I went to see Tom Cruise save the cinema last weekend. It was an overly generous gesture from a man fast approaching 60 and surely so comfortably furnished in life he could better occupy his time than running around topless with a group of men less than half his age. But that’s Tom Cruise: a tiny splinter of granite, chiselled straight from the rock of L Ron Hubbard, he’s never stinted in his commitment to serve the multiplex.
Perhaps, even more remarkably, saving the cinema is exactly what he’s done. Top Gun: Maverick has smashed it at the box office. Its domestic take on opening weekend was $160mn: in its second weekend, it collected a further $86mn — the smallest second-weekend decline for a movie opening at $100mn or more. Globally, the film has made some $600mn, and audiences are remaining steady thanks to positive word of mouth.