September 3 was the day that Top Gun: Maverick became the fifth highest-grossing film in the country's history. During National Movie Day, the Tom Cruise-starring production grossed $701 million, beating Marvel's Black Panther by $1 million.
The sequel to Top Gun (1986) maintains the same spirit as the original. A conservative-leaning film that places more value on family, friends or patriotism than the progressive dictates that prevail in most Hollywood films.
Top Gun: Maverick grossed $8 million in U.S. theaters this past National Movie Day weekend, a figure that pushed it into fifth place behind only Star Wars: Episode VII, Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: No Way Home and Avatar. After four months in theaters, the sequel to Top Gun(1986) is breaking records in U.S. theaters.
In terms of global box office, Top Gun: Maverick ranks twelfth on the list of highest-grossing films in history, with a worldwide gross of $1.44 billion, closing in on Disney's Frozen II ($1.45 billion).
The president of Paramount Pictures (the film's distributor), Brian Robbins, celebrated the success of Top Gun: Maverick:
Without a doubt, Top Gun: Maverick is a true cultural touchstone that represents the power of the cinematic experience. We celebrate this enormous achievement and the enormous impact of the film.
National Film Day
On September 3, the first National Film Day was celebrated in the country. An event that managed to attract a large number of spectators to more than 3,000 movie theaters, thanks to the reduced ticket price (three dollars).
An event held by The Cinema Foundation, which is responsible for promoting and improving the film industry. Its president, Jackie Brenneman, congratulated herself on the result:
With National Film Day, we wanted to do something to celebrate movie-going. This event exceeded our highest expectations.
Several of the most important movie studios participated in National Movie Day. Universal, Warner Bros., Disney, Sony, Lionsgate, Paramount, A24 or Amazon Studios premiered or re-released some of their films with unreleased content from some of their productions.
