Top Gun: Maverick has earned $679 million in America, overtaking Marvel’s “Avengers: Infinity War” ($678 million) as the sixth-highest grossing movie in domestic box office history.

It’s an especially impressive benchmark because 2018’s every-hero-but-the-kitchen-sink adventure “Avengers: Infinity War” had a little help in building up anticipation. It served as part one (2019’s “Endgame” was part two) of Marvel’s epic culmination of more than 20 movies — most of which were box office juggernauts in their own right — over 10 years. Talk about hype.

Maverick had Tom Cruise, a box office hero in his own right. But the sequel to 1986’s “Top Gun” was far from a guaranteed hit.

Power of Word of Mouth

It would require a bit of endurance at this point, but it’s certainly not out of the question. “Top Gun 2” is likely to continue selling tickets because the film does not have a ton of competition on the horizon. It’ll be fairly desolate at the box office until November, when “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” opens in theaters. Disney is likely to re-release the original superhero sensation in anticipation of the follow-up, which could propel “Black Panther’s” grosses even higher. But “Maverick” is no stranger to overcoming the impossible.

Internationally, “Top Gun: Maverick” has generated more than $700 million — and that’s without playing in China or Russia, two major overseas markets. Outside of North America, top-earning territories 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.

“Top Gun: Maverick” debuted on the big screen in May, setting a new Memorial Day weekend opening record with $160.5 million. The film stayed in the top five on weekend charts for 10 weeks, dropping to sixth place in its 11th weekend before miraculously returning to the No. 2 spot in its 12th outing. “This. Does. Not. Happen,” Jeff Bock, a media analyst with Exhibitor Relations, wrote on Twitter.

Among the film’s numerous records, “Maverick” is Cruise’s first movie to surpass $100 million in a single weekend and his first to reach $1 billion at the worldwide box office. The movie star is being rewarded handsomely for rejuvenating the nation’s cinemas. By the time “Maverick” is out of theaters and lands on Paramount+, Cruise is expected to pocket at least $100 million from ticket sales, his salary and his eventual cut of home entertainment rentals and streaming revenue.

Joseph Kosinski directed the long-delayed “Top Gun: Maverick,” which picks up decades after the original and follows Cruise’s Pete “Maverick” Mitchell as he trains a young group of aviators for a dangerous mission. The cast includes Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Jon Hamm, Jennifer Connelly and Val Kilmer, who played Iceman in the first “Top Gun.”