With a budget of $170 million, Top Gun: Maverick made a massive $160.5 million over the long Memorial Day weekend, giving it the biggest opening of all time for the holiday. On top of this, the movie is also Tom Cruise's biggest opening weekend draw and is projected to become the actor's best-selling film of all time.

Despite the movie's success and Tom Cruise's star power, the movie was originally seen as a risk because it was a sequel to a movie that came out over 30 years ago. But the reasons why it was risky ultimately played into the movie's success. The key reason is that moviegoers over the age of 35 came out in droves to see this film, a demographic which has been largely absent from theaters since the start of the pandemic.

The other Box office breaking movies to come out during the pandemic have all been superhero films like Spider-Man: No Way Home and The Batman. These movies made their box office hauls primarily off the 18-34 age group. Top Gun: Mavric is the first movie to break the pattern

"A whole segment of moviegoers have just come out for the first time. Top Gun is an exceptional movie, and there is a really excellent lineup of movies coming down the pike," Imax president of entertainment Megan Colligan said.

Taking the overseas haul into account, the movie has made more than $300 million globally.