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- Top Gun: Maverick, along with the 1986 classic, is available to stream on Showmax.
- The 2022 film swept the Oscar nominations earlier this week with a total of six nods, including Best Picture.
- But how did Maverick compare to the original film? We take a closer look.
Top Gun: Maverick, one of the most anticipated films of 2022, sits firmly on the list of highest-grossing movies of all time.
"Cruise's pact is a vestige of a time when stars, not superheroes, were the reason that audiences flocked to movie theatres to see a new release. But things have changed since Marvel took the box office hostage in the early aughts, putting an interchangeable array of Chrises in spandex and masks. The problem is that even though those actors are surefire draws any time the Avengers assemble, they can't always attract a crowd when they try to leverage their success in other genres," Variety said at the time of Cruise standing against superheroes in tummy-tuck tights.
In South Africa, Top Gun: Maverick was indeed the biggest box office hit and came second globally – only blue-skinned Na'vi-human hybrids managed to beat out Captain Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell.
Now, the film, which recently soared onto Showmax along with the original film, has earned even more acclaim as it sweeps the Oscars with a total of six nods, including Best Picture.
Other nominations include Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Visual Effects, and Sound, as well as Best Song for Hold My Hand by Lady Gaga and BloodPop.
Top Gun: Maverick has earned the titles of Best Movie, Best Wide Release Movie and Best Action & Adventure Movie at Rotten Tomatoes' Golden Tomato Awards, which recognise the best-reviewed films of the year.
It currently has a 96% rating from over 450 critics and a 99% audience score from over 50 000 fans on the site.
News24 reviewer Ilan Preskovsky, giving the film 4.5/5 stars, said:
He added: "The original Top Gun, released way, way back in 1986, is a genuinely iconic movie, but it's not actually all that great. Certainly, it was something of a critical flop when it originally opened, and it became a real fan favourite not so much through its actual cinematic excellence, of which it had almost none, but because there's something about it that has made it one of the quintessential '80s movies."
He's not wrong. Tom Cruise made a meagre $2 million for Top Gun in 1986.
But sticking with his character for some 30 years was worth it – with savvy negotiating skills on his agent's part.
In 2022, the actor raked in more than $100 million for Top Gun: Maverick.
