(BFM Bourse) – The release of the sequel to the film dedicated to famous naval aviation pilot Pete Mitchell (played by Tom Cruise thirty years away from the first) was accompanied by a rain of box office-office. The victory actually benefited Paramount’s stock market.
The success was announced, and Top Gun: Maverick turned out to be a veritable triumph for American actor Tom Cruise, who donned the flight suit of Lieutenant Maverick, one of the roles that made him famous in 1986, to the sequel to this legendary period film. If the film was shot between 2018 and 2019, its release initially scheduled for the summer of 2019 has been postponed several times, notably due to the Covid-19 epidemic, but when it arrived the sensation was no smaller.
Strategically set for the long Memorial Day weekend (the last Monday in May is a public holiday in the United States), the release of the feature film directed by Joseph Kosinski crushed the competition, featuring Tom Cruise—now in his fifties at the height of world cinema— New records.
Set to be shown in 4,735 theaters Friday, the unprecedented movie grossed $51.8 million in revenue in the United States that day, according to figures released by exhibitor relations firm, raising Paramount to a new estimate of at least $150 million for the entire movie. Four days (including “previews”, collectibles from the previous evening’s premiere). Compared to a budget of about 170 million…
The long weekend grossed $126 million in the United States, $126.7 million internationally (including $19.4 million in the United Kingdom, $11.7 million in France and 10.7 million in Australia), or $252.7 million in total.
The biggest global hit in the first weekend
Mission accomplished for the 59-year-old actor, who is also the film’s co-producer: It’s simply the first time a movie he’s starring in has crossed the 100 million mark in its first weekend of Prescription.
Also, Top Gun: Maverick appears to steal 2007’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” from the biggest hit in history for a Memorial Day weekend, including Thursday previews.
Top Gun “2” also marks the fifth time since the start of 2022 that the Paramount title has risen to number one upon release, after Scream (Scream “5” who reprized Team Scream for 1996), Jackass Forever, The Lost City and Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
Investors weren’t wrong…notably Warren Buffett, whose holding company Berkshire Hathaway recently opened a center in Paramount. Over the past two weeks, as the film’s release approaches, the event is up 28%, including 4.66% on Friday given good “previews.” This Monday, despite the dip in US markets, the title maintained a modest 0.32% gain, allowing the distributor to publish total capital in excess of $21.1 billion, less than six times annual earnings.
Guillaume Beyer – © 2022 BFM Bourse