Tom Cruise starrer ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ breaks box office records on opening weekend

Tom Cruise has achieved a major career milestone after his latest release Top Gun: Maverick has outperformed expectations at the global box office.

The film, in which Cruise, 59, has reprised his role as US navy pilot Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell from the original 1986 hit classic, has given Cruise his first $100 million opening weekend.

Top Gun: Maverick has also become the highest-opening non-superhero movie released since the pandemic, following Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and The Batman.

"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."

The film has been a career milestone for Cruise, who is not known for massive blockbuster openings at the box office.

Before Maverick, his biggest domestic debut was in 2005, with Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds, which opened to $64 million.

The hit action franchise Mission: Impossible — Fallout scored $61 million in 2018.