Tom Cruise’s ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ surpasses Marvel’s ‘Avengers: Infinity Wars’ box office record

Despite being a 30-year-too-late sequel, the action flick is the sixth highest-grossing film on the list

Tom Cruise’s latest action flick Top Gun: Maverick continues to break records even after three months of release. According to Variety, the sequel to the 1986 film has roped in $679 million in North America, establishing a new record after Marvel’s 2018 action film Avengers: Infinity Wars’ collection of $678 million.

The high-grossing numbers land Top Gun: Maverick at the sixth position in the US domestic box office. The publication reported that landing in the top 10 list is an “especially impressive benchmark” because even the superhero-abundant Avengers: Infinity War had 10 years’ worth of hype and anticipation.

Infinity War served as part one of Marvel's epic culmination of more than 20 movies, and it’s pertinent to note that most of those movies were box office juggernauts in their own right.

Critics debate that Maverick also had the star power of Cruise who’s a box office hero through and through. However, moviegoers hadn't felt the need for Top Gun 2 in more than 30 years; hence the sequel was far from a guaranteed hit.

Be it Cruise charming his way through the audience or the stellar word-of-mouth and repeat customers, Maverick continues to defy the odds. Given that there’s barely any competition in sight for a while, it seems likely that Top Gun 2 will continue selling tickets. Variety further stated that it'll be fairly desolate at the box office until November when Black Panther: Wakanda Forever releases in theatres.

Speaking outside of the US, Maverick has internationally generated over $700 million and the high-grossing figure does not count China or Russia, two major overseas markets. Since the film did not play there.

Outside of North America, the top-earning territories for the action flick include the United Kingdom ($95 million), Japan ($82 million), Korea ($62 million), Australia ($60 million) and France ($52.8 million). Globally, it's the 13th-highest-grossing movie ever with $1.379 billion to date.

Joseph Kosinski directed the PG-13 Top Gun: Maverick, which picks up decades after the original and sees Maverick train a new group of arrogant aviators for a crucial task. The cast includes Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Jon Hamm, Jennifer Connelly and Val Kilmer, who played Iceman in the first Top Gun.