Studio Exec Says ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Is Coming to Paramount+ This Year; Will It Be a Holiday Release?
The wait for “Top Gun: Maverick” to come to streaming has put some fans in the danger zone. The film has been an absolute juggernaut at the box office for Paramount; in a post-COVID age where theater revenues and attendance are down, “Top Gun: Maverick” has made over $700 million in the U.S. alone, making it the fifth highest-grossing film of all time domestically.
“TG:M” is also the first movie in U.S. history to finish No. 1 at the box office on both Memorial Day and Labor Day. Globally, it has raked in nearly $1.5 billion, and is currently the No. 1 film on video-on-demand (VOD) platforms like Prime Video. Paramount is pulling in money hand-over-fist thanks to producer and star Tom Cruise’s insistence that the movie get at least 120 days in theaters. That four-month window would come to an end on Sept. 24, but with that date is getting closer and closer and no announcement about “Maverick’s” streaming future, it seems unlikely that we will see the film on streaming before the end of the month. So when is the movie finally going to land on Paramount+?
While there has been endless speculation around this question, Paramount finally provided the tiniest bit of clarity on Wednesday at the Bank of America Securities 2022 Media, Communications and Entertainment Conference. Paramount Global President and CEO Brian Robbins confirmed that although no official date has been set, “TG:M” “will come to streaming this year,” meaning that Maverick, Iceman, Rooster, Hangman, Phoenix, and the rest of the squad will be available to stream on Paramount+ before 2023.
Robbins also offered a partial explanation of what’s taking the studio so long to move the film to streaming.
“We dropped the movie digitally, a new marketing campaign kicked in, which not only made the home entertainment window extremely successful for us, but it boosted the theatrical window,” he said. “And then that will play out, and then eventually, that movie will end up on Paramount+ this year.”
But does this mean that Paramount will be abandoning the 45-day theatrical window that his studio's CFO said is now the company's default time period to move films from cinemas to streaming?
“The 45-day window seems to be the sweet spot for us and seems to be what’s working. But on the other hand, we know that we’re still going to be flexible,” Robbins said, indicating that while Paramount will still use the 45-day window as a baseline, it will not hesitate to take advantage of theatrical revenues if a movie is doing well at the box office.
So when specifically can you expect “Top Gun: Maverick” to come to Paramount+? As of now, a holiday release makes the most sense. That would give Paramount another 3+ months of box office sales and VOD purchases to squeeze every last cent from the film, and then bring a huge viewership boost to Paramount+ as people find ways to spend their time away from work. It would also follow the 210-day theatrical model that Sony used with “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” which was also an earnings bonanza.
Although it won’t satisfy any fans who feel the need for speed when it comes to “Maverick’s” streaming release, audiences now have at least some clarity on when to expect the film on Paramount+.
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.