Robert Pattinson was only three days old when Tony Scott’s Top Gun first roared into theaters back in May 1986, with the actor eventually finding himself going head-to-head with Tom Cruise’s Maverick in one of 2022’s biggest box office battles. Rather surprisingly, though, The Batman has come out on the losing side.
Matt Reeves’ atmospherically intense reboot of the Dark Knight was showered in critical acclaim and made a ton of money during its theatrical run, but Joseph Kosinski’s Top Gun: Maverick has fared better. Cruise’s return to the cockpit has officially passed The Batman on the domestic front after becoming only the second pandemic-era movie other than Spider-Man: No Way Home to crack $400 million, but it isn’t done yet.
On a global scale, the latest reinvention for the Caped Crusader is sitting on a solid $770 million, but Maverick isn’t far behind. In fact, with a current running tally of $755 million (and showing absolutely no signs of slowing down), we’d feel incredibly confident in saying that the dogfighting blockbuster will sail past The Batman by the end of today.
Given that it’s a big budget Tom Cruise action vehicle, Maverick was always destined to fare well on the big screen, especially when the leading man and producer had been absent since the release of Mission: Impossible – Fallout in 2018, his longest-ever sabbatical from the multiplex since the beginning of his career over 40 years ago.
Having shown incredible legs so far, it definitely can’t be discounted that Top Gun: Maverick might just be able to reach the coveted billion-dollar threshold, too, which would be its finest accomplishment by far.
