National Cinema Day proved a huge success for re-releases. The weekend started slow with just under 1 million people attending the theater, mostly likely waiting for the deal to come. On Saturday, 8.1 million people took to the theater to celebrate $3 tickets.

Top Gun: Maverick sits just behind it with $7.9M, shooting the Tom Cruise action-flick over $700 million domestically. It is now the fifth highest grossing film in North America.

Spider-Man: No Way Home: The More Fun Stuff Version also swept with $6.5M, but was not enough to take Cruise down.

National Cinema Day fueled movies in the top 10 to see 100%-257% Friday-to-Saturday surges, and in the case of the Jerry Bruckheimer produced Top Gun: Maverick, it was +139% on Saturday, with $2.6M.

Saturday’s Box Office for all movies stood around $24.3M, and the entire weekend is predicted to round out at $53.5M.

The vampire horror flick The Invitation at no. 5 with $6.1M and the Jaws re-release saw success with $3.3M.

“The success of National Cinema Day was measured in patron count this past weekend. It was about bringing back audiences who were still concerned about the return to the theater, and for rewarding loyal moviegoers. Arguably, this is the first time there was a push for moviegoing as opposed to seeing a particular movie. Collectively, the industry succeeded,” said EntTelligence Chief Strategy Officer Steve Buck.

Cash-strapped Regal Cinemas saw packed theaters as well, bringing hope to failing cinemas.

THANK YOU FOR CELEBRATING MOVIES WITH US YESTERDAY!! #NationalCinemaDay

Part of the theatre experience is being able to enjoy a movie on the big screen with other amazing movie-goers. We have some great movies coming to us and we can’t wait to see you all back soon! pic.twitter.com/MDaNChTSfi

— Regal (@RegalMovies) September 4, 2022

1. Top Gun: Maverick $7.9M ($701M)

2. Bullet Train $7.5M ($88M)

3. DC’s League of Super-Pets $6.8M ($82M)

4. Spider-Man: No Way Home: The More Fun Stuff $6.5M ($6.5M)

5. The Invitation $6.1M ($15.1M)

6. Beast at $5M ($26.8M)

7. Minions at $4.6M ($360M)

8. Thor: Love and Thunder at $3.4M ($340M)

9. The Jaws Imax re-release made $3.3M ($3.3M)

10. Where the Crawdads Sing rounds out the top ten with $2.8M ($85.8M)

Updated