‘Top Gun Maverick’ Now Available to Stream For Just $5.99, Creeping Closer to Paramount+ Debut
Maverick might feel the need for speed, but Paramount has felt anything but in its handling of the smash hit blockbuster “Top Gun: Maverick.” The film debuted in theaters in late May, and became the first movie in history to lead the box office for both the Memorial and Labor Day. holiday weekends. Since late spring, the movie has been hotter than a beach volleyball court, netting over $1 billion for Paramount thus far.
The movie became available for purchase on premium video-on-demand (PVOD) platforms on Aug. 23, and has continued to rake in the cash. “Top Gun: Maverick” was the top movie on Vudu’s weekly chart last, beating out more recent releases such as the newest Jordan Peele sci-fi/horror thriller “Nope.”
Fans who don’t want to commit $15+ to purchase “Top Gun: Maverick” may well be desperate for the film to hit Paramount’s streaming arm, Paramount+. While the film hasn’t landed on the platform yet, it does appear to be inching closer as it is now available to watch more inexpensively than ever before.
“Top Gun: Maverick” is now available for rent from Prime Video and other VOD hubs. Customers can pay $5.99 for either an HD or UHD version of the movie, or they can watch it in standard definition for $4.99. Rentals on Prime Video allow customers a 30-day period to start watching the movie, and 48 hours to finish once they’ve pushed play.
If you’re still planning to wait for “Top Gun: Maverick” to arrive on Paramount+, be prepared to keep waiting for at least a couple more months. When it was first released, the film’s star and producer Tom Cruise reportedly insisted on a 120-day window between the theatrical and streaming releases of the “Top Gun” follow-up, but that would have brought the film to the streamer earlier this week, on Tuesday, Sept. 27. However, the movie kept outperforming box office expectations throughout the summer and early fall, which forced Paramount to abandon not only its usual 45-day theatrical windowing policy, but Cruise’s 120-day expectation as well.
That kept Paramount execs silent on the streaming release date for “Top Gun: Maverick” until early in September. 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 had been announced, the movie “will come to streaming this year.”
That almost certainly means “Top Gun: Maverick” will be a holiday streaming release. That would give Paramount another 2+ months of box office sales (the movie continues to run in theaters) and VOD rentals and purchases to squeeze every last cent from the film, before bringing it to streaming in hopes of giving a huge viewership boost to Paramount+ as people find ways to spend their time away from work. So grab your aviators, because this Christmas may be a bit more high-octane than previous years.
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.