Tom Cruise enjoys career best with ‘Top Gun: Maverick’. Opening over the holiday to a whopping $160.5 million, it is the highest grossing film of his 40+ year career. Even though he has long been Hollywood’s biggest star, this is the first of his movies to debut to over $100 million.
A sequel to the 1986 film that made him a bona-fide box office star, the film reunites him with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and co-star Val Kilmer. The new film is directed by Joseph Kosinski and features new co-stars Jennifer Connelly and Miles Teller. Unlike most box office hits in recent years, ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ doesn’t rely on CGI effects.
Speaking of CGI, ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ took in a modest $20.4 million for second place in theaters. The Sam Raimi directed Marvel movie starring Benedict Cumberbatch will likely stick around in the Top 5 until the next MCU film, ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’, releases in July.
The only other new release this weekend, the animated ‘The Bob’s Burgers Movie’, cooked up $14.8 million for third at the box office. Based on the popular television cartoon series it continues to show the hold of animated movies over audiences.
‘Downton Abbey: A New Era’ brought up the rear along with ‘The Bad Guys’. The British melodrama shows that the genre can still grab audiences, much like ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ is doing with the war genre. Of course, ‘The Bad Guys’ along with ‘The Bob’s Burgers Movie’ makes animation the winning genre over the weekend.
The Memorial Day weekend saw the box office rise by 237% over last week. The holiday weekend does include an extra day. Tom Cruise should still be flying high at the box office next weekend.
What if ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ wins the Oscar for Best Picture?
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE TOP 5 (May 27 – 30, 2022 – MEMORIAL DAY)
- ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ – $160.5 million – war (debut)
- ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ – $20.4 million – fantasy (drop $11.9 million, 37% down)
- ‘The Bob’s Burgers Movie’ – $14.8 million – animated (debut)
- ‘Downton Abbey: A New Era’ – $7.4 million – melodrama (drop $8.6 million, 54% down)
- ‘The Bad Guys’ – $5.6 million – animated (drop $500k, 8% down)
Total for the Weekend Box Office Top 5 comes to $208.7 million. This is a whopping 237% increase of $146.9 million over last weekend’s total of $61.8 million.