Paramount Global says its summer blockbuster “Top Gun: Maverick” will officially debut on its flagship streaming service Paramount Plus in December.
In a press release on Tuesday, Paramount officials said the movie will be free to stream with a subscription to Paramount Plus on Thursday, December 22, with the film available in the United States, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Latin America, with streamers in France and South Korea getting access to the film in early 2023.
The movie will also debut on Paramount and Comcast’s joint venture, SkyShowtime, on December 22 in countries where that service is available.
In September, The Desk reported that Paramount executives wanted “Top Gun: Maverick” to land on Paramount Plus by the end of the year, and Tuesday’s announcement confirms that the company is moving ahead with those plans.
“In the first week [of the movie’s release], it’s already the biggest home entertainment video we’ve ever had,” Brian Robbins, the head of Paramount Pictures, said at an investor conference.
The film serves as a sequel to the 1986 action-comedy and sees Tom Cruise reprise his Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, a pilot for the U.S. Navy (except, in the sequel, Mitchell is now a Captain). On Wednesday, entertainment trade publications reported the sequel surpassed Disney’s 2018 movie “Black Panther” to become the fifth highest-grossing theatrical film in North America of all time, raking in over $701.2 million in the domestic box office since its debut.
Robbins said the film’s success proved there’s still an appetite among consumers to experience a movie inside a theater, despite the wide availability of premium films on streaming services like Paramount Plus.
But not everyone wants to pay more than $20 to sit and watch a movie in a room full of strangers. For those fans, Robbins promised “Top Gun: Maverick” would debut on Paramount Plus later this year. At the time of his comments, Paramount had not set a specific date for its release in the United States.
In October, Paramount officials said “Top Gun: Maverick” would debut in the United Kingdom and Ireland in time for the Christmas holiday. The debut date, December 22, has now been extended to the United States and other territories.
Paramount Plus costs $5 a month for access to a wide variety of Paramount content, including shows and movies from CBS, Paramount Pictures, MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, BET, Smithsonian Channel and other Paramount brands. A commercial-free tier that removes ads from most on-demand content costs $10 a month. Walmart Plus subscribers and some T-Mobile customers get the commercial-supported tier of service for free.
