“Top Gun: Maverick,” the long-delayed and critically acclaimed sequel to Tom Cruise’s 1986 hit “Top Gun,” flew to a giant box office this Memorial Day weekend.
The Paramount (VIACA) film brought in $160.5 million, making for the biggest Memorial Day opening of all time, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The film is now on track to be the biggest box office hit in Cruise’s decades-long career. It’s also exactly what AMC needed.
But is it enough?
‘Top Gun’ Is A Boon To Theaters
Cruise is certainly a defender of theatrical experience.
When “Top Gun: Maverick” was delayed due to the pandemic, Cruise was adamant that the film be held until the time was right, instead of being released via streaming service.
His exact quote was “That's not going to happen, ever.”
All of the major film studios have a deal with theatrical chains that they won’t release their major films onto streaming services until 45 days after their release.
As people were still wary about returning to theaters as vaccines began rolling out and new covid variants began sprouting up, the studio then called Warner Bros released high-profile films.
Those films, including “Dune” and “The Sucide Squad,” launched onto its HBO Max streaming service, and Warner then released box office hit “The Batman’ onto the service as soon as the window was over.
It’s been speculated that Paramount+ is expected to hold off on putting “Maverick” on the service for some time.
So a big fat hit that won’t be available on streaming services for quite some time?
AMC CEO Adam Aron has to feel pretty good about that.
But does the success of this film and others represent a turnaround for the box office, or is it a one-off success?
Paramount Pictures Studios
“Top Gun: Maverick” Succeeded By Appealing To An Untapped Demographic
It’s completely reasonable and fair to complain that Hollywood makes too many franchise films at the expense of making other types of films.
That includes films like romantic comedies, erotic thrillers, character-driven dramas and mid-level action films — the type of stuff Hollywood used to make all the time.
But there’s a reason why Hollywood does this.
In the ‘00s, then Disney (DIS) CEO Bob Iger pushed the company to focus just on films with either franchise potential, or that could be heavily mined for merchandising potential.
This is why even though the “Cars” franchise is considered by fans and critics to be some of the weakest offerings from Pixar, the studio nonetheless made them a trilogy.
Other studios gradually began following Disney’s lead, especially after the Marvel Cinematic Universe began to dominate the industry.
Eventually, audiences became used to watching indie films, comedies and the like from the comfort of their home thanks to Netflix.
AMC, Theaters Need Blockbusters
It’s not that no one ever went to see those types of things in theaters, as there were still plenty of box office hits like “Crazy Rich Asians.”
But Hollywood likes to spend its money on sure bets. It knows that men between the ages of 16 to the mid-30s could be counted on to see franchise films in the theater.
It’s safe money.
According to the Hollywood Reporter’s analysis, “Top Gun: Maverick” pulled in plenty of young dudes, as “21 percent of ‘Top Gun’ ticket buyers were between the ages of 18 and 24.”
But the real surprise here is what else it found.
“[Of those] 55 percent were 35 and older, including 38 percent over 45 and 18 percent over 55, an unheard of stat in today’s times," the Reporter said.
"On 'Doctor Strange 2'‘s opening weekend, at least 66 percent of ticket buyers were 34 and younger as a way of comparison.”
Vulture has speculated that the film succeeded by tapping into a demographic that has been desperate for a new flavor.
“[They] have been starved for a big movie to root for and to go see that isn’t a Marvel or DC movie … that makes it so we don’t have to watch 15 other movies in order to understand the story, is really going back to the old ways," Vulture reports.
"The old days when Memorial Day weekend was the start to the summer season.”
But Is ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Really A Turnaround?
There is something to be said for films that aim to reach a different demographic, step outside the realm of CGI-special effects and aren’t part of an interconnected cinematic universe.
But it’s certainly debatable as to whether "Top Gun" marks any kind of turnaround for the box office, or if it’s a one-off success, due to nostalgia for the original film and positive word of mouth.
It probably helped that you could see the movie for free after eating at Applebee’s.
AMC is certainly hoping that the success of “Maverick” signifies that the film industry has turned the corner on the covid era, in which AMC lost $4.6 billion.
But for comparison’s sake, the total Memorial Day Weekend in 2019 for the top five films was $196,701,932.
For this Memorial Day, the total was $165,080,000.
So while the success of “Maverick” is welcome, AMC isn’t out of the woods yet, as the company needs more hits.
Maybe it’s time for Cruise to finally make a sequel to “Days of Thunder”?
