NEW YORK -- The high-flying "Top Gun: Maverick" continued to soar in its second weekend, dropping just 32% from its opening with $86 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The Paramount Pictures release, with Tom Cruise reprising his role from the 1986 original, is holding steadier than any film of its kind has before. Its modest drop -- 50%-65% is more typical for blockbusters -- is the smallest decline for a movie that opened above $100 million. "Top Gun: Maverick" debuted with $124 million two weekends ago.
Overseas, director Joseph Kosinski's film is performing even better. In 64 overseas markets, "Top Gun: Maverick" dipped only 20% in its second weekend with $81.7 million.
"There should be a shrine to Tom Cruise in every movie theater," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.
The prayer among theater owners and studio executives is that the enthusiasm about "Top Gun: Maverick," from Paramount and Skydance Media, will spur momentum for a run of big-budget Hollywood films looking to capture audiences' attention during the key summer period.
Riding stellar word of mouth, terrific reviews and a global promotional tour, "Top Gun: Maverick" has already grossed $548.6 million worldwide, making it easily one the biggest hits of Cruise's career. In domestic ticket sales ($291.6 million thus far), the "Top Gun" sequel already ranks as the 59-year-old's best performer. Until now, Cruise's biggest domestic box office success was "War of the Worlds," which amassed $234.3 million in 2005.
While "Top Gun: Maverick" is unlikely to match the $1.89 billion worldwide of Columbia Pictures' "Spider-Man: No Way Home," the biggest box-office smash of the pandemic, Cruise and company have been hailed for leading the final push in the recovery of movie theaters. Paramount delayed its release two years.
But whereas "No Way Home" had little-to-no big-budget competition through January, "Top Gun: Maverick" kicks off a string of more closely packed summer movies. . Next week, the Walt Disney Co. releases "Toy Story" spinoff "Lightyear," the first Pixar release to open in theaters in more than two years.
"Top Gun: Maverick," which actually added screens in its second week to extend its record total to 4,751, will soon find itself in more of a dog fight for audience attention.
"Jurassic World: Dominion," which opens wide today in U.S. and Canadian theaters, got a head start last weekend in 15 international markets, where the Colin Trevorrow-directed film grossed $55.5 million. Universal said that was in line with the previous franchise entries. "Jurassic World" made $1.67 billion in 2015, while its 2018 follow-up, "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom," grossed $1.31 billion.
Rounding out the domestic top five last weekend were Disney and Marvel's "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," which collected $9.3 million in its fifth weekend for a North American cumulative of $388.7 million; 20th Century Studios' "The Bob's Burgers Movie," which nabbed $4.5 million in its second weekend for a North American cumulative of $22.2 million; Universal's "The Bad Guys," which earned $3.3 million in its seventh weekend for a North American cumulative of $87.3 million; and Focus Features' "Downton Abbey: A New Era," which made $3 million in its third weekend for a North American cumulative of $35.7 million.
In U.S. and Canadian theaters, no new wide release challenged "Top Gun: Maverick." "Vikram," an Indian Tamil-language action thriller, opened with $1.8 million in 460 theaters.
Fresh off its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, David Cronenberg's "Crimes of the Future" opened with $1.1 million in 773 theaters. The Neon release, starring Viggo Mortensen, Lea Seydoux and Kristen Stewart, is the Canadian auteur's first film in eight years.