Tom Cruise’s 130-Minute Action Epic Is Officially One of the Biggest Movies on Netflix Ahead of Sequel

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Tom Cruise is all set to once again prove why he’s one of the best actors on the planet when Digger opens nationwide on Oct. 2, but before we get there, it’s his 2022 action thriller masterpiece that’s enjoying a resurgence on its new streaming home. While Cruise is certainly no stranger to the genre thanks to movies like Minority Report, the Mission: Impossible franchise, and even his turn as Jack Reacher, the film in question is easily his best and biggest action hit to date. Not only did it manage to gross a whopping $1.4 billion dollars during its theatrical run, but it’s also Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a spectacular 96%.

Tom Cruise Feels the Need for Speed… Again

Hitting theaters on May 27, 2022, Top Gun: Maverick sees Cruise reprise his iconic role of Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, a test pilot who had qualms about defying authority in the 1986 original. Now in a position of power himself after being called back to the TOPGUN program, Maverick’s job as a flight instructor is to train a new group of graduates who are just as brash as he was at that age.

Complicating his task is the fact that one of his students, Lt. Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller), is the son of his late best friend, Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards). As Maverick wrestles with his past, he must get the pilots ready for their seemingly impossible mission: destroy an underground uranium enrichment facility located in a heavily defended valley. Think the Death Star battle from Star Wars, but with fighter jets instead of X-Wings.

Also starring Jon Hamm, Jennifer Connelly, Glen Powell, Ed Harris, and Val Kilmer in his final performance, Top Gun: Maverick isn’t just one of Cruise’s biggest critical hits, but it also scored huge with audiences. The film holds a Verified Hot rating of 99% on Rotten Tomatoes, making it his highest-rated movie ever ahead of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1, which holds a solid 94%.

Often credited with helping revive cinema following the COVID-19 pandemic, Top Gun: Maverick has been available to stream on Paramount+ for quite a while, and though it currently holds the number one slot on its Global Top 10 list, that’s not why it’s making headlines this week. This time around, it’s thanks to Netflix that the modern action classic is back in the news.

‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Soars to New Heights on Netflix

Added to Netflix for the first time ever in the United States on Sept. 22, Top Gun: Maverick has been enjoying a tremendous resurgence on the platform since its arrival. Not only does it sit as the fourth most popular movie at the time of writing in the U.S. Top 10, but the film also wasted no time entering the weekly charts.

Per Tudum, Top Gun: Maverick was the tenth most popular movie overall on Netflix for the week of Sept. 21-27, earning a massive 2.5 million views for a total of 5.4 million hours watched. That’s not bad at all for a movie that’s four years old, which only speaks to the tremendous reach that Netflix has in today’s streaming landscape, and the star power Cruise still holds. One can only hope that the sequel, which has been confirmed to officially be in development, will enjoy the same success as its predecessors. Check out the full Top 10 list below.