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’s Second Weekend With Record Hold

Top Gun Maverick is a one-in-a-lifetime film at the box office it seems, as the film has returned for its second weekend with a massive push. The film has made $290M in the United States with a worldwide gross of $548.6M already. A big part of that is that the ticket sales for the film in its second weekend are powerful with only a 32% drop from its Memorial Day weekend. As of now, it’s the smallest second-weekend decline for a film that opened to more than $100M worldwide.

It’s beating the usual expectations of frontloading, even if earlier predictions expected it going in, as they usually drop around 50%. With this record hold, the film has become Tom Cruise‘s highest-grossing film ever at the domestic box office as it passes War of the Worlds from 2005, which stood strong at $243M. The film also didn’t face any challenge this weekend as only the limited release of David Cronenberg‘s latest body horror film, Crimes of the Future, found its way into theaters with $1.1M.

Top Gun does seem poised for a potential $1 billion release. The film pulled in a higher second weekend than even Spider-Man: No Way Home at around $84.5M. What would be interesting is to see if people came in for a second helping this weekend before the release of Jurassic World: Dominion and it could face a bigger drop by then. but if it keeps up this record hold, it will definitely hold on tight to the top spot at the worldwide box office.

Is this the end of superhero films? Not really, as Doctor Strange is performing incredible we’ll even after a stark drop in its second weekend while No Way Home got the added “Christmas” follow-up weekend influencing its drop. So, these two franchises existing comfortably next to each other would redefine and reinvigorate the box office. Plus, Top Gun Maverick was eleased at the perfect time and is reaching an audience that generally has distanced itself from theaters, especially during the pandemic. For now, we can only theorize and will see just how far this film’s legs will carry it.

Source: Variety, Twitter

June 5, 2022
‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Tops Box Office for Second Weekend

Top Gun: Maverick continues to soar at the box office.

The Tom Cruise-led movie is on track to pull in $84.5 million in its second outing. That comes after an impressive $25 million Friday. Even more impressive, however, is that the film only saw a projected 33% drop from its opening weekend. With the movie performing so well, Top Gun: Maverick added an additional 19 cinemas in North America for its second weekend, which is notable as the film already earned the widest domestic opening last weekend with 4,732 North American cinemas.

Maverick‘s 33% decline is a stunning achievement, it also makes for the smallest drop in domestic box office history for a film that opened above $100 million. It is almost unheard of for films to see such a small drop. In fact, Cruise’s s last blockbuster, 2018’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout, saw a 42.5% drop in its second outing.

Paramount is expecting Maverick to expand its domestic haul to $290 million by Sunday. It is already Cruise’s biggest film ever at the domestic box office, pulling ahead of 2005’s War of the Worlds. That film pulled in $243.3 million throughout its time in theaters. Maverick should continue to preform well at the box office until Jurassic World: Dominion debuts next weekend.

As for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, as Cruise’s Maverick continues to dominate at the box office, the Marvel Studios sequel looks to expand its domestic gross to $388.6 million through Sunday. That will make it Disney’s ninth highest grossing Marvel Studios production, pulling ahead of 2017’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

Source: Variety.

June 4, 2022
‘Jurassic World’ Kicks Off Strong Internationally As ‘Top Gun Maverick’ Passes $200M in the US

Top Gun Maverick will end the day passing $200M as it pulled in a powerful Wednesday with $14.8M, which is a 6% drop. An incredible weekday takes and highlights the power this film has on the word-of-mouth side. It already passed the original’s domestic box office, which stood at $180.2M, and Mission: Impossible‘s $180.9M. Internationally, the film is already on its way towards $400M and may even pass $500M by Sunday. So, it’ll definitely be a contender for the top release for the summer.

The film has seen a younger draw, which is great in addition to the older main crowd, and is now enjoying the fact that 46% of schools closed and 88% of colleges went on break. Its only main competitor that might take a big chunk out of its box office will be the upcoming Jurassic World: Dominion. Speaking of, the film has already pulled in $16.7M on Thursday and is on its way to potentially pull in $50M+ over the weekend internationally.

