There are still a few weeks until “Top Gun: Maverick” reaches its third anniversary on Memorial Day. But even though this isn’t a milestone anniversary, 2025 is still a year where its influence and budding legacy are being felt everywhere. There are indeed many ways in which the impact of “Top Gun: Maverick” is still felt in theaters, even three years after it ruled them for all of summer 2022.
The Growing Power Of The Maverick Youth Squadron
This past week, “Thunderbolts*” had perhaps the best word of mouth for any MCU film that didn’t involve Ryan Coogler, James Gunn, or Spider-Man since mid-2021. A significant factor was its biggest newcomer in Lewis Pullman, as unassuming Bob turned unstable superbeing Sentry turned ultra dark The Void – someone with far darker sides than Pullman’s wingman Bob in “Top Gun: Maverick.” But for those who didn’t remember Pullman’s last Bob, or his other recent projects like “Lessons in Chemistry,” or recognize him as Bill Pullman’s son, “Thunderbolts*” now makes him just the latest “Top Gun: Maverick” squad fighter to break out on his own.
This is already a movie that springboarded Glen Powell to the A-list with his blockbusters in “Anyone But You,” “Twisters,” and this fall’s “The Running Man.” It already launched Monica Barbaro towards her own Oscar nomination for “A Complete Unknown” last year and propelled Danny Ramirez into the MCU with “Captain America: Brave New World” right before Pullman joined in.
Between that and other increasingly recognizable squad members like Jay Ellis, Raymond Lee, and Manny Jacinto, “Top Gun: Maverick” is already building a legacy of launching more future stars than any this decade – and it seems to keep growing with each passing year, including this one.
Still Holding The Critical And Box Office Standard
Currently, “Sinners” is the story of the movie year not just for its improbable week-to-week hold but for its uncommonly high review scores that blockbusters just don’t usually have. In fact, the last time there was such a combination like this was with “Top Gun: Maverick” three years ago.
Granted, “Sinners” is an R-rated nonsequel and black/horror/blues/period-themed film, unlike an IP sequel like “Top Gun: Maverick” – which will still end up making well more than twice what “Sinners” will end up with. Nevertheless, its small percentage weekend drops and 97-98% critic and audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes haven’t been seen in anything this big since “Top Gun: Maverick” – not even “Oppenheimer” or “Barbie.”
“Top Gun: Maverick” didn’t drop in single-digit percentages for its first few weekends like “Sinners” did. Still, movies that open with $126 million don’t usually “drop” to $90 million in weekend number two or stay at $44 million in weekend number four. Even “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie” fell at a faster pace than that, and neither had over 95% scores with both critics and audiences – a blockbuster combination nothing matched until “Sinners” on a smaller scale.
Between its $700 million domestic gross, such high reviews, and defiance of any typical sequel trends, “Top Gun: Maverick” is still the gold commercial and creative standard only a select few films have matched since – which we have to remember whenever something Iike “Sinners” comes close in its own way.
The Memories Of Cannes Past
As the buildup for “Top Gun: Maverick” grew, part of it included a screening in Cannes days before its worldwide release. Although Cannes wasn’t a world premiere for the film, it was another sign that it was reaching a higher standard than anyone might have imagined months earlier. And now, three years later, another Tom Cruise sequel is taking the same path with the Cannes world premiere of “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning,” a week before its own Memorial Day weekend release.
If not for “Top Gun: Maverick,” there’s probably little chance the eighth and possibly final film of Cruise’s other mega-franchise gets this level of a world premiere – and the expectations that go with it. Whether this means Ethan Hunt’s last mission can match the heights, reviews, and other successes of Maverick’s previous mission is uncertain. Nonetheless, the memories of three years ago in Cannes are enough to spark the question, “What if history repeats itself?” for a few more weeks.
“F1” Going Down A Familiar Course
“Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” isn’t the only summer 2025 film deliberately trying to be the next “Top Gun: Maverick.” In the case of “F1,” it has “Top Gun: Maverick” director Joseph Kosinski trying to recapture that theatrical experience on the racing circuit – either that or trying to match Cruise’s own post-original “Top Gun” racing film “Days of Thunder.”
“F1” has Brad Pitt in place of Cruise as the aging mega star headliner looking to recapture old glory, Damson Idris in place of Miles Teller as the young upstart who needs to work things out with his new mentor, Kerry Condon in place of Jennifer Connelly as the woman witnessing it all, and Javier Bardem around for kicks as well. But unlike “Top Gun: Maverick,” this opens right before the Fourth of July instead of Memorial Day and is being co-distributed by a streamer in Apple.
Yet just by having Kosinski, one of Cruise’s biggest peers, and the promise of ultra-realistic, hundred-mile-per-hour action, there will be no talking about “F1” without discussing “Top Gun: Maverick“—whether or not it holds up in any other way.
An Official Final Farewell
On an emotional level, the high point of “Top Gun: Maverick” was a reunion between Cruise and Val Kilmer – a.k.a. Maverick and Iceman. Between Iceman already dying on screen and Kilmer being back on-screen years after losing his voice to throat cancer, everyone already knew in May 2022 that this was likely a big screen farewell to both the character and his actor. Even back then, the tears were overflowing from audiences and critics, too, between Iceman building Maverick back up and Cruise getting his most poignant scene as an actor in at least the last 15-20 years.
Yet a month ago, the farewell became official in real life when Kilmer passed at age 65. It confirmed that his one scene in “Top Gun: Maverick” was indeed the final scene of his career – and as such, gave audiences a reason to tear up during rewatches all over again. Therefore, not only has “Top Gun: Maverick” already gone down in history as a high point in Cruise’s stardom and the launching pad of several new stars but as the last word – spoken and otherwise – of the franchise’s other most prominent legend.
In that tragic way and in other less serious ways, the echoes of “Top Gun: Maverick” have been felt all over the place in movies this year and will continue to do so for at least a few more months this summer. If all that is happening just in the third year after its release, one can only imagine what its ripple effects will be in years ahead, whether they involve Cruise, Powell, Barbaro, Pullman, Kosinski, any of its other figures, or any other blockbusters that dare approach its high critical and box office altitudes all in one flight.
What do you think of “Top Gun: Maverick” and the legacy it’s had since its release? Have you seen Lewis Pullman in “Thunderbolts*” yet? Who has been the most successful and your favorite breakout star from the film? Are you excited to see Tom Cruise in “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning?” and Joseph Kosinski direct “F1?” Please let us know in the comments section below and on Next Best Picture’s X account.
You can follow Robert and hear more of his thoughts on the Oscars & Film on X @Robertdoc1984
