The highest-grossing film of the year, Top Gun: Maverick is set to come to the streaming platform Paramount+ on December 22 in the UK and Ireland – perfectly timed for Christmas.
Top Gun: Maverick has been available to rent on Prime Video since August 26, but now Paramount+ users can watch the film as part of their regular package.
In the film, Tom Cruise reprises his role as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell after more than 30 years, reuniting with Val Kilmer (Iceman). He is back at his alma mater, reluctantly training a group of younger Top Gun graduates for a dangerous secret mission.
When the film was released at the end of May, it became an instant success worldwide, and has now raked in more than $1.48 billion.
The blockbuster not only became Cruise’s highest-grossing movie of his career, but it also made him the year’s highest-paid actor.
According to Variety, he earned a whopping $100 million for his efforts, in a package that means the actor and producer gets a cut of streaming revenues and ticket sales as well as his acting fee. For context, the entire budget for Top Gun: Maverick was $170 million – making Cruise’s payslip all the more remarkable.
Critics were also largely impressed by the sequel. The Standard said: “The plot is as cheesy as a fondue fountain... But it’s also soapily compelling.” “Cinema’s favourite ageless fighter pilot returns with all the nail-biting aeronautics and emotional sucker punches that made the original an 80s-defining hit,” said The Guardian.
Speaking to the Australian morning news show, Sunrise, in May, Cruise said: “Doing the original, that was one thing, but how do we create something to give that audience that same kind of experience? It was something that I’ve lived with for many years.
“I want to entertain the audience, I want to give them what they want, but I was not just going to do it just to do it... It’s very emotional for me and for all of us.”
Paramount+ only launched in the UK back in June, but by August it had already garnered as many as 43 million paid customers worldwide.
With Paramount being one of Hollywood’s biggest production companies, there are tonnes of other well-loved films available to watch on the site – from Transformers to Pulp Fiction, to Mean Girls.
And for ardent Cruise fans, Mission Impossible I, II and III are also available to stream.
