Box office figures continue to skyrocket for the sequel to the iconic 80s film Top Gun with the blockbuster shooting past the $1 billion mark for earnings.
We'll bet film producers behind the long-awaited follow up are laughing all the way to the bank right about now.
Top Gun: Maverick hit $1.06 billion (£820m) at the weekend, according to Deadline.
Top Gun: Maverick has become the second movie to achieve such heights since the Covid-19 pandemic began.
The only other film to receive such rave viewings was 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home, which raked in a massive $1.9 billion (£1b) as per Box Office Mojo.
According to Deadline, it took the nostalgic, high-octane sequel a mere 31 days to hit the billion dollar mark, with an estimated $521.7m (£295m) on US shores and a further $484.7m (£274m) internationally.
As for its opening weekend, ComicBook reported that the sequel to the 1986 classic took home $124 million (£98m) in the US and $248 million (£196m) at the worldwide box office.
Pretty big returns for a sequel, even if it was the most-hyped follow up film for decades.
The original Top Gun was the highest grossing movie of 1986, raking in a domestic box office of $176 million (£139m).
Oddly enough, for a movie star as big as he is, Cruise is not actually known for having massive opening weekends at the box office.
Before Top Gun: Maverick went, his biggest box office hit was 2005's War of the Worlds, which opened at $64 million (£50 million).
The next biggest opening of his career was 2018's Mission Impossible - Fallout, which took $61 million (£48m) in the US on its opening weekend.
Even though Cruise's films may not bring in gigantic crowds on their opening weekends, many of his movies perform strongly in the long run as they do well with word-of-mouth.
His biggest ever movie to date is Mission Impossible - Fallout, which took $791 million (£626m) worldwide over its run in cinemas, though at the rate Top Gun: Maverick is going it is likely to overtake the 2018 film for the top spot of Cruise's box office earners.
Critics have been almost unanimous in their praise for Top Gun: Maverick, with Rotten Tomatoes noting that 96 percent of reviews for the film were positive while 99 percent of audiences gave it a thumbs up too.
Top Gun: Maverick is in cinemas now.
Featured Image Credit: Paramount Pictures Studios
Topics: Top Gun, Tom Cruise, TV and Film
