The new Top Gun movie has given Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise his first $100 million (£79m) opening weekend at the box office.
Top Gun: Maverick sees him reprise his role as US navy pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell from the original 1986 film.
In its first three days in North American theatres, the sequel earned an estimated $124 million (£98m) in ticket sales, Paramount Pictures said Sunday.
Worldwide, that figure is raised to an estimated $248 million (196m).
“These results are ridiculously, over-the-top fantastic,” said Chris Aronson, Paramount’s president of domestic distribution.
“I’m happy for everyone. I’m happy for the company, for Tom, for the filmmakers.”
Cruise’s previous biggest opening weekend for a movie came in 2005 with War of the Worlds, which raked in $64 million (£50m).
The 59-year-old’s second outing as Maverick also had the fourth biggest opening of any film in the Covid-era, behind the best-selling Spider-Man: No Way Home, second-placed Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and then The Batman.
He was joined by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge for the new film’s UK premiere recently.
