As Top Gun: Maverick climbs higher on the list of top-grossing domestic films nearly three months after its release, producer Jerry Bruckheimer said he knows why: a real story and hard work from Tom Cruise.
The Top Gun sequel is now the sixth-highest-grossing film ever at the domestic box office. Maverick reached $679 million this weekend, making it Paramount’s biggest movie ahead of Titanic, which sits at No. 8 on the all-time domestic box office list.
“It’s always the characters, the themes, the story,” Bruckheimer told Entertainment Weekly. “That’s what it’s all about; it’s about the emotion, it’s about bringing Iceman back, it’s about seeing a real movie.”
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The producer noted that the film’s actors trained for three months to get into F-18 jets. Producers of the movie collaborated with real-life Navy fighter pilots to get authentic shots of fighter jets zooming through the air and actors enduring high G-forces.
“The audiences love the Marvel, they love the DC stuff. They’re beautifully made by really talented people. Sometimes you want to see something that’s real, and that’s what Top Gun gave us,” Bruckheimer said. “These aviators are out there protecting our country right now, flying around the world, and you’re taking a ride with them. You’re seeing what they do, you’re seeing what their life is like, and the trials and tribulations that they have to go through. You’re actually experiencing it with our actors.”
Bruckheimer, who first worked with Cruise on the original 1986 Top Gun, also touted the actor’s instrumental role in the sequel’s storyline and production.
“Top Gun was the benefit of all of Tom’s learning and being with all these terrific actors, directors, and writers,” Bruckheimer said. “He helped us craft this movie. He designed the aerial sequences with [director] Joe Kosinski. … All that energy that Tom puts into it… Nobody works harder.”
Bruckeimer added that he hopes the Oscars reward Cruise for his work.
“Nobody cares more, nobody works harder than Tom,” the producer said. “You look at his performance, it’s deceiving, because it’s so good, it’s so natural. It’s something that audiences understand and realize, and we hope the Academy will feel the same way.”
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Top Gun: Maverick is Cruise’s top-grossing film with $1.3 billion in worldwide box office sales.
