Box-Office Numbers for the Best Miles Teller Movies

"Top Gun: Maverick" won't be the last time you see rising young star Miles Teller.

Box-Office Numbers for the Best Miles Teller Movies

Miles Teller could be a big winner from "Top Gun: Maverick." The sequel to the 1986 blockbuster "Top Gun" was released on May 27, 2022, and set the Memorial Day weekend record with $176 million at the box office in the United States and Canada, bringing the worldwide box office total to $282 million in its first four days of release.

At the heart of "Top Gun: Maverick" and its success is star/producer Tom Cruise, who followed up his role as ace pilot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell in the original film. But Teller leads a cast of up-and-coming stars in the role of Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, the son of Maverick's late co-pilot, Goose, who was played by Anthony Edwards in the first film.

Teller steals the movie in several scenes and is never better than when he's paired with Cruise. While the role of Rooster may serve to be the breakout character of Teller's career, the young star has been putting in work as an actor for years. These are the top 10 Miles Teller movies and how much they made at the box office.

Warning: There are spoilers.

10. 21 & Over

Miles Teller and Skyler Astin in 21 & Over

Release date: March 1, 2013

Directors: Jon Lucas and Scott Moore

Budget: $13 million

Box office: $48.1 million

Bottom line: This was the first time Miles Teller landed on the radars of a lot of movie fans. "21 & Over" was the tail end of a series of "The Hangover"-inspired films that populated cinemas for several years.

Teller plays a lovable party boy/bro/kind-of-loser who ends up stealing many of his scenes opposite another up-and-coming star in Skyler Astin ("Pitch Perfect"). And most importantly, it shows Teller could be in a financially successful film — this made $48 million at the box office against a budget of just $13 million.

9. Rabbit Hole

Miles Teller and Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole

Release date: Dec. 17, 2010

Director: John Cameron Mitchell

Budget: $3 million

Box office: $5.1 million

Bottom line: This was the first film role for Miles Teller after a role on the short-lived television series "The Unusuals" in 2009.

Playing a teenager tormented by the death of a 4-year-old in an auto accident that wasn't his fault, Teller quickly shows he's up to the task of sharing the screen with film heavyweights as most of his key scenes are with Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman.

This kicked off what's proving to be a tried-and-true Teller tradition — actors opposite him reeling in accolades. In this case, Kidman was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.

8. The Spectacular Now

Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley in The Spectacular Now

Release date: Aug. 2, 2013

Director: James Ponsoldt

Budget: $2.5 million

Box office: $6.9 million

Bottom line: We were surprised to see the box-office earnings for "The Spectacular Now" came in at just under $7 million. Mainly because almost everyone we know under the age of 30 has seen this movie at this point.

This was one of the last films where Teller could believably play a teenager, which he did through his late 20s. Then, he transitioned into adult roles. It's also notable because his collaborations with Woodley have continued over the next decade. They went on to star in three films in the "Divergent" series, which grossed over $700 million at the box office. The two are set to star in the upcoming political satire "The Fence" as well.

Back to the point, Teller's Sutter Keeley is a pretty lovable dude in this film and continues his pattern of working with Oscar winners. Co-star Brie Larson won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in "Room" just two years later.

7. War Dogs

Release date: Aug. 19, 2016

Director: Todd Phillips

Budget: $50 million

Box office: $86.2 million

Bottom line: Miles Teller was no stranger to big-budget films thanks to his role in the tiresome "Divergent" franchise, but big-budget dramas were a new thing to his career when he popped into "War Dogs" from director Todd Phillips and opposite Jonah Hill in 2016.

"War Dogs" made almost $90 million at the box office and tells the true story of two young arms dealers who somehow secure a U.S. Army contract. In what will be an ongoing pattern throughout this list, Teller seems to bring out the best in those around him.

Hill was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for the film, and Phillips' next movie, "Joker," received 11 Academy Award nominations, including for Best Director, and made $1 billion at the box office.

6. Thank You for Your Service

Miles Teller in Thank You for Your Service

Release date: Oct. 27, 2017

Director: Jason Hall

Budget: $20 million

Box office: $10 million

Bottom line: This was the second of two movies released in back-to-back weeks starring Miles Teller in October 2017. "Thank You for Your Service" followed another heavy drama "Only the Brave," which debuted one week before. They also were two of Teller's better-received roles.

