A Streaming Guide to Watching <i>Top Gun: Maverick</i> Online
It turns out, Top Gun: Maverick isn’t just a sure-fire blockbuster and cash-grabbing sequel; it’s an award contender, too. The Tom Cruise-starring sensation has racked up an impressive string of accolades since soaring into theaters last May, from the American Film Institute awards to Critics’ Choice and Golden Globe nominations, and now it’s even an Academy Award Best Picture nominee. So, if you haven’t seen it in theaters already, how do you watch it?
Maverick is now streaming on Paramount+, and has been since December 22. That’s particularly later than the 45-day window for usual new Paramount Pictures releases to arrive on the platform, but it’s no surprise considering the movie’s immense success at the box office: It’s earned $1.48 billion worldwide, falling just shortly behind Avatar: The Way of Water, the top-grossing film of 2022. It seems waiting for a theatrical release, after a handful of COVID-related delays, was well worth it. Besides, Cruise refused to debut the film directly on streaming anyway. (“That’s not going to happen. Ever,” he said.)
Watch Top Gun: Maverick on Paramount+
It’s also available on Prime Video with a Paramount+ or MGM+ subscription add-on.
Watch Top Gun: Maverick on Prime Video
Maverick sees the return of Cruise’s famous fighter pilot Pete Mitchell, decades after the 1986 original film. He trains a new set of Top Gun recruits on a dangerous mission, which, behind the scenes, required some intense drills and training for the actors. Cruise even led his younger co-stars through some of the prep himself, which was “incredible,” Monica Barbaro, who plays Natasha “Phoenix” Trace in the film, previously told ELLE.com.
“That was the most interesting thing I think about all of this, is that we got to watch him operate at the level that he always does,” she said. “His expectations of everyone around him are through the roof, as they should be, because everyone is able to show up and do incredible things with that belief and trust in them. The way he designed this program for us, I think was based on having experiences where he has ramped up his stunts to an incredible degree and didn’t necessarily have the opportunity to do things the way he did for this on the first one.”
The original Top Gun film is also available to stream on Paramount+. Plans for the platform range from $4.99 to $9.99 per month, or $49.99 to $99.99 per year.
Erica Gonzales is the Senior Culture Editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage on TV, movies, music, books, and more. She was previously an editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com. There is a 75 percent chance she’s listening to Lorde right now.
