Hollywood's much-anticipated sequel 'Top Gun: Maveric" opened big over the four-day weekend with an estimated box office collection of $124 million in North America. The film collected $248 million in the first three days worldwide without playing in China or Russia. The original collected over $350 million on a $15 million budget.
It is playing in 62 global markets excluding North America
The original movie 'Top Gun' was released 36 years ago. According to some experts, the three-decade-long wait is worth it because the sequel is even better than the original. Analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research said the source material remains strong, the execution is excellent, and Tom Cruise makes it work impeccably well, reported AFP.
Tom Cruise is once again playing the cocky navy test pilot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell who is now a captain. In the sequel, the lead character is training to bomb a rogue nation's uranium enrichment facility. The film's release was delayed by two years due to the pandemic.
Top Gun: Maverick is now ranking as the second-highest live-action global opening weekend of all time behind 2014's Transformers: Age of Extinction. Compared to Tom Cruise's previous release Mission Impossible: Fallout, Top Gun has seen a nearly 28% increase at the box office. It is now the actor's highest opening grosser to date.