Marvel’s ruled the movies in May; now it’s Maverick’s turn.
Tom Cruise and Top Gun: Maverick (NASDAQ:PARA) (NASDAQ:PARAA) zoom into theaters for the holiday weekend, bringing a sequel to Cruise’s 1986 hit 36 years after the fact (and after a couple of years of COVID-19 pandemic delays).
And the movie is sure to displace the three-week-old Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (DIS) atop the box-office gross charts; the question is whether it does in a historic manner.
Paramount isn’t fooling around with its plans: The film is opening on 4,732 screens in North America, the widest opening count in history. And Top Gun: Maverick is drawing some of 2022’s best reviews.
The film drew $19.3 million in Thursday previews, another indicator toward the higher end of its expected range for the long weekend. Paramount stock is higher Friday: (PARA) +4%; (PARAA) +3.4%.
Cruise – arguably the biggest box-office star of his generation and among all-timers – has surprisingly never opened a movie to $100 million-plus over a three-day weekend. That streak might just fall, and given the extra holiday day, Top Gun: Maverick may challenge for the best Memorial Day weekend ever. That honor is held by Johnny Depp and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, which drew $139 million over the holiday weekend in May 2007.
The biggest opening for Cruise in absolute dollars was War of the Worlds, which drew $64.9 million in 2005. In inflation-adjusted terms, his best opener was Mission: Impossible II, which opened to $57.8 million in 2000 (about $97 million in today’s inflated dollars).
In 1986 – a different box-office era – predecessor Top Gun opened to $8.2 million, or just under $22 million in today’s dollars. The film went on to a cumulative domestic gross of $180.3 million, and a worldwide total of $357.3 million.
Taking on the enviable task of counter-programming Cruise is The Bob’s Burgers Movie (DIS), 20th Century Studios’ big-screen version of the popular animated TV show, which is looking to hit double-digit millions of dollars for the weekend – on whichever screens aren’t already showing Cruise’s film.
Cinema tickers looking for another weekend score: AMC Entertainment (AMC); Cineworld (OTCPK:CNNWF); Cinemark (CNK); (IMAX); Marcus (MCS); Reading International (RDI); Cineplex (OTCPK:CPXGF); National CineMedia (NCMI).
Read More: Paramount’s ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ could bring Cruise high-flying mark (NASDAQ:PARA)