'Top Gun' is set to break Memorial Day box office record

The Tom Cruise-led sequel, which saw its theatrical debut delayed several times due to COVID- 19, is expected to pull in more than $100 million domestically over the holiday stretch.

According to Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at Box Office Pro, told Yahoo Finance that even the most conservative numbers for 'Top Gun' just don't feel like they're enough. This feels like a 'welcome back to the movies' type of experience. Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, released in 2007, currently holds the Memorial Day weekend record by earning $114.7 million and $139.8 million over its three-day and four-day openings, based on official numbers.

Robbins predicted that the film would be Cruise's first $100 million opener of his decades-spanning career and even go pretty much further. Cruise's biggest domestic opener was 2005's War of the Worlds, which garnered $64.8 million at the box office over an extended July 4 weekend.

Robbins thinks the sequel has the potential to sway adult women both domestically and internationally, especially with Cruise at the helm, despite Maverick relying on a majority male audience.

The buzz around Maverick'' is kind of insane, Robbins said. I think we're going to see a new record on Memorial Day, given the strong reviews 97% on Rotten Tomatoes and positive online chatter.

He stated that it's hard to find any downside here, although he did note that the film's strong ties to the 1986 original could be a potential risk. It's a question about how much appeal there will be for this movie, especially for people who didn't grow up seeing it. That will be the biggest and probably most significant test. Robbins said Maverick will give more insight when it comes to the key older demographic, which has been slow to return to theaters due to the Pandemic.

He said that Generation X is a blockbuster that people have been looking forward to for decades. Its performance will tell us a lot about where that stagnant audience has been in terms of coming back to the theaters this summer. Maverick is the widest theatrical launch in history, at 4,732 locations. That's higher than the previous opening weekend record of 4,725 locations by The Lion King remake in 2019 according to Box Office Pro data.

Maverick, which follows the super-successful Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, will lead to a heavy slate of hot summer titles, including Jurassic World: Dominion, Lightyear, Minions: The Rise of Gru, and Thor: Love and Thunder. A lot of these movies, pending word of mouth, have the ability to really bring back some of the moviegoing that we haven't seen since 2019, and that feels like a normal summer movie going, Robbins said. Alexandra is a Senior Entertainment and Food Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter alliecanal 8193 or email her at alexandra.canalyahoofinance.com