It’s only available in a few markets and will release in 44 more once June 10th rolls around. It had a huge opening over in South Korea, and the film is likely to be a big competitor this year. Surprisingly, the only European market it released in was Italy, where it is 75% ahead of Fallen Kingdom. Top Gun is still performing strong internationally, but it may take a bite once it truly releases fully next week. It’s going to be quite interesting to see two giant releases once again compete for the market, which hasn’t been seen at this size since before the pandemic.

Source: Deadline (Top Gun), Twitter, Deadline (Jurassic World)

June 3, 2022
‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Ends Memorial Day Weekend With Massive $160.5M

It looks like Top Gun Maverick managed to pull up even more momentum than predictions set and has officially passed the $160M mark over the four-day Memorial Day weekend. The key audience of 35+ moviegoers has returned to push this film and it seems it was exactly what they were waiting for to see with the pandemic keeping them from visiting theaters.

Originally the film’s lowest openings were at the conservative $95M and it’s the second film after the pandemic to start to truly beat expectations, as did Spider-Man: No Way Home last December. Paramount’s domestic distribution president Chris Aronson had the following to say about its success:

I think it opens the door to what is possible.
Chris Aronson

IMAX president Megan Colligan also highlighted that this may be just the start with other strong contenders hitting theaters soon, which include Jurassic World: Dominion, Elvis, Lightyear, Minions: Rise of Gru, and Thor: Love and Thunder.

A whole segment of moviegoers have just come out for first time. Top Gun is an exceptional movie, and there is a really excellent lineup of movies coming down the pike. You really need that one-two-punch.

Top Gun had a 55% purchase by 35 years and older viewers with 18% even being older than 55 years. In comparison, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness‘ ticket buyers were predominantly younger with 66% below the age of 34 years. Yet, 21% of younger audiences also came to check out the new Top Gun film, highlighting the interest of cross-generations, most likely a family bonding event for parents sharing their nostalgia with their children.

It further highlights the potential of older skewed films drawing in an audience once again, but there’s a chance that it may also be a film that happened to release at the perfect time. As people have reached a boiling point with the pandemic and may be looking for that feeling that this film provides. The potential is that this film leads to a future with a stronger balance and diversity in cinema, which helps further develop all genres and entries.

Source: THR

May 31, 2022
‘Top Gun Maverick’ Takes ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’s Spot as Memorial Day Weekend’s Highest Opening Ever

It looks like word-of-mouth is definitely pushing Tom Cruise‘s Top Gun Maverick to new heights. Not only did its Sunday remain surprisingly strong, but the film is now at an impressive $156M. As such, it’ll now beat Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End to take the crown of Memorial Day weekend’s biggest opening. There is a chance that it could still go higher and potentially reach $160M but either way it has definitely taken the crown this weekend.

The old-school blockbuster has been a revelation for many that were looking for a pause in superhero fare. While one could argue that the way these jet pilots fly isn’t quite human either, Top Gun Maverick definitely connected with audiences over the weekend. For those wondering if this is the end of superhero cinema, it’s more a sign that we’ll see a bigger balance moving forward if studios learn the right lessons from this film’s success.

Tom Cruise is a very unique kind of actor, who has a strong hand over his projects. The film’s success may also bode well for next year’s Mission Impossible film, which smartly released an early trailer alongside this film. The strong success of Everything Everywhere All At Once has also re-established a new position for small and medium-sized projects within the market. A good balance of both crowd-pleasing blockbusters like genre-specific fairs alongside unique offerings for various age groups joined by smaller productions offering creative alternatives could not only revive a full blockbuster post-pandemic but push its development further.

