Tom Cruise gets his first $100 million opening weekend at the box office with acclaimed 'Top Gun' sequel

• "Top Gun: Maverick" is trending to become Tom Cruise's most successful movie.
• The acclaimed sequel generated $156 million over the Memorial Day weekend.

"Top Gun: Maverick" is on its way to becoming the biggest and most successful movie of Tom Cruise's 41-year career in Hollywood.

The movie was released in US and Canadian theaters on Friday, May 27, and smashed Memorial Day box office records with a $156 million domestic weekend opening, according to Los Angeles Times, and brought in a total estimated $252.7 million globally.

The acclaimed "Top Gun" sequel, an action drama, sees Cruise and costar Val Kilmer reprise their iconic roles as navy pilots Captain Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell and Admiral Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky.

The sequel picks up more than 30 years after the original left off, and focuses on an older Maverick whose career as an aviator is in question until he's grounded to train new Top Gun recruits for a top-secret mission.

"Maverick" was supposed to be released in July 2019, but was postponed to ensure complex action sequences could be shot properly. A surge in coronavirus cases also prevented the movie from being launched sooner, CNBC reported last year.

But the delay seems to have paid off — the opening weekend's financial success sees "Maverick" leapfrog "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" — the third film in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean franchise — as the best-selling Memorial Day movie launch.

"Maverick" surpassed expectations, the LA Times reported, as it was predicted to generate $130 million during the long weekend.

"These results are ridiculously over-the-top fantastic," Paramount president of domestic distribution Chris Aronson told the BBC. "I'm happy for everyone. I'm happy for the company, for Tom, for the filmmakers."

The film's ticket sales from Friday to Sunday alone generated $124 million, making it the first time Cruise has surpassed the $100 million barrier in an opening weekend, the BBC reported.

His previous most successful opening weekend was 17 years ago, when "War of the Worlds" collected $64 million at the box office, according to the BBC.

While Cruise brings significant star power to "Maverick," costar Kilmer also made a triumphant return to the film as Tom "Iceman" Kazansky.

62-year-old Kilmer, known for lines from the original film like "You can be my wingman any time," lost his voice from throat cancer in 2014 after going through several treatments, including a tracheotomy.

For "Maverick," Kilmer worked with tech firm Sonantic, which used AI technology and old recordings of Kilmer's voice to make it look as if he were speaking for real in the new film.