It’s been 36 years since Top Gun was the highest-grossing movie of the year. (1986)

Made on a budget of just $15 million, the film grossed $357 million worldwide.

Same smile and high-flying action

The fighter jet pilot film by Tom Cruise and company has certainly marked our culture with a 9X platinum soundtrack, sales of aviator sunglasses soaring 40% and interest in naval aviation soaring 500% !

Now Cruise is back as the callsign “Maverick” with a slightly larger budget of $170 million, a tribute to past characters and previous action, and delivering an exciting and jam-packed new movie. action movie that critics love, unlike the mixed reactions first dropped in 1986!

.Variety Magazine said:

For Cruise, even the lower end of the projections would land as the biggest opening weekend of his career. Although he’s probably the biggest action star of his generation, none of his movies have made more than $65 million at the domestic box office. The actor’s 2005 sci-fi epic ‘War of the Worlds’ is currently his best ever debut with $64 million

Screenings are for a $100 million+ weekend as Cruise (as Captain Pete Mitchell) returns to form a new class of high-flying hotshots.

Washington Cascades Star

The show opens on Friday 5/27 and apparently at times the distinct appearance of Washington State’s snow-capped Cascade Mountains is on display!

Location was everything for the flight scenes, and the film’s third act was shot in Washington state. The Navy conducts low-level training flights from NAS Whidbey Island, through the Cascade Mountains – an ideal setting for critical battle scenes.

Actress Monica Barbaro, pilot of Top Gun “Phoenix”, remembers, “The pilots themselves said they get a little emotional during the flights because the mountains there are so beautiful,”

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