‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Set To Soar To $180M WW, Repping Best Global Start For Tom Cruise – Weekend Box Office

deadline.com:

After holding what is one of the most anticipated sequels in decades due to Covid, Paramount finally roars its engines on its Tom Cruise feature Top Gun: Maverick in what is not only expected to be the 3x Oscar nominee’s best worldwide opening of his career at $180M, but also a record for him stateside with at least $92M-$100M+ and what also looks to be one of the top ten debuts over the 4-day Memorial Day weekend.Awareness around the globe is sky-high, and though tracking stateside shows older men being dominant, the hope here is that Top Gun 2 is a ‘five-quad’ movie as those in the industry call an aggressive overperforming title.You could say in fact, Paramount has been warming up its jets on this for arguably the last month in a rolling global tour; a marketing plan which has drawn great praise from rival studios.

Top Gun 2 took off with a preview at CinemaCon Las Vegas in late April where exhibitors and trade press immediately called it an awards season contender given the pic’s rich heart.

This was followed by a San Diego naval base world premiere where the red carpet was rolled out on the USS Midway aircraft carrier.

Then there was a big splash here at the Cannes Film Festival last week, where Cruise sat down for a masterclass, received a surprise Palme d’Or while French fighter jets streamed above the Palais premiere.