Paramount Chief Brian Robbins on the Blockbuster Success of ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ and ‘Getting Close to the Starting Line’ With ‘Star Trek’

variety.com:

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaParamount has been on a sizzling run.All five of its 2022 releases, a crop that includes “Scream,” “Jackass Forever,” “The Lost City” and “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” opened in first place at the domestic box office, with “Top Gun: Maverick” outpacing them all.

The sequel to the beloved Tom Cruise film has scored with critics and audiences alike. “Top Gun: Maverick” has currently grossed a massive $557.2 million globally and shows few signs of slowing down soon.Brian Robbins, who took over as head of the film studio in September, says its recent track record reaffirms the value of releasing blockbuster movies in theaters before debuting them on streaming or home entertainment.

And he argues that the box office performance is partly due to a new approach that has seen the studio become more collaborative with corporate cousins such as CBS, MTV and Nickelodeon. Why was “Top Gun: Maverick” successful? I’d be lying if I said we knew that “Top Gun” was going to open to $160 million and break all the records that it did.

There was a lot of pent-up nostalgia for this movie, but our team was also able to do what a lot of people didn’t think we’d be able to do, which is bring the under-35 audience to this movie.How did you attract younger moviegoers, many of whom weren’t even born when “Top Gun” opened? We had a tremendous digital campaign that excited younger audiences, and we had a young cast led by Miles Teller.