AceShowbiz - "Top Gun: Maverick" soars high at the box office this weekend. The sequel to the 1986 blockbuster, which features Tom Cruise reprising his most iconic role of Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, debuts atop the chart after making an estimated $124M domestically for its three day opening weekend, according to Paramount. Meanwhile, its global total is $248M.

In addition to jetting past expectations, the number marks Tom's biggest opening weekend in his more than 40-year career. It's also the actor's first $100 million opening weekend and the third biggest debut of the year.

"We believe in the viability of theatrical, we've tried to be opportunistic and wait for the environment to be right," Chris Aronson, president of domestic theatrical distribution at Paramount, said to Boxoffice Pro's Daniel Loria on Sunday morning, May 29.

" 'Top Gun: Maverick' has been a two-year wait," he continued. "There were a lot of doubters leading up to this release [asking why] this movie hadn't come out already-but I'm encouraged that the results are fantastic. I think the breadth of the audience is fantastic. The reception to the film is just off the charts. Some things are just worth the wait."

He further gushed, " 'Top Gun: Maverick' has exceeded all of our expectations. You're always cautiously optimistic. We always believed in this film. I saw it for the first time in 2019 and believed in it from the moment I saw it because it's just epic motion picture entertainment. The exit polls bear that out, they're just stratospheric."

Back to the chart, "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" follows it up as it takes a distant second spot with $16.4M in three days and an estimated $21.1M over the four-day extended weekend. Its domestic total stands at a little over $375M. The Marvel superhero film is closing in on the $900M mark worldwide.

"The Bob's Burgers Movie" is expected to take the No. 3 spot with an estimated $15M in domestic market. Meanwhile, "Downton Abbey: A New Era" is expected to earn $7.5M across the extended weekend, bringing its running domestic total to $30M and nearly $69M internationally.

Rounding out the Top 5 is "The Bad Guys". The flick is expected to gross $6.1M, taking the domestic total to $82 million.

Top 10 of North America Box Office (May 27-29, 2022):

1. "Top Gun: Maverick" - $124 million
2. "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse Of Madness" - $16.4 million
3. "The Bob's Burgers Movie" -$15 million
4. "Downton Abbey: A New Era" - $7.5 million
5. "The Bad Guys" - $6.1 million
6. "Sonic The Hedgehog 2" - $2.52 million
7. Everything Everywhere All at Once" - $2.51 million
8. "The Lost City" - $1.7 million
9. Men" - $1.2 million
10. "F3: Fun and Frustration" - $1 million