Source: Twitter

May 30, 2022
‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Pulls in $248M Worldwide in 3-Days, Tom Cruise’s First $100M Domestic Opening

It’s finally official, as the final numbers will still come in but it’s looking like Top Gun: Maverick has pulled in $124M at the domestic box office in 3-days. Keep in mind, that it’s Memorial Day weekend and it gets an additional boost with the fourth day, which puts it at potentially passing $150M by tomorrow. As of now, it’s the third-highest opening of 2022 and Tom Cruise‘s biggest opening ever in his long career. It’s also opened $100M more than the original when it was made available back in 1986.

Worldwide the film is currently at $248M which is just 0.5M short from The Batman‘s opening. It is now Paramount’s biggest opening and they already had a strong year with Sonic the Hedgehog 2’s $72M, The Lost City‘s $30M, Jackass Forever at $23M, and Scream‘s $30M. The film has beat expectations and is making quite the splash that rivals 2007’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. It stays on track, it could even beat that film’s $153M to become Memorial Day weekend’s highest opening film.

As expected, the film is male-dominated but it’s only 58%. 30% said they’d watch it again in theaters which put it on a good hold for the next weekends. We’ll see if higher openings still end up leading to bigger drops, as was suspected with other recent releases but given how close it is to The Batman, it may have a similar development. With final numbers not yet in, it could also even pass The Batman‘s opening weekend, but we’ll know more by tomorrow.

Source: Twitter, Deadline, Forbes

May 29, 2022
‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Continues to Top Expectations, Gunning for $255M+ Worldwide Opening Weekend

It’s a true summer box office revival as Top Gun: Maverick is on its way to hype up the industry’s upcoming releases with a record-breaking Memorial Day release. Not only is it beating early expectations, but the return of Tom Cruise as Pete Mitchell after 36 years will establish Paramount’s most successful release at the box office yet. As of now, it’s eyeing $120M for a three-day opening and would still end its four-day weekend at $150M after pulling in $51.8M on Friday. Comscore’s senior media analyst Paul Dergarebedian had to follow to say on the actor pulling gin these numbers.

Tom Cruise is one of the few true movie stars left in the business. His name on the marquee means something to audiences who have come to trust that his films will be worth every dollar of that movie ticket purchase.
Paul Dergarebedian

The film has a strong pull for a four-day weekend and its massive critical success is pulling in a lot. It’s even beating out other Paramount releases to take the top spots and create a new benchmark for the studio. Internationally, the film is beating its $80M projects and is on its route to potentially pulling in $125M over 3-days, which would hint at a potential $255M opening weekend worldwide. It’s generally a great performance and it’ll be interesting to see how its legs perform.

A+ rating and strong word-of-mouth are definitely playing in its favor, which hasn’t been seen since Spider-Man: No Way Home. So, the film could be another exception within the market but its second weekend will be interesting to see. The strong performance is also thanks to an older demographic which came at the cost of Downtown Abbey: A New Era which dropped 76% in its second weekend as it has a similar base older audience.

Source: CNN, Twitter

May 28, 2022
‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Nabs a CinemaScore of A+

It’s become somewhat of a tradition to take a look at how films are performing based on their CinemaScore. For those that may not know, it’s an analysis based on viewers that just watched a film that give the latest release a score from A+ to F. Ironically, the rating has been quite frontloaded with most films moving between A+ to B- and a C-rating has commonly been associated with a film not being as well received with general audiences. Top Gun: Maverick has now joined the A+ club, as revealed by CinemaScore.

https://twitter.com/CinemaScore/status/1530396481273872384

As such the film has now beaten the 1986’s score of A and highlights the popularity surrounding this legacy sequel. It also joins Spider-Man: No Way Home with the A+ rating which is a showcase of a general audience pleaser and will likely bode very well for its box office going forward. The CinemaScore generally also helps to get a feeling for how the film’s legs might end up being and where it’ll end its box office run.

Maverick is already overperforming with a potential $142M Memorial Day weekend which beats out the $100M predictions earlier on. It’ll likely also have a good hold throughout the upcoming weeks as more competition starts entering the market like Jurassic World Dominion. So, it’ll be interesting to see where the film might end up moving forward.

Source: Twitter, CinemaScore

May 28, 2022