THB #166: Tommy's Guns

Top Gun Maverick is still getting overhyped.

But at the same time, the overhype is working.

The energy around the film has not only equaled what has long been the “first weekend of the summer,” but Paramount and Cruise’s aggressive approach to being old school has, effectively, activate a first-of-summer excitement for a generation of people who are not now and were not pre-pandemic frequent moviegoers.

In other words… old people are going to the movies. (Well… middle-aged people.)

It will be interesting to see how this plays out against some real competition coming, starting next week. But for now, there is nothing but pride to be taken from this experience for those involved.

It’s still way overhyped. But that, I believe, is the secret sauce for all of this.

It’s a little bit of the Jurassic Park pitch from 1993, a bit of The Phantom Menace from 1999, and a touch of Star Wars: The Force Awakens from 2015.

“You’re gonna see something you’ve never seen, your beloved old franchise is back …