Paramount’sTop Gun: Maverickhas been the undisputed champion at the box office so far this year, accumulating over $1 billion worldwide throughout eight theatrical weekends. The Tom Cruise-led film stands as the highest-grossing film of the year, but Sony Pictures believes itsVenom: Let There Be Carnageis attached to the success experienced by the Paramount sequel.
Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group co-presidents Sanford Panitch and Josh Greenstein believe the studio deserves credit for being one of the first to usher audiences back into theaters during the pandemic.Top Gun: Maverickwas due to arrive in the summer of 2019 but experienced pushbacks due to the pandemic and its effect on movie theaters. Despite the delays and straight to streaming release from other major studios, Sony remained relatively firm in its theatrical release schedule.
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“When we first started releasing movies last October, there were really no other big movies,” expressed Greenstein while speaking with Vulture. The studio releasedVenom: Let There Be Carnagein theatersin October of last year and saw the film earn an impressive $90 million by the end of its debut weekend. The following month Sony released its long-awaited filmGhostbusters: Afterlifeand ended the year with the release of the record-breaking filmSpider-Man: No Way Home.
“Everyone had pushed their big movies to this year, to this summer. We took a big gamble putting ‘Venom’ in theaters. Then we doubled down with ‘Ghostbusters,'” stated Greenstein. “Then our biggest bet was when every other tentpole had fled, we tripled down with ‘Spider-Man’ — our biggest, most important piece of IP.“Spider-Man: No Way Homehas earned over $1.9 billionglobally and remains the highest-grossing film of the pandemic era withTop Gun: Maverickinching closer behind.
For many, the success ofSpider-Man: No Way Homeindicated that movie theaters still had a pulse after being upended by the pandemic, whileTop Gun: Mavericksignaled the return of the moviegoingexperience. The film continues to perform well, but Sony believes its leap of faith has helped the film reach its current altitude. “In a weird way, I would say ‘Top Gun’ is benefiting from us taking our shot,” stated Panitch. “‘Venom’ is the start of that story that allows ‘Top Gun’ to do the kind of business it did.”
Top Gun: Maverickhas benefited from several elements, but the biggest would have to be its extremely vast demographic that stretches across decades. The film is a sequel to the1986 originalTop Gunfilmand thus attracts audiences from an older and younger age bracket. Sony’s imprint may linger on the Paramount film’s success, but it’s minimal compared to the other factors that have propelled the film above others released so far this year. It’ll be interesting to see where things stand when the dust settles and ifTop Gun: Maverickcan withstand some of the bigger projects approaching on the horizon.
