TCTTS said:

---

The main reason the movie was originally delayed from 2019 to 2020 was to shoot a TON of practical jet/stunt work. With the actors actually in the cockpits.

---

This makes me happy.

Say what you will about the movie, but there were some fun shots in the 2019 Midway film. I know I liked it.

jbanda said:

---

Say what you will about the movie, but there were some fun shots in the 2019 Midway film. I know I liked it.

---

Agree. I don't believe there were any real warbirds used in that movie, but the models/CGI looked spot-on. The visuals of the SBD's diving amid all the AA fire was quite Star Wars-y but nevertheless looked great. If not exactly accurate to how they actually conducted the dive bombing raids.

I read that that Midway movie was more accurate/true to real life than the majority of other war movies, which is nuts when you think about some of the stuff depicted in that movie.

jbanda said:

---

I read that that Midway movie was more accurate/true to real life than the majority of other war movies, which is nuts when you think about some of the stuff depicted in that movie.

---

From the various books I've read on Midway, including Shattered Sword, the movie did bear a striking resemblance to much of that. It can be hard to overcome nostalgia (I was 9 when the original Midway movie came out, and that one was just as big an influence on my childhood as was Star Wars). Yet I actually like the newer movie better simply because the aircraft it features were accurate for the time period (i.e., no F6Fs or even a freaking jet fighter through the stock footage the original movie made use of).

Yep, now that we're in the age of CGI, we no longer have to see T-6 Texans made up to look like Zeros.

EDIT : Can't believe I missed Chip's post on this same page. Ugh. I'm getting old. Apologies.

jbanda said:

---

I give you the best movie scene ever featuring F-14 Tomcats. Especially when that one Tomcat pulls up approx. 100ft over the ocean. Look it up.

---

Was thinking about this movie and it's ending the other night. I have always been so damn frustrated that they didn't get to confront the Japanese force. This movie takes the approach that time is a loop and couldn't be changed. I get there is debate on here about Topgun 2 Vs Marvel, but now that Marvel has brought the idea of the multiverse to the masses, I'd love to see a redo of this movie where they do stop the attack creating an alternative time line. Would be so satisfying.

country said:

---

Hilarious to me how easily some seem to be discounting how big Maverick will be at the box office. My parents (70) have already asked me to get them tickets to two different showings as soon as they become available. They probably haven't been to a movie since the original. Boomers are going to drive this thing big time.

---

Relying on 70 year olds as you main audience that you are expecting to go buy tickets isn't a good strategy.

Just crunched some numbers, comparing the top competition this summer (Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Magic, Thor: Love and Thunder, Jurassic World: Dominion, and Lightyear) in terms opening weekend...

$133M = Average MCU Opening Weekend (ranging from $357M to $55M)
$179M = Average Jurassic World Opening Weekend (ranging from $209M and $148M)
$075M = Average Pixar Opening Weekend (ranging from $182M to $29M, only counting titles this century)

... and then, more specifically...

2021 = $260M = Spider-Man: No Way Home
2019 = $093M = Spider-Man: Far From Home
2017 = $117M = Spider-Man: Homecoming

2016 = $085M = Doctor Strange

2017 = $123M = Thor: Ragnarok
2013 = $086M = Thor: The Dark World
2011 = $066M = Thor

2015 = $209M = Jurassic World
2018 = $148M = Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

2019 = $121M = Toy Story 4
2010 = $110M = Toy Story 3

... along with some other big, relatively recent performers...

2022 = $134M = The Batman
2019 = $192M = The Lion King
2019 = $177M = Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
2018 = $182M = The Incredibles 2
2017 = $220M = Star Wars: The Last Jedi
2016 = $135M = Finding Dory
2015 = $247M = Star Wars: The Force Awakens
2015 = $147M = Furious 7

Personally, I think Top Gun: Maverick falls somewhere in the $185-200M range. I think that'll top Lightyear, be competitive with Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love and Thunder, and probably fall short of Jurassic World: Dominion, but we shall see...

They could charge $50 for an IMAX ticket for the first week (month?) and print money.

You're crazy to think it can outgross The Batman by a whole $65M on opening weekend.

I can see it doing anywhere from $85M to maybe $150M. (That would be WILDLY overperforming my expectations.)

Gun to my head I'd say $110M.

I feel like the movie didn't have the budget to actually show the attack. The Pearl Harbor attack scenes were just de-saturated shots from Tora Tora Tora.

You'd need a miniseries at minimum if they went through and sunk the Japanese fleet. You'd do that in the first ep and then the rest of the series would be the ramifications. US doesn't enter WW2? No atomic bombs? What happens to Europe?, what happens to the crew? and so forth.

IMO better movies to bring up for comparison would be movies like MI: Fallout, John Wick 3, Matrix Resurrections, etc. Seems unfair to pit it against top tier IP.

Quad Dog said:

---

country said:

---

Hilarious to me how easily some seem to be discounting how big Maverick will be at the box office. My parents (70) have already asked me to get them tickets to two different showings as soon as they become available. They probably haven't been to a movie since the original. Boomers are going to drive this thing big time.

---

Relying on 70 year olds as you main audience that you are expecting to go buy tickets isn't a good strategy.

---

You'd be surprised. Just because helloimustbegoing's mom doesn't go to moves doesn't mean all 70 year olds don't go.