Teller is aces as a PTSD-traumatized war veteran, Adam Schumann, returning home to his wife and two small children following a nightmarish, 18-month combat tour in Iraq and the fallout that ensues.

This was a script that bounced around Hollywood in some weird ways. It was originally set to be directed by Steven Spielberg with Daniel Day-Lewis attached to star.

5. Too Old to Die Young

Release date: June 14, 2019

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn

Budget: Unknown

Box office: N/A

Bottom line: What's that you're saying? "Too Old to Die Young" isn't a movie?

Well, friends, it actually is. It's a 10-hour movie by "Drive" director Nicolas Winding Refn that just happened to air on Amazon Prime in the summer of 2019 — and even made its debut at the Cannes Film Festival that year.

This show was so twisted and different that Amazon Prime literally had no idea how to promote it, and the debate seemed to be more along the lines of if they should promote it. Be careful who you recommend this show to. We want to say just straight up that if they're not already a fan of Refn's work they're going to come away with some nightmares.

And who holds the whole thing up? It's Teller in the center as a corrupt Los Angeles cop who gets on the wrong side of some very bad cartel dudes, among other various, nefarious deeds. Again: It's not for everybody. But still brilliant.

4. Bleed for This

Miles Teller and Aaron Eckhart in Bleed for This

Release date: Nov. 18, 2016

Director: Ben Younger

Budget: $16 million

Box office: $7.2 million

Bottom line: Miles Teller isn't scared of going after a biopic here or there. In fact, from our count, four of the films in our Top 10 for him are based on true stories.

In "Bleed for This," Meller portrays former world champion boxer Vinny Pazienza. The film was a box-office flop but earned high praise for Teller's performance. Hopefully, the film's lack of financial success doesn't scare Teller away from making sports movies. He's a big-time Philly pro sports fan, and we can see him making a great sports flick if he gets his hand on another great script.

Also of note, it's his second time paired with Aaron Eckhart, who plays his trainer here and had one of the lead roles in Teller's 2009 film debut "Rabbit Hole" with Nicole Kidman.

3. Only the Brave

Release date: Oct. 20, 2017

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Budget: $38 million

Box office: $26.3 million

Bottom line: One interesting part of the backstory for "Top Gun: Maverick" is director Joseph Kosinski's ties to the film's two stars. He actually directed both Tom Cruise and Miles Teller in movies that were considered flops.

While Kosinski directed Cruise in the sci-fi flick "Oblivion," his turn directing Teller in the firefighter action-drama "Only the Brave" opposite Josh Brolin was much more well-received.

Our guess is these two will pair together for another movie in the future. The points in their careers with age and success are intersecting pretty perfectly.

2. Top Gun: Maverick

Release date: May 27, 2022

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Budget: $170 million

Box office: $282 million (through May 31, 2022)

Bottom line: "Top Gun: Maverick" was originally scheduled for release in July 2019 but delayed four times over the next three years because of reshoots, the pandemic and then star/producer Tom Cruise's refusal to give the film anything but a wide theatrical release.

Cruise knew what he had. The film blew expectations out of the water, making $176 million at the North American box office and $282 million worldwide on its opening weekend — a record for Memorial Day.

While the movie is a reinforcement of Cruise's star power, he doesn't do it on his own. Playing the second lead in the film is Teller, who filmed his role in 2018 and 2019 and gives the film its emotional centerpiece as the son of Cruise's best friend, Goose.

Spoiler alert: When Teller's character, Rooster, drops the line "Talk to me dad," in the film's third act, we predict you'll be crying.

1. Whiplash

Release date: Oct. 10, 2014

Director: Damien Chazelle

Budget: $3.3 million

Box office: $49 million

Bottom line: As we mentioned before, there's something about Miles Teller that brings out the best in everyone around him. No movie shows this more than "Whiplash," where he plays a young jazz drummer opposite J.K. Simmons, who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role. The film received five Academy Award nominations and won three Academy Awards in total.

Teller got little credit for the film's success. That was heaped on Simmons and director Damian Chazelle, who became the youngest winner of the Academy Award for Best Director for his next film, "La La Land," which received a record-tying 14 Oscar nominations.

That Teller didn't receive an Academy Award or Golden Globe nomination for "Whiplash" is a shame. We doubt it will be long before he ends up holding up a statue.