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Who knew when the year began that a sequel to a 36-year-old movie starring its 60-year-old actor who headlined the original would be the box office champ so far this year? But “Top Gun: Maverick” starring Tom Cruise, which was released Aug. 23 on digital formats while still flying high in theaters is not only the No. 1 film of the year with a staggering haul of 683.4 million domestically and 720 million overseas. And the acclaimed film didn’t even play in China or Russia. “Top Gun: Maverick” is also the biggest film of Cruise’s career which began in 1981 with Franco Zeffirelli’s “Endless Love.”

And with the digital release, let’s relive 1986, the year we first felt the need for speed and flew into the danger zone. The year the original “Top Gun” took our breath away.

Top 10 Box Office Hits

Top Gun (natch)

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The Karate Kid Part...

Zap2it: What are you performing on PBS' New Year's Eve special, "Live From Lincoln Center - One Singular Sensation: Celebrating Marvin Hamlisch"?

Joshua Bell: It looks like I am going to perform the last piece, the only piece I have ever done with Marvin Hamlisch since it is going to be a tribute to him. We did an arrangement of "I'll Take Manhattan," and it looks like I will perform an arrangement of that, and it will be a fun surprise, and hopefully it will be a fun evening as well as bittersweet that Marvin passed away way too suddenly.

Zap2it: Haven't you spent New Year's Eve at Lincoln Center performing before?

Joshua Bell: I did once with Lorin Maazel, a few years ago ... [the years] go by so fast now.

I've done a lot of "Live From Lincoln Center." It will be fun to be in my...

Happy Monday, Boys & Girls. Time for a thrilling post-Oscars installment of The Firewall & Iceberg Podcast.   In this week's installment, Sepinwall and I discuss the Oscars and then review NBC's "Awake," Ovation's "I'll Take Manhattan" and ABC's "Gcb." We also answer a pile of mail.   It's a full show!   Here's the breakdown:  The Oscars (00:00:40 - 00:19:15) "Awake" (00:19:15 - 00:35:15) "I'll Take Manhattan" (00:36:50 - 00:45:00) "Gcb" (00:45:10 - 00:53:45) Listener Mail - What caused NBC's plight (00:54:00 - 01:03:10) Listener Mail - "Top Chef" this season (01:03:10 - 01:08:55) Listener Mail - Why do networks...

Dan and I are a little punchy at the start of this Firewall & Iceberg Podcast, thanks to lots of time last night spent watching and writing about the Academy Awards. We talk about Billy Crystal a bit, then move on to reviews of NBC's parallel worlds cop drama "Awake," ABC's Texas soap opera "Gcb," Ovation's TV-movie "We'll Take Manhattan," and letters about the sorry state of NBC (a podcast perennial!), the current season of "Top Chef" and the strategy behind mid-season premieres. The line-up:  The Oscars (00:00:40 - 00:19:15) "Awake" (00:19:15 - 00:35:15) "I'll Take Manhattan" (00:36:50 - 00:45:00) "Gcb" (00:45:10 - 00:53:45) Listener Mail - What...

The Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark has some production kinks to address, according to the New York Post. The Post's Michael Riedel attended a preview performance and was confused by the plot and bored by the music. The performance also had problems with the stuntwork, with actors stuck dangling over the audience on wires. The performance lasted close to three and a half hours.

As the character (Arachne), played by actress Natalie Mendoza, finished her big number "Rise Above" while suspended over the crowd, an apparent wire malfunction left her stopped in midair -- where she remained for an embarrassing seven or eight minutes as stagehands worked feverishly to figure out the problem.

The stage manager finally said over the loudspeaker, "Give it up for Natalie Mendoza, who's hanging in the air!"

The show had to be stopped four times in the first act alone for various snags.

[1] Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark had its first preview performance on Broadway Sunday night. So how did Tony Award-winning director Julie Taymor's (Titus, Frida, Across the Universe) $65 million big stage comic adaptation hold up? Find out after the jump. Disclaimer: It should be noted that a preview performance is not final, much like a test screening of a feature film. The performers are basically putting on a dress rehearsal, and the director uses the audience to tweak and make changes before opening night. The show proper is set to open in January 11th 2011, giving them six weeks to get it right. Thus, please do not take these reader reviews as an accurate representation of the final stage performance. The consensus is that it is a visually stunning with major story issues and lackluster music, but still shows potential. New York Times [2]: The show stopped five times, mostly to fix technical problems,...