Plus with that username, hello must be fairly old or like TCM.

Yeah I don't buy those opening numbers for this. IF it's going to be that high grossing because of so many old people seeing it, it's going to be a multi-week box office hit, it's not doing it on opening weekend. If there is one thing I know about movie habits of the older generation, it's that they don't have FOMO with movies and can wait until there are "less crowds" or they "hear it's actually good" before seeing a movie in theaters.

The Memorial Day box office record is the 3rd Pirates movie at $139. This might beat that, but if it does, I doubt it's by more than $10 million.

Yes, we've said boomers will show up in droves for this movie, but that doesn't mean we think that *only* boomers will show up for this movie. Most of my friends are 35+, and more people in that 35+ range have reached out to me about wanting to see this movie than even The Force Awakens or Endgame. Granted, that's my own, anecdotal experience, but I'm not even close to the only one seeing/experiencing that trend, based on this thread and what I'm seeing on social media.

And btw, the only reason I'm talking about opening weekend as opposed to total gross is because we don't yet know the quality of the movie. I have it on good authority that it's great, but we still don't know how audiences will react, and what kind of legs it may or may not have based on those reactions. But if it's good, and we're tallying total summer grosses, like we initially discussed, whether the boomers show up on opening weekend vs weekend two or three is irrelevant, as long as they eventually show up.

Basically, what it comes down to is that I think the amount of Marvel peeps who *don't* show up for Top Gun will be far outweighed by the boomers and 35+ crowd who don't usually go to Marvel movies, or any movies, really, but *do* show up for TG. In other words, say only 50% of the usual Marvel crowd shows up for TG, I think that other 50% and then some will be made up by boomers and non-Marvel 35+ers. I could of course be wrong, but I think this is going to be akin to the American Sniper phenomenon on steroids, where that movie just blew away expectations at the box office. Same type of crowd here, plus a whole lot more, riding the nostalgia factor as well.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

---

IMO better movies to bring up for comparison would be movies like MI: Fallout, John Wick 3, Matrix Resurrections, etc. Seems unfair to pit it against top tier IP.

---

I want TC to be right, but comparing to MI:Fallout should be a factor

I thought that was the best movie of all time and saw it a few times in the theaters… And yet it's numbers were weak compared to these big marvel movies

All this back-and-forth is getting tiresome… Let's just let it ride and see what happens

My prediction is $100 opening weekend and $400 overall - that would be Toms highest on both ends I believe? (Perhaps even by a wide margin)

The M:I - Fallout comparison doesn't really make sense to me because everyone who saw that movie will likely see this as well, PLUS all the boomers and people coming out of the woodwork who don't usually go to movies. Again, there are just so many instances in this thread alone, from people many of us know, from talk on social media, etc, about how many people plan to see this who don't usually go to movies on a regular basis, and I really do think that's going to make for a staggering number. That, and this isn't *just* a Tom Cruise movie. It's a sequel to a pop culture staple/phenomenon and one of most defining movies of a generation. I mean, to this day, there are hardly any more quotable movies in history.

I'm sold!!! Hope you are right - that will also build momentum for MI:7 hopefully - those last 2 should be amazing also

Especially since it seems like they're going to advertise them as the conclusion of the franchise. Or at least the end of Ethan Hunt's story. With 7 ending on what sounds like a pretty big cliffhanger, and then following it up the very next summer.

I saw the first Star Wars at the Villa Maria theater when it first came out in the 70's while in college. Saw the next two and never cared to see another. I think the last movie I saw at a theater was Dunkirk.

Dang right I'm seeing Top Gun Maverick in the theater! Can't wait.

I think LOTS of Marvel movie goers will go see TG. It's basically the same kind of movie. Heroes. bad guys, cool weapons, lots of action, all that stuff.

Plus, TG is on TV all the f'n time, so it won't be just Boomers that saw it originally that want to see #2.

As for MI: Fallout, wasn't that like #15 in the series, vs #2 here?

TCTTS said:

---

. I mean, to this day, there are hardly any more quotable movies in history.

---

Monty Python and the Holy Grail FTW. Also, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Tombstone.

The Godfather, Parts 1-2
Star Wars
Ghostbusters
The Big Lebowski
Forrest Gump
Dumb and Dumber
Terminator 1-2
Die Hard
Step Brothers
Back to the Future

Cinco Ranch Aggie said:

---

Quote:

---

I'd love to see a redo of this movie where they do stop the attack creating an alternative time line. Would be so satisfying.

---

While that would be awesome, the actual confrontation between the air fleet of the USS Nimitz and the Japanese fleet of December 1941 would be akin to the best NFL team, say Tampa Bay, taking on a powerhouse high school program, say Katy. It would be over before it even started.

And I'd still watch the hell out of that.

---

It might be even more one sided than that! F-14s had Phoenix missile systems that could lock on target many many miles away from the advisory well before they could detect it with modern avionics. The Japanese truly wouldn't have known at all what devastated their strike force in the air while the attack aircraft from Nimitz sank the Japanese fleet easily as well. As Vader would say, "all too easy". I would enjoy the hell out of that!

ChipFTAC01 said:

---

Everything is perfect about the takeoff scene in BOB. That's my favorite piece of cinema score hands down.



There's a rest at 3:00 which is just absolutely perfect.

---