‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Could Upset ‘Elvis’ At Weekend Box Office As Tom Cruise Pic Hits $500 Million In US

Cast sources say there’s a chance Paramount/Skydance Top Gun: Maverick could top the box office this weekend in its fifth run with $32 million, down 28% week-over-week.

This will easily send the Tom Cruise movie past half a billion at the domestic box office; the pic is already the actor’s biggest-grossing of all time with more than $900 million worldwide. Top Gun 2 continued to lead today’s advance ticket sales in the US, I hear.

Should Top Gun 2 fly with $30 million+, it will top Baz Luhrmann-led Warner Bros’ $85 million Elviswho is eyeing Over $20 millionand the $16 million horror flick directed by Universal/Blumhouse’s Scott Derrickson black phone, who spots $15 million–$20 million.

Mixed we have the third weekend of Jurassic World Dominionwho looks around $29M51%, and Disney/Pixar’s second weekend Light year, which is also expected to decline by 51% to $25 million.

The good news in all of this is the depth and diversity of box office activities and products; it’s possible that five films will make more than $20 million each. It’s another great sign for the exhibit that cinema is still the most affordable form of entertainment, even in an inflation-fueled economy. NRG also reported this week that 88% of all moviegoers are very or somewhat comfortable going to cinemas, the highest score in the Covid era. Comscore last weekend called $165 million for all ticket sales in the United States and Canada, 21% ahead of the same period in 2019. This remains the barometric year that continues to determine when we fully recovered from the pandemic box office blues.

Elvis, despite a stellar world premiere reception at Cannes with the film festival’s longest standing ovation, faces an uphill battle. I understand that there is a discrepancy between a certain interest and a total awareness and a spontaneous awareness for the film. The film is older and longer at 2 hours and 39 minutes. Consider the fact that someone who is 50 was 5 when Elvis Presley died.

Should Elvis opened north of $20 million in 3,900 theaters, it would arguably be the biggest opening for an adult demo-scale release with that runtime during the pandemic (Gucci House was 2 hours and 38 minutes and debuted for a total of $14.4 million over three days). Among the non-franchised entries intended for adults, the lost city, with an opening of $30.4 million, is the best we’ve seen during the pandemic. Are die-hard Elvis fans dating? The over-60 crowd has been hard to come by during the pandemic. You could say they’re out and they’re going Top Gun 2. Elvis is 83% certified fresh, higher than Lurhmann’s previous specification in 2013 Gatsby the magnificent (48% Rotten) which debuted at $50 million.

Some see a $30 million opening for Elvis. Even by Tom Hanks openness standards for his non-franchise adult films, it’s huge and would rank up there with debuts such as defile ($35M), Saving Private Ryan ($31M) and Catch Me If You Can ($30 million) and ahead of the actor’s recent films A beautiful day in the neighborhood ($13.2M) and Captain Phillips ($25.7 million).

Fever and AMC offered a special promotion for $10.99 tickets for Elvis. Warner Bros has been promoting this film non-stop from Cannes, including a premiere at Graceland, has the full support of the Presley family, and provided fantastic late-night appearances for Austin Butler, who plays Elvis sublimely on screen… and outside.

Check out Butler teaching Fallon how to dance like the King of Rock n’ Roll:

There was an early access fan event for Elvis last night in some cities. Thursday previews begin at 5 p.m. in 3,200 locations. The picture will play in PLF, Dolby, Screen X, motion seats and drive-in, while Light year sponge all Imax auditoriums.

The black phone hopes to hook the 17-34 crowd. The pic is 85% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, which is healthy for a Blumhouse horror movie on the review aggregation site. Ethan Hawke stars as a masked man who abducts young children from the basement of his house. That is, until he kidnaps the wrong kid who receives clues from the killer’s previous victims on a disconnected phone. Blumhouse’s last big opening in recent memory with an R rating and intended for this teen demo was pre-pandemic Mom, which debuted at $18 million in May 2019. It was only 56% rotten. black phoneThe screenplay is by Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill (strange doctor,Claim franchise), based on the award-winning short story by Joe Hill from hisNew York TimesBestseller 20th century ghosts.

Monday, June 19 saw Box Office Mojo’s Top 10 Movies gross $24.8 million, making it the second-biggest Monday of the summer so far (since early May) after Memorial Day, which saw the top 10 movies gross $45.5 million.

During the four-day holiday weekend, Jurassic World Dominion led with $67.7 million. The Universal/Amblin movie topped all titles on Tuesday with $7.1 million, bringing its running total to $266 million.

Top Gun 2 was second on Tuesday with $5.99 million and a cumulative total of $480.7 million. The photo posted a four-day holiday catch of $52.55 million.

Light year posted a total of $57.1 million over four days. It made $5.86 million on Tuesday, ranking third, with a cumulative total of $63 million.