Top Gun: Maverick Breaks Memorial Day Box Office Record

36 years after the original movie hit theaters, Top Gun: Maverick officially released May 27 in the US, and it had a massive opening weekend in the US and worldwide.

The film opened with Thursday night previews that brought in $19.3 million in North America, according to The Hollywood Reporter. This number also includes an earlier fan screening on Tuesday. $19.3 million is good enough for Paramount's biggest preview of all time.

For the four-day Memorial Day weekend, Maverick banked $156 million in the US alone, which sets a new Memorial Day weekend, according to Deadline. It surpasses Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End ($153 million). Maverick is now Cruise's biggest opening ever.

Maverick made another $124 million for its opening weekend at international markets for a global start at $248 million.

Cruise's biggest movie of all time for its opening weekend in the US was 2005's War of the Worlds, which made $64.9 million for a traditional three-day weekend. Mission: Impossible - Fallout followed with a $61.2 million opening in 2018.

Maverick was originally slated to arrive in 2020, but the pandemic led to multiple delays.

Maverick was booked at 4,727 theaters in the US and Canada this weekend, which is more than The Lion King (4,725 theaters), Spider-Man: No Way Home (4,336 theaters), and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (4,534 theaters).

GameSpot's Top Gun: Maverick review scored the film a 9/10.

"This isn't the same Maverick we knew from 1986, and the crew he's surrounded by is helping him to evolve even further. Meanwhile, Rooster and the new class of Top Gun pilots more than hold their own as characters worthy of this franchise," reviewer Chris Hayner said. "Pair that with even bigger stakes than the original film and more adrenaline-packed flight scenes, and what you have is a masterclass on how to make a sequel to a movie everyone loved. It may have taken a long time to get here, but Top Gun: Maverick is a worthy revival of the franchise."

Maverick is directed by Joseph Kosinski and also stars Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller, and Jon Hamm.