Top Gun: Maverick's Box Office Shows Importance Of Non-Marvel Audiences
Top Gun: Maverick's big box office opening weekend reveals a major box office demographic that's been underserved by the growth of Marvel and other superhero movies in recent years. With a domestic opening weekend of nearly $125 million, the Top Gun sequel starring Tom Cruise isn't just Cruise's biggest opening of his career, but also marks the post-pandemic return of a major segment of the moviegoing audiences.
Before the pandemic, domestic ticket sales had been on a steady decline for several decades as more and more people opted to stay home and watch streaming movies and TV, but thanks to increases in ticket prices, total box office revenue still steadily rose over the same period until theaters shut down in 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic. According to the Motion Picture Association's yearly Theatrical and Home Entertainment Market Environment reports, 2020 and 2021 saw drops in theatrical attendance across the board, but the most drastic reduction in theater audiences came from the 25-39 and 40-49 age groups. While audiences have started to return for some big hits, Top Gun: Maverick's box office comes from a demographic that has been slower to go back to theaters.
Related: Top Gun 2 Gives Tom Cruise His Best Rotten Tomatoes Streak Yet
According to Variety, 55 percent of Top Gun: Maverick's opening weekend box office came from moviegoers who are 35-years-old and older. It's not clear how those ages skew between adults in their 30s, 40s, or over 50, either way, it's a statistic worth noting due to the significance of older moviegoers to the overall health of the theatrical industry and a potential sign of continued post-pandemic recovery of the box office.
When it comes to the box office, the biggest
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