Top Gun: Maverick is finally here and it’s proving to be one of the biggest movies of the year. The film premiered on May 27th, 2022, twelve years after Paramount Pictures first announced that a Top Gun sequel was in development. Its success was not guaranteed. The film encountered its first difficulty when its intended director, Tony Scott, sadly passed away in mid-2012. This led to production being put on hold until 2017, when Joseph Kosinski (Spiderhead, TRON: Legacy) was hired as director. Filming then began and the intended release date was initially July of 2019. Multiple lengthy pandemic delays led to the film’s 2022 release.
The cast and crew of Top Gun: Maverick accepted the delays, due to being adamant that the film had to be enjoyed on the big screen with an exclusively theatrical release. It turned out to be a smart move on their part, as Top Gun: Maverick is receiving extremely positive reviews. In fact, it has already eclipsed the original Top Gun (1986) film in terms of critical reception and box office success. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a whopping 96% positive “fresh” score.
Top Gun: Maverick follows Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) three decades after the events of the first film. Mitchell is now enjoying life as a test pilot and avoiding promotions that would take him out of the cockpit, so that he can keep flying. However, he is soon ordered to train a group of graduates and among them is Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller)—the son of Maverick’s deceased best friend, “Goose” Bradshaw. As a result, Mitchell is forced to confront his past while taking on his most urgent mission yet.
When will Top Gun: Maverick release on Paramount+?
As stated above, Top Gun: Maverick‘s cast and crew were very against streaming the film. In fact, Paramount denied multiple attempts from streaming platforms, such as Netflix and HBO Max, from purchasing the distribution rights to the film. Top Gun: Maverick will only be streaming on Paramount+, but first it received a lengthy theatrical run.
Initially, Paramount didn’t announce a specific release date for Top Gun: Maverick. However, Paramount did previously announce that most of its new movies would stay in theaters for at least 45 days before streaming. If Top Gun: Maverick followed this model, it would’ve been available to stream on Paramount+ as early as July 11, 2022. Since the guideline is “at least” 45 days, though, it still can be longer than 45 days depending on the film. This proved to be the case with Top Gun, presumably because it’s still making money in theaters. The film will outpace Avengers: Infinity War at the box office and will no doubt climb even higher.
While films like Sonic the Hedgehog 2 hit streaming just a day past the 45-day guideline, the box office hit Top Gun: Maverick took much longer than the 45 days. However, as of August 16, 2022, Top Gun: Maverick has an official streaming release date of August 23, 2022 on Paramount+. It will also be releasing on DVD and Blu-Ray on November 1st, 2022.
(featured image: Paramount Pictures)
Published: Jun 3, 2022 01:31 pm