Top Gun: Maverick Just Took Breaking The Box Office To A Whole New Level

"Top Gun: Maverick" brings audiences back into the high-octane world of hot-shot pilot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Tom Cruise), who returns to the pilot program where he made his name in 1986's "Top Gun." This time around, it's Maverick's turn to show the youngsters of a new TOPGUN class how it's done. It's hard not to read that plot as a sort of metatextual statement about Cruise, his place in the movie business, and his on-screen relationships with his co-stars, with Cruise often taking on the role of "seasoned pro who knows how to do it all" and working alongside actors who are keen to keep up. 

Now, it appears that Cruise and his "Top Gun" character have continued their hot streak, as "Top Gun: Maverick" continues to rack up box office milestones continue just one month weeks after it first hit theaters during Memorial Day weekend. Much like Maverick hitting Mach 10 in the sequel, "Top Gun: Maverick" has crossed a box office threshold that few blockbusters do, and it shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. It's an impressive feat of commercial success, particularly at a time when Marvel superheroes are dominating multiplexes, but "Top Gun: Maverick" is also busting records amongst the more rarified company of other Cruise vehicles.

If you've been rooting for the movie and the old-school form of big-screen entertainment it represents, you've got reason to celebrate now.

Just one month after its May 27 theatrical debut, "Top Gun: Maverick" has grossed more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office, according to Variety's June 26 report. That's an impressive figure all on its own, but if you take a closer look at what that number really means, you can see what an accomplishment it is for a few key reasons. It's the first movie of the year to cross the $1 billion mark and only the second feature film to do so since COVID-19 impacted theatrical moviegoing following "Spider-Man: No Way Home" hitting the $1.9 billion worldwide mark in December 2021 (via NBC News). Even more impressive, "Top Gun: Maverick" smashed this box office milestone without any screens in either China or Russia, two massive markets that are, under more typical circumstances, a big part of any studio tentpole's global release strategy.

In addition to becoming 2022's first member of the Billion Dollar Movie Club, it may come as a surprise that "Top Gun: Maverick" has dethroned what was previously the highest-grossing the blockbuster of the year, "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," which currently boasts a $947 million worldwide total (via Box Office Mojo). You might be intrigued to learn that it's also now the highest-grossing movie to date in Tom Cruise's storied career, having surpassed 2018's "Mission: Impossible – Fallout" and its worldwide gross of over $750 million (per The Numbers). And, of course, this is Cruise's first time having a movie gross more than a billion dollars globally full stop, even with his blockbuster-packed filmography.