“Top Gun: Maverick,” an all-American classic from Paramount and Skydance, has surpassed the celebrated $1 billion mark at the box office. This is the first film of the year and the second in COVID history to reach that milestone, trailing Sony’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home” by $1.9 billion. With $484.7 million earned at foreign box offices, Maverick’s total earnings had reached an astounding $1.006 billion. At the global box office, these record sales were sufficient to surpass Disney’s Marvel adventure “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” as the highest-grossing film of the year. However, what did Maverick do different to beat both Marvel and DC this year? Let’s have a look:
Marvel, DC and Sony releases that failed to join the club:
Marvel Studios has so far launched Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in 2022, which came close to accomplishing $1 billion, but hasn’t yet done so. While all of that was going on, Sony released Morbius, another Marvel-based film that tanked at the box office after two successive screenings. In 2022, DC also released The Batman, another movie that fell short of Maverick’s achievement. It is remarkable that Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise’s first billion-dollar film, is presently outperforming two of the major big production films from the superhero powerhouses.
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What was special about Top Gun: Maverick?
Top Gun: Maverick has had numerous setbacks as a result of the pandemic. It was initially slated for release in 2019, however due to the need to refilm key action sequences, the date was moved to 2020. Following COVID, Maverick was postponed a total of four times before being finalised for release in May 2022. Because of this, anticipation for the movie gradually grew. Secondly, outstanding ratings and word-of-mouth helped the movie do very well. When the movie first launched, professional critics gave it very favourable reviews, with many claiming that the sequel was better than the original. Thus, in addition to the fans of the original picture, this caused many others who weren’t interested in watching the movie to change their minds.
Moreover, a premiere date for Top Gun: Maverick on streaming services has still not been announced. Thus, a typical viewer was compelled to either pay to see the movie in cinemas or wait a few weeks or even a month to watch it at home. The combination of all of these reasons and Top Gun: Maverick actually being excellent action movie accounts for its immense success.
What did Batman and Doctor Strange 2 lack?
First off, in defence of both of these films, $1 billion is a hefty sum, and it is ridiculous to expect every Marvel or DC film to surpass this mark. In terms of Doctor Strange 2, the recent expansion of the MCU may be the cause of its minor underachievement of 1 billion sales. Marvel has released far too many films, forcing fans to view each one in order to comprehend the subsequent. Additionally, Doctor Strange 2 was perhaps scarier than any of its forerunners. There were numerous instances of actual scares and jumps. It’s very plausible that a lot of parents didn’t think it was appropriate for kids.
The exploitation of the Batman character is certainly the primary cause of DC’s failure. It still stands to reason that many casual viewers are generally sick of Batman, given that Robert Pattinson’s Batman made him the third actor to play the role in the previous decade. Secondly, like Doctor Strange, The Batman’s dark and brooding tone was difficult for a young audience to watch. Furthermore, even though it’s undeniably an aesthetically superb work of cinema, Matt Reeves’ incredibly slow-paced and singular vision may not be something that appeals to everyone. Lastly, a month or so after their theatrical debuts, both Marvel and DC films were made available on streaming services. Thus, in order to see the movie at their leisure at home, fans took advantage of this fact.
Related: Billion Dollar Movies Like Top Gun: Maverick Fans Thought Would Fizzle Out in Theaters
