Ryan Reynolds‘ new movie is already ruling the streaming charts shortly after its debut. The movie pays homage in various ways to Top Gun, which has been a favorite of Reynolds since he was a young man growing up in Canada.
Ryan Reynolds’ Mayday is Apple TV’s biggest movie right now
Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh’s action comedy movie Mayday holds the top spot on Apple TV’s movie charts both in the US and worldwide, as of September 7, 2026, according to FlixPatrol. Other entries in the US charts are Troy; The Dink; F1; Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World; I, Robot; Superbad; War of the Worlds; Forgetting Sarah Marshall; and The Gorge.
Several of these movies also feature on the worldwide charts, but their rankings are different. Notably, the data from FlixPatrol isn’t necessarily complete. However, it does give a broader picture.
John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (Vacation, Game Night) wrote and directed Mayday. Its plot revolves around Reynolds’ Troy “Assassin” Kelly, a US Navy pilot who ends up behind enemy lines during the height of the Cold War. He finds an unlikely ally in Branagh as Nikolai Ustinov, a former KGB operative who loves American pop culture.
Since its debut on Apple TV on September 4, 2026, Mayday has performed as well with professional critics as it has with Apple TV viewership. It currently has an approval rating of 81% on Rotten Tomatoes. Matt Goldberg of TheWrap shared in a review, “The new Daley & Goldstein isn’t the most narratively audacious movie, but it’s a strong reminder that even a streaming comedy can look as good as any blockbuster.”
Further, Reynolds pointed out one of the many parallels between Mayday and Top Gun during an interview. He noted that growing up, “everything about America was just a little shinier, bigger, cooler, faster. And that movie [Top Gun] was really the personification of that feeling for me” (USA Today).
