Time to put your Aviators back on because Tom Cruise just announced the official title for the Top Gun sequel. During an interview with Access Hollywood, the 54-year-old revealed that the upcoming sequel will be Top Gun: Maverick.
“Aviators are back, the need for speed,” Cruise said. “We’re going to have big, fast machines. It’s going to be a competition film, like the first one … but a progression for Maverick.”
Videos by PopCulture.com
Up Next: 10 Action Movies That Are A Pure Shot of Nostalgia
Before landing on the title of Top Gun: Maverick, the Oscar-nominated superstar explained that there were several options that he shot down. From the beginning, Cruise did not want the upcoming flick to be simply called Top Gun 2.
“I didn’t want a number,” he said. “You don’t need a number.”
At this time, the shooting and release dates have yet to be announced. The latest word surrounding the project is that Joseph Kosinski is the lead choice to direct the film. The director worked with Cruise previously on 2013 action drama Oblivion.
Tom Cruise revealed in May that the film was finally going to happen after years of speculation.
“It’s true. Yeah, it’s true,” Cruise said. “You know what, I’m probably going to start filming it within the next year. I know. It’s happening – It’s definitely happening.”
As for the plot of the sequel, Cruise has been tight-lipped about any details. However, Variety noted that the actor personally tapped his former co-star, Val Kilmer, to appear in the film.
“This latest project will be set in a world of drone technology and fifth generation fighters and explore the end of an era of dogfighting which made the original film so exhilarating,” the publication writes. “Other plot details are vague but Val Kilmer has gone on record that he was asked to come back to reprise the role of Iceman opposite Cruise’s Maverick.”
In case you never saw the original movie, check out the official synopsis for Tony Scott’s 1986 box office smash film Top Gun provided by Rotten Tomatoes below:
Devil-may-care navy pilot Pete Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is sent to Miramar Naval Air Station for advanced training. Here he vies with Tom Kasansky (Val Kilmer) for the coveted “Top Gun” award. When not so occupied, Mitchell carries on a romance with civilian consultant Charlotte Blackwood (Kelly McGillis). Shaken up by the death of a friend, Mitchell loses the Top Gun honor to Kasansky. Worried that he may have lost his nerve, Mitchell is given a chance to redeem himself during a tense international crisis involving a crippled US vessel and a flock of predatory enemy planes. The story wasn’t new in 1986, but Top Gun scored with audiences on the strength of its visuals, especially the vertigo-inducing aerial sequences. The film made more money than any other film in 1986 and even spawned a 1989 takeoff, Hot Shots. An Academy Award went to the Giogio Moroder-Tom Whitlock song “Take My Breath Away.”
Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures
