Tag: Top Gun Maverick

It looks like Joseph Kosinski is about to make quite the splash in cinemas, as Top Gun: Maverick is on its way to pull in $142.4M over Memorial Day weekend. The 4-day weekend will put the film on its path to beating out the record held by Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End for 15 years ago. Currently, it’ll likely nab $117M over a 3-day period with Friday potentially ending at $50M. That puts it above its initial $100M prediction, but The Numbers does potentially see it also reaching a high of $150M.

Maverick will now be the second-best opening for Paramount only behind Iron Man 2‘s $128.1M, which also holds the record of the highest opening day since 2010 that the film could overtake if it beats its Friday expectations. This also makes the film Tom Cruise‘s highest-grossing film ever after already pulling in a great $19.3M, which is a new record for Paramount Pictures.

What makes the Top Gun sequel stand out is that it pulls in an older demographic that has been quite hesitant to return to theaters. Marvel Studios and most modern blockbusters focus on the younger crowd with its four-quadrant approach, Maverick shakes things up in an interesting way to highlight the potential of other non-IP blockbusters finding their footing in the market once again. Diversity further pushes innovation and could also be a

source: Deadline, Variety, The Numbers

There’s been a lot of discussion regarding the current trends of Hollywood blockbusters dominating cinemas. Yet, it looks like another big release is going to be present across the entire United States with Top Gun: Maverick set to become the all-time widest opening in the United States. It’s now set to release in 4,732 theaters, which beast 2019’s Lion King held the record at 4,725. To put it into comparison, this year’s biggest releases so far included Doctor Strange in the Mutliverse of Madness at 4,534 and The Batman at 4,417.

A wide release highlights the expectations set by Skydance Media and Paramount Pictures in what the film has to offer. The hype has been great, especially with its overwhelmingly positive reviews. Of course, it’s been a while since the first Top Gun found its way into theaters back in 1986, but Tom Cruise has always been quite the box office draw, the Mission: Impossible franchise is certainly a testament to that.

Current predictions do see the film releasing between $98M to $125M, which has been growing steadily as we near its release later this week. For now, there’s a chance it might go beyond those expectations especially as they widen its release in the United States. There’s no word if the European and other international markets will also see an expansion.

Source: Twitter

Here’s a curious surprise, it seems that Twenty-One Pilots was originally meant to work on the soundtrack for Top Gun: Maverick. While many know that Lady Gaga took on that task with her ballad Hold My Hand, we may have gotten a very different soundtrack at an earlier point. The news comes from the Twenty-One Pilots frontman Tyler Joseph, who shared on the radio station KROQ the story, making the claim that it was the film’s main star and producer Tom Cruise who had them kicked off the project after already signing on by Paramount Pictures.

I was working with the music placement person for the new ‘Top Gun’ on writing a new song for them, and then I believe Tom Cruise came in and just fired everyone. You’ve seen that new ‘Top Gun’ thing that he’s got? The trailer has been out for, like, three years, so there’s been a few overhauls, and I was a part of that, so, they moved on.

Tyler Joseph

It’s certainly not unheard of that Cruise has shown his influence over projects, especially a legacy sequel. He also highlighted that he worked on a few scenes to write the original music. So, it’s curious that they got kicked at a later point, highlighting it was around the time he saw the footage.

It was actually pretty soon after they brought me in to show me parts of the movie and what they were looking for and stuff. Then I got word that there was like a wholesale swap.

Tyler Joseph

Lady Gaga took over at that point, but it’s unclear what may have exactly led to that “wholesale swap” as he points out. It’s not great when you start working on a project to suddenly get kicked, but it probably will never be confirmed if it truly was Cruise that got them kicked off the project.

Source: IndieWire