Top Gun: Maverick holds the distinction of the best Memorial Day opening weekend of all time with projected three-day domestic earnings of $126.7 million, and $156 million for the four days. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End was the previous record holder with $153 million.

Top Gun: Maverick’s opening weekend is the best for Tom Cruise, and is the first time he has had a film open to $100 million or more. The film debuted on Friday with earnings of $51.8 million, opening in more than 4,700 theaters in North America. Overseas, the film opened to $124 million from 62 markets, earning $248 million through Sunday and more than $280 million through Monday.

Directed by Joseph Kosinski, Top Gun: Maverick sees Cruise return as Capt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell.  The film co-stars Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell and Ed Harris, while Val Kilmer also makes a brief appearance as “Iceman,” Maverick’s onetime nemesis-turned-friend.

More than 70 percent of Top Gun 2‘s audience was over the age of 25, including 55 percent over age 35, and ticket buyers gave the film with an A+ CinemaScore.  The release of the long-awaited sequel to the iconic 1986 movie was delayed for two years due to the coronavirus pandemic. Cruise went on a global marketing tour in recent weeks, making stops at a world premiere in San Diego, the Cannes Film Festival, a Royal-sponsored screening in London and another premiere in Japan.

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