‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Flies Past ‘Doctor Strange 2’ as Highest-Grossing Movie of the Year in the U.S.

“Top Gun: Maverick” soared past $400 million at the domestic box office, making it the highest-grossing movie of the year in the U.S.

With $401.8 million in North American ticket sales, Tom Cruise’s patriotic blockbuster has surpassed “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” ($398 million) to claim the No. 1 spot. It’s only the second movie in pandemic times (“Spider-Man: No Way Home” was the first) to cross $400 million Stateside.

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Of course, it’s only June, so “Maverick” will have to fight off heavyweights like “Thor: Love and Thunder” (July 8), “Minions: The Rise of Gru” (July 1) and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Nov. 11) to keep the domestic crown through 2022.

Internationally, the sequel to 1986’s “Top Gun” has earned $362 million, taking its global total to a massive $783.8 million. Even by pre-COVID standards, “Maverick” is smashing box office expectations. Since ticket sales have stayed strong in recent weeks, industry analysts believe the film will at least cross $900 million by the end of its theatrical run and could even surpass the coveted $1 billion mark.

“Top Gun: Maverick” already stands as Cruise’s highest-grossing film in North America, but it’s close to becoming the actor’s biggest movie at the global box office. “Mission: Impossible – Fallout,” which collected $791 million worldwide in 2018, currently stands as his highest-grossing blockbuster of all time. Cruise’s other top-earning tentpoles include 2011’s “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” ($695 million globally), 2015’s “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” ($683 million globally) and “War of the Worlds” ($603 million globally).

“Top Gun: Maverick” opened over Memorial Day weekend and set a holiday record, collecting $160.5 million in its first four days of release. It was the first movie in Cruise’s 40-year career to surpass $100 million in a single weekend.

Directed by Joseph Kosinski, the $170 million-budgeted “Top Gun: Maverick” picks up decades after the original and follows Cruise’s Pete “Maverick” Mitchell as he trains a new group of cocky aviators for a crucial assignment. The cast includes Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Jon Hamm, Jennifer Connelly and Val Kilmer, who played Iceman in the first “Top Gun.”

For Paramount, the movie extends a sterling box office streak. After hardly releasing any films during the pandemic, the studio has stuck the landing with its 2022 films, “Sonic the Hedgehog” ($182 million in North America), “The Lost City” ($102 million in North America), “Scream” ($81 million in North America) and “Jackass Forever” ($57 million in North America).

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