Elvis or Top Gun: Maverick: Which film is king of the box office?

Austin Butler's Elvis and Miles Teller's Bradley Bradshaw in Top Gun went head-to-head for box office top billing over the weekend. Photos / Getty Images

Elvis has won its box-office dance-off with Top Gun: Maverick. After the two films reported the same ticket sales Sunday, Monday's final numbers has "Elvis," alone, as king of the weekend.

Elvis ultimately grossed $31.1 million (NZ$49.8 million) from Friday to Sunday, according to Warner Bros.′ final figures Monday. That's a touch above the $30.5 million (NZ$48.9 million) the studio forecast on Sunday. When film studios report box office on Sunday, they're able to fairly accurately predict Sunday's ticket sales.

Paramount Pictures, on the other hand, slightly overestimated how "Top Gun: Maverick" fared in its fifth weekend. After the studio reported the same $30.5 million for the "Top Gun" sequel on Sunday, the studio's final number came in at $29.6 million.

Tom Cruise reprised his role as Lt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell for Top Gun's 2022 version. Photos / Getty Images

Regardless, both films performed well. Baz Luhrmann's Elvis Presley biopic opened above expectations, and brought out large numbers of older moviegoers — a segment of the audience that's been slow to return to theaters during the pandemic.

"Top Gun: Maverick" continued to hold remarkably well, dipping a modest 34 per cent in its fifth weekend. Overall, the Joseph Kosinski-directed film starring Tom Cruise has earned about $1 billion worldwide, including more than $520 million domestically.