top-gun-maverick-returning-to-theaters-for-a-limited-time

‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Returning to Theaters for a Limited Time

What a perfect holiday gift. Go find a comfy seat in a cool, dark theater and experience Top Gun: Maverick all over again. Yes, the summer blockbuster is available to stream, but you don’t get the true Danger Zone effect from the couch.

Paramount announced Tuesday that the studio was re-releasing Top Gun: Maverick for a limited run in December. It’ll be available from Dec. 2 through the 15th. During this time, you also can catch the movie in premium formats. And then on Dec. 22, the movie drops on Paramount+.

So why bring back the movie when it’s so easy to find it via home entertainment? Chris Aronson, Paramount’s president for domestic distribution, said:

Top Gun: Maverick truly epitomizes the magic of the moviegoing experience, and we wanted to provide fans the opportunity to once again enjoy this cinematic spectacle as it was meant to be seen. This feels like the perfect time to bring Top Gun: Maverick back to theaters so audiences everywhere can once again experience how special this film is.”

The cast of Top Gun: Maverick celebrates the London premiere back in May. (Joseph Okpako/WireImage)

Top Gun: Maverick Gave Us Action and Heart for a Perfect Sequel

The Top Gun sequel certainly jump started the movie business, which had been decimated by the pandemic. The movie came out in time for Memorial Day. And it generated $1.48 billion at the worldwide box office. Fans loved the sequel, which came 36 years after the original. It’s like time stood still for Tom Cruise’s Maverick, who opened the movie as a test pilot. But Iceman (Val Kilmer) wants his old friend to come back to Top Gun school and teach the pilots how to conduct a dangerous mission. Maverick needs to mend his relationship with Rooster (Miles Teller), the son of his partner, who died in the original movie.

No other movie really came close to Top Gun: Maverick at the box office. Jurassic World Dominion, which brought back the original cast members, made $1.001 billion. It was the only other movie this year to surpass the billion benchmark.

The movie also ranks 11th all-time for the worldwide box office. Maybe a nice December run will allow Maverick to crack the top 10. It needs about $28 million to ease past Fast & Furious 7 for 10th place all-time.

Avatar, which was released in 2009, owns the record at $2.91 billion. Avatar: The Way of Water, the sequel, hits theaters Dec. 16. Coincidentally, that’s the day after Top Gun: Maverick finishes its second stint. The Thanksgiving movie scene wasn’t as profitable as Hollywood had hoped. The only true fall blockbuster so far is Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. It’s made more than $677 million in the past three weeks.