‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Is No. 1 at Box Office Again, also Leads On-Demand; What Does That Mean for Paramount+ Debut?
“Top Gun: Maverick” is very clearly the year’s biggest hit movie. Thanks to no major releases this past holiday weekend, the long-awaited sequel became the first film in history to finish No. 1 at the box office over both Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends in the same year; thanks in part to the $3 National Cinema Day promotion that brought moviegoers back to theaters last week
To date, “Maverick” has made more than $700 million at the domestic box office, making it the fifth highest-grossing film of all time in the United States. Globally it is over $1.44 billion, making it the 12th highest grosser in movie history. Since debuting on video-on-demand (VOD) platforms last month, the Tom Cruise film has been No. 1 on those charts as well.
The question of when “Maverick” might show up on Paramount+ very much remains a mystery, although its renewed box office success would seem likely to push its streaming debut back further. Paramount Global, which is both the studio behind the film and the owner of Paramount+, likely does not want to cannibalize box office and VOD revenue for the film while consumers are still willing to pay to see it in other places.
Top Gun: Maverick
After more than 30 years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) finds himself training a detachment of TOP GUN graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen.
This crowd-pleasing action flick dominated the box office for most of 2022. The cast includes Val Kilmer, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, and Glen Powell.
While many Paramount films have arrived on Paramount+ after a 45-day window, it's been clear all year that “Top Gun: Maverick” will have a much longer waiting period than that. It follows both star Tom Cruise and the filmmakers’ insistence that “Maverick” receive a big-screen release, even if it meant a long delay for the film, which began filming in 2018.
Cruise reportedly insisted on a 120-day window between the theatrical and streaming releases of the “Top Gun” followup, which would place the streaming release on Sept. 24. But with that date now less than three weeks away and “Maverick” still doing well at the box office, it seems likely that “Maverick” won’t start streaming until at least October. And if the studio is planning an awards push for the film, which it very well might, the mid-to-late fall would likely represent a good time to release “Maverick” on Paramount+ in order to make For Your Consideration viewing more accessible.
Interestingly, the third highest grossing move over the Labor Day Weekend was the release of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” featuring 11 extra minutes of content. Although the film is already streaming on STARZ, it pulled in $5.4 million — behind “Maverick” at $6M and “Bullet Train” at $5.7M. “No Way Home” could potentially serve as a blueprint for how Paramount could handle the streaming release of “Top Gun: Maverick.”
After debuting in theaters last December, “No Way Home” took 210 days to arrive on streaming. Because it is technically a Sony movie, your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man swung onto Starz cable and streaming platforms in mid-July after lengthy stays in theaters and on VOD.
If Paramount followed Sony’s lead, it could make a big holiday push for Paramount+ by releasing “Top Gun: Maverick” on streaming on Friday, Dec. 23, exactly 210 days after premiering in theaters on May 27. While still three and a half months away, if Paramount continues to see people pay to watch the film in cinemas and on-demand, it could take as much time as it wants to bring it to streaming. And what better present to give to movie fans during the holiday season than the ability to stream the biggest movie of the year?
Paramount Plus
Paramount+ is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 40,000+ TV show episodes from BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr. and more. The lineup includes “1883,” “Tulsa King,” “Star Trek: Discovery,” Nickelodeon’s “SpongeBob SquarePants,” and “PAW Patrol.” Subscribers can watch the NFL, college football, The Masters, college basketball, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa, Serie A, and NWSL. The service also offers the option to watch your live CBS affiliate. The upgraded ad-free package includes premium movies and shows from Showtime.