Top Gun: Maverick has soared above its competition to become the biggest selling home entertainment movie in 2022, according to new figures.
The blockbuster action sequel, in which Tom Cruise reprises the role of US pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell nearly four decades since the original Top Gun, sold more than 1.2 million copies, the British Association for Screen Entertainment (BASE) has said.
Its return also reignited audiences’ interest in the 1986 original Top Gun, which became the most rented title in the past year with nearly 500,000 digital transactions.
Spider-Man: No Way Home, which saw the three actors who have played Peter Parker throughout the years – Andrew Garfield, Tobey Maguire and Tom Holland – unite for the first time ever, swung into second place behind Top Gun: Maverick with more than 900,000 sales.
It was followed by 2021’s Dune, which featured a star-studded cast including Timothee Chalamet.
The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne, came fourth and Ghostbusters: Afterlife, the long-awaited sequel to the 1984 supernatural comedy, placed fifth.
This comes as streaming services continue to grow in the UK with nearly 50 million subscriptions in 2022, up 6% on last year, according to BASE.
In the world of TV, the Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon ruled the charts after its release at Christmas.
Doctor Who also enjoyed success with three titles in the top 10, including the last series outing for Jodie Whittaker, which was subtitled Flux.
Cast members attends the House of Dragon premiere at Leicester Square Gardens in London (Ian West/PA) .
Liz Bales, chief executive of BASE, said: “UK Home Entertainment has evolved at an electrifying speed to meet the needs of savvy audiences.
“With so much choice available these days, film and TV lovers show us that what they are watching drives the way that they watch it.
“That said, a big Box Office number is still the greatest predictor of home entertainment success, so it was fantastic to see Top Gun: Maverick convert its outstanding cinema performance into the biggest sales of the year, and the original Top Gun (1986) movie had a huge result on rental, proving once again that audiences love nostalgia.”