Top: Gun Maverick becomes Paramount’s highest-grossing film – and Tom Cruise’s first to hit $1,000,000,000-Louise Griffin-Entertainment – Metro

Tom Cruise returned as Pete Mitchell in Top Gun: Maverick (Picture: AP)

Tom Cruise has got plenty of reason to celebrate after it was revealed Top Gun: Maverick has reportedly raked in $1.2billion (£1billion).

The actor, who previously admitted he wasn’t sure about making a sequel to the iconic 1986 film, is sure to be thrilled with how it’s performed.

Making $600m (£500m) domestically in the US, it’s become Paramount’s highest-grossing film of all time, according to Deadline.

It’s also the first film of Tom’s to reach the lofty heights of $1billion.

Before the film’s huge success, Tom actually had to be convinced that making another one was a good idea by director Joseph Kosinski.

The director explained: ‘So I read the script, I had some ideas, and Jerry (Bruckheimer) liked those ideas. He said, “You know what, you gotta go pitch this to Tom directly”.’

He flew to Paris to meet Cruise on a movie set where he was shooting one of his Mission: Impossible films and was given a 30-minute window to convince the actor to return to Fightertown.

He had a challenge on his hands because he found Tom wasn’t impressed at first.

Tom initially wasn’t convinced about making a sequel (Picture: AFP)

He first played the role in 1986 (Picture: Paramount/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)

Kosinki added to Polygon: ‘We flew to Paris, where Tom was shooting Mission: Impossible, we got about a half hour of his time between setups.

‘And I basically had 30 minutes to pitch this film, which I didn’t realise when we were flying over. But when I got there, I found that Tom really didn’t want to make another Top Gun.

‘It’s one of those moments as a director, you have one on every film, where you’re on the spot to make a case for why this movie should be made. I had 30 minutes to do it.’

The pitch was successful and by the end of the meeting, Cruise had told movie bosses he was happy to return. So much so, he ‘picked up the phone, he called the head of Paramount Pictures and said, “We’re making another Top Gun.”‘

The film sees Tom’s Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell return as a courageous test pilot for his biggest mission yet – and he reunites with some familiar faces along the way, including Val Kilmer’s Iceman.

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