How Maverick's Box Office Compares to Top Gun 1 (Adjusted for Inflation)
Top Gun: Maverick is soaring high at the box office in its first few weeks, but how does it compare to the original Top Gun? The first Top Gun was also a huge box office success, but thanks to changes in inflation and the evolution of the theatrical market, the box office earnings of both movies can’t be directly compared.
Top Gun was the top-grossing film of 1986 and is one of the movies to propel Tom Cruise to superstardom. It may have taken 36 years for the sequel to arrive, but the property and Tom Cruise are still a big box office draw, as shown by Top Gun: Maverick’s box office results.
Related: Top Gun Maverick's Box Office is Way Different From 2022's Top Movies
Top Gun opened to almost $8.2 million domestically in May 1986 and actually increased 15 percent during its second weekend (Memorial Day weekend) to $9.4 million. Then it dropped just 27 percent in its third weekend to $6.9 million, before returning to $8.2 million again in its fourth weekend, beating its opening weekend numbers by a few thousand dollars. It was in theaters for more than six months, earning a total domestic box office haul of $176.8 million.
Adjusted for inflation, Top Gun’s opening weekend is equivalent to $21.9 million, and its total domestic run is equivalent to $471.5 million. Based on these numbers, Top Gun: Maverick’s $156 million domestic opening is clearly superior, and with $357.4 million in total domestic earnings so far, it looks like it’ll surpass the original’s total domestic haul, too. Average ticket prices in 1986 were just $3.71 and average ticket prices in 2022 are $9.17. Dividing 1986 domestic revenue by ticket prices suggests the original Top Gun sold approximately 47.6 million tickets domestically, while Top Gun:
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