How Top Gun: Maverick's Box Office Beat Infinity War (Is Endgame Next?)

Top Gun: Maverick is set to overtake Avengers: Infinity War at the domestic box office, but could it possibly overtake Avengers: Endgame? The Tom Cruise-led Top Gun: Maverick has become a box-office phenomenon since its release, which came after years of delays due to the pandemic. Directed by Joseph Kosinski and co-starring Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Val Kilmer, Jon Hamm, Charles Parnell, and Glen Powell, Top Gun: Maverick continues the story of Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell as he's brought back to the Top Gun school to train pilots for a dangerous mission while facing the end of his career in the Navy.

Originally slated to be released in July 2019, Top Gun: Maverick suffered delay after delay when the pandemic hit, with Tom Cruise remaining committed to a theatrical release, even as Paramount considered options for a potential streaming release. The film was finally released on May 27th, 2022 in theaters, pulling in $126 million on its opening weekend with excellent reviews - currently sitting at 96% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Top Gun: Maverick has continued to surpass industry expectations, climbing the box-office charts and overtaking film after film, including James Cameron's Titanic, Jurassic World, and The Avengers. It is Tom Cruise's most successful film of all time, currently sitting at $673 million domestically with a global haul of $1.3 billion after 12 weeks in theaters.

Now, Top Gun: Maverick is poised to overtake Avengers: Infinity War at the domestic box office, with some serious heavy hitters to beat if it goes any further, including Avengers: Endgame. Still, Top Gun: Maverick has shown a resiliency that's rarely seen, never falling below sixth place in its entire run thus far and even overtaking Thor: Love & Thunder in its latest weekend, which shows that audiences are keen to return for the film more so than any others, as the box office heads into the expected late-summer slump. Below is a breakdown of Top Gun: Maverick's journey to beating Avengers: Infinity War's box office and where it will likely finish out in theaters.

How Top Gun: Maverick's Box Office Beat Avengers: Infinity War

While Top Gun: Maverick was expected to do at least moderately well at the box office, it was not expected to perform at the level it has by anyone in Hollywood. While the original film is an iconic classic, it has been 35 years since it was released, which means a follow-up had a lot of ground to cover before it would be a guaranteed box office success. The biggest catalyst of Top Gun: Maverick's success is the fact that it's a great film, first and foremost, which is marked by favorable critic reviews, repeat viewings, and word-of-mouth from audiences. In addition, Cruise and Paramount holding the film for theatrical release and putting it out at a time when pandemic fears had died down was a gamble that paid off tremendously. Audiences were hungry for something that had spectacle but didn't involve superheroes or giant monsters, making Top Gun: Maverick a summer-movie palate cleanser that matched the hype of Avengers: Infinity War (and now will surpass it).

Which Movies Top Gun: Maverick's Domestic Box Office Is Still Behind

Top Gun: Maverick has climbed the ranks steadily on the domestic box office chart, passing milestone after milestone. From Titanic to The Avengers to The Lion King and many more notable films, Top Gun: Maverick has soared toward a prime spot on the all-time domestic chart and may still continue that climb. The current movies that it has to beat to reach the top spot are Black Panther, Avatar, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Avengers: Endgame, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but it's likely to only surpass one of those.

Why Top Gun: Maverick Probably Won't Beat Avengers: Endgame Or The Force Awakens

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Although it has had an unexpectedly successful box office run, Top Gun: Maverick will not beat Avengers: Endgame or The Force Awakens at the domestic box office. The latter films are at $858 million and $936 million, respectively, which is between $200-300 million more than where Top Gun: Maverick currently sits. Top Gun: Maverick is pulling in roughly $3-5 million per week at this point, which means it would have to keep that momentum well into the next year, while still staying in theaters, which is highly unlikely to be the case. It will certainly pass Infinity War and has a good chance at taking Black Panther's #5 spot on the charts, but that's about as far as it will go in its theatrical run, which is still an amazing feat.

When Will Top Gun: Maverick Leave Movie Theaters?

The home video/streaming release for Top Gun: Maverick has yet to be announced, so it's unclear exactly when it will leave theaters and continue its journey to streaming and 4K/Blu-ray/DVD. Given the massive popularity and success of the film, it's possible that Top Gun: Maverick could enjoy a 120-day window in theaters, which would put its release date on other platforms somewhere between late August to mid-September. The standard for most Paramount films is 90 days till streaming/home video, which would put Top Gun: Maverick at a late August drop, but if numbers continue to be good in theaters, then it may be a bit later. It will no doubt be a record-breaker when it hits streaming and home video if box office is any indication.

What Will Top Gun: Maverick's Final Box Office Total Be?

Top Gun: Maverick is likely to finish out somewhere around $700 million domestically, give or take $10 million. This would put the film in the #5 spot of all-time domestic earners, an amazing achievement for the 35-years-late sequel to a stylish '80s film starring Tom Cruise. That said, Top Gun: Maverick is a proven box-office phenomenon and may well still have a few tricks up its sleeve to draw audiences back in (such as the recent fan appreciation weekend), taking it even further than expected yet again, which has been Top Gun: Maverick's trajectory from the start.