‘Top Gun: Maverick’ to Stream on Paramount+ in the United States on Dec. 22
The wait is over, as one of the best-received movies of 2022 is finally headed to streaming. Paramount+ announced on Twitter on Tuesday that movie lovers will be able to feel the need for speed this holiday season as “Top Gun: Maverick” will land on streaming on Dec. 22.
Good morning, aviators. #TopGun: Maverick is coming to #ParamountPlus on December 22! Let the countdown begin. ✈️ pic.twitter.com/bRy1jryMIO
— Paramount+ (@paramountplus) November 22, 2022
The long-awaited sequel to 1986’s original “Top Gun,” had long been promised by company execs to be coming to Paramount+ by the end of the year, and a month ago, the company announced that it would be streaming on Paramount+ on Dec. 22 in select regions, but didn’t confirm that the United States would be included until Tuesday’s announcement.
Due to the pandemic, the film was delayed multiple times from its originally planned release date in 2020, as star and producer Tom Cruise and the other filmmakers insisted on a theatrical debut.
“Maverick,” which earned nearly universally positive reviews, is the highest-grossing film of the year by a wide margin, both domestically and worldwide, earning $716.7 million to date in the U.S., and over $1.486 billion in total.
The film, a direct sequel to the original “Top Gun,” features the return of Cruise’s Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, who returns to the elite Navy pilot training school to prepare a new generation of top pilots for a dangerous mission. Among the younger pilots is Rooster (Miles Teller), the son of Maverick’s late friend Goose (Anthony Edwards in the first movie). Jennifer Connelly plays Maverick’s love interest.
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.
As of early June, Paramount was uncertain about when “Top Gun: Maverick” would make its streaming debut. The company typically puts Paramount movies on Paramount+ 45 days after their theatrical release, most recently for “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” earlier this year. However, the studio was clear from the start that “Maverick” would take far longer than that.
That’s because of its continuing theatrical popularity. In early August, Paramount even held a “Fan Appreciation Weekend,” featuring “the return of ’Top Gun: Maverick’ to some of the most immersive cinema formats at participating theatres,” along with a special pre-movie exclusive featuring Cruise aboard the USS Roosevelt.
The Streamable had predicted earlier this year that “Top Gun: Maverick” would land on streaming sometime in September.
As for the original “Top Gun,” it had been streaming on Netflix, but in the lead-up to the release of the sequel, it moved to only being available on both Prime Video and 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.