'Top Gun: Maverick' soars past $1bn becoming the biggest movie of 2022

Watch: The trailer for Top Gun: Maverick

Tom Cruise has been proven right in his decision to hold Top Gun: Maverick back until cinemas were back to full strength after the aviation thriller passed the $1 billion (£813m) mark.

The Top Gun sequel, which was originally due to be released in June 2020, topped the global box office once again over the weekend taking another $75m (£61m).

In its fifth week of release the long-awaited Top Gun sequel held off competition from new releases Elvis and The Black Phone, as well as other box office contenders Jurassic World: Dominion and Lightyear to reclaim the top spot.

Read more: The tragic life of Top Gun star Kelly McGillis

Cruise and distributor Paramount refused to take the film to streaming while cinemas were closed, opting to hold back for a theatrical release after lockdown.

It has now taken $1,006m in cinemas around the world since it was released on 25 May, and is now the highest-grossing movie of 2022 so far, overtaking Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ($947m). It's also Tom Cruise's highest-grossing movie of all time.

The speed with which Top Gun: Maverick has roared up the chart means it could end up as one of the highest-grossing films of recent years.

Read more: Top Gun cast - then and now

With already the third most successful movie released in the UK since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Only the James Bond film No Time To Die (£98.0 million) and comic book thriller Spider-Man: No Way Home (£96.3 million) have taken more money at the box office.

Tom Cruise is hoping to keep Top Gun: Maverick in cinemas for as long as possible. With many studios — including Disney — reducing the length of the 'theatrical window' (how long a movie plays in cinemas before it hits home release), Paramount is rumoured to be giving Maverick a 120-day window.

A recent report said the studio would seek to reap the benefits of a theatrical release for as long as possible, allowing audiences the chance to see the movie as it was meant to be seen: on a huge screen.

Read more: Tom Cruise's most dangerous stunts

Talking at Cannes Film Festival, Cruise said that he never considered releasing the movie on streaming first.

“They wouldn’t dare,” he said. “That’s not going to happen, ever. That was never going to happen. Never. Not going to happen.”

Top Gun: Maverick is in IMAX and cinemas now. Watch a clip below.