How long is maverick in cinemas for?

Hitting cinemas for Memorial Day's kickoff of summer, Top Gun: Maverick rode a wave of glowing reviews and a surge of summer moviegoing to rack up nearly $1.5 billion at the box office worldwide. It's this year's top-grossing movie, and it's the only film in history to be No. 1 at the box office on Memorial Day weekend at the start of summer and on Labor Day weekend at the end of it.

But five months since its release, it still hasn't landed on a streaming service. 

Can I watch Top Gun: Maverick at home? 

Yes, but it isn't available to stream with a subscription yet. 

Top Gun: Maverick has been available in online stores like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV and Vudu since late August, and it became available to buy on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on Tuesday.  

What service will stream it first? 

Top Gun: Maverick will become available to stream as part of a subscription on Paramount Plus first. The movie is distributed by Paramount Pictures, which is owned by the same parent company as Paramount Plus.  

When will Top Gun: Maverick start streaming?

Paramount hasn't set a streaming release date for the Top Gun sequel yet, but you may be waiting as late as December.

For the past three months, Paramount executives have repeated a refrain that Top Gun: Maverick will start streaming before the end of the year. Paramount Pictures CEO Brian Robbins, for example, said in August that Top Gun: Maverick will "end up on Paramount Plus this year" -- but only after the "home entertainment window" has played out. With DVD and other physical formats only just becoming available to buy Tuesday, that potentially sets Top Gun: Maverick on a course to reach Paramount Plus, at the very earliest, in mid-November. 

In September, Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish said the company's fourth quarter would be "capped" by Maverick hitting Paramount Plus, suggesting the streaming release date may be close to the end of the year. And as recently as Wednesday, executives kept referring to Maverick as arriving on Paramount Plus "later in the year" without specifying any date. 

For past live-action movies, Paramount has tended to give them at least 45 days exclusively in theaters before making them available to stream on Paramount Plus. If Top Gun: Maverick had followed that 45-day timeline, it would've become available to stream on July 18, the day after it completed its 45th day in cinemas. Most other Paramount movies -- February's Jackass Forever, March's The Lost City and April's Sonic the Hedgehog 2 -- all hit Paramount Plus on the 46th day after reaching theaters. 

Wednesday, Paramount said that Smile, its low-budget horror movie that's been a sleeper hit, would follow the same 45-day strategy, suggesting it would become available to stream on Paramount Plus on or around Tuesday. 

But Paramount doesn't make films available to stream like clockwork. Scream, which hit theaters late last year, took roughly a week longer, at about 53 days. 

Most importantly for Top Gun: Maverick, Paramount has long indicated it wanted to keep the film in theaters longer than those other films. "There are certain movies that are really made for the theatrical experience. Top Gun is a great example of that," CFO Naveen Chopra said at an investor conference in May before it hit cinemas. "You should see that movie in a theater, and it will stay in the theater for a longer period of time." 

Now that home-viewing options have become available, Paramount will be keeping the film off Paramount Plus until those types of sales have run their course. 

Will it be 'free' to stream? 

Paramount Plus requires a paid subscription, so nothing on the service is free -- unless you watch it while you're signed up on a free trial. Paramount Plus offers a seven-day free trial standard for all new members. Otherwise, it offers a subscription supported by ads for $5 a month and an ad-free tier for $10 a month. 

So long as you have a subscription, you aren't likely to be charged anything extra to stream Top Gun: Maverick. Paramount Plus has never charged an additional fee to watch a movie on its service. And even though it has two different tiers, it has never "paywalled" a movie behind the higher-priced membership level. 

A mere 36 years after the original, Top Gun is back, and better than ever. In this high-flying, fist-pumping sequel, we find top Navy aviator Maverick (Tom Cruise) pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot. As destiny would have it, he gets called upon to return to the Top Gun academy to lead the graduates in an especially dangerous mission. There, he encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), aka “Rooster,” the son of Maverick’s late friend Goose. While confronting the ghosts (and old flames) of his past, Maverick must face his deepest fears, and lead the team to victory.

“Joyous … it’s impossible not to get swept up”

— Empire

“Thrilling, moving and gloriously Cruisey. Unquestionably the best studio action film in years”

— The Telegraph UK

“Miraculous. You never forget why you show up to a Tom Cruise movie”

— RogerEbert.com

“The new film improves on the old one in every respect”

— BBC

The Mission Impossible franchise has proven Tom Cruise as one of the best action heroes in the business. Think of him what you will as a person, his dedication to his craft is undeniable, and on full, glorious display here. Receiving rave reviews from some of the world’s top critics, and winning over audiences worldwide, this is one of the biggest and best action films in years. Enjoy the ride.

YOKOHAMA, JAPAN - MAY 24: Actor Tom Cruise and Producer Jerry Bruckheimer pose on the red carpet for the Japan Premiere of "Top Gun: Maverick" at Osanbashi Yokohama on May 24, 2022 in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. (Photo by Christopher Jue/Getty Images For Paramount Pictures)