«Top Gun: Maverick» hits theaters this weekend, marking the return of one of the biggest movie stars of the 1980s and 1990s.
We’re not talking about Tom Cruise. Val Kilmer returns to the screen to reprise his role as Tom «Iceman» Kazansky in the long-awaited sequel to the 1986 blockbuster. Although Cruise is the marquee star of «Top Gun: Maverick», Kilmer has a notable role, but some younger moviegoers may not realize just how big of a star he once was. Kilmer’s films have made a huge amount of money over his long career — nearly $2 billion at the global box office, according to Comscore (SCOR). (Cruise has racked up more than $10 billion at the worldwide box office.) Kilmer, like Cruise, became a major star in «Top Gun», playing «Iceman», the cocky but cool rival to Cruise’s Pete «Maverick» Mitchell.
