'Top Gun: Maverick' Starts Streaming This Week

By Stephen Andrew

Top Gun: Maverick, one of the biggest movies of the years, starts streaming this week, just ahead of Christmas. On Thursday, Paramount+ subscribers will find a little holiday gift on the streamer, as the Tom Cruise-led action film will be available to start watching on Dec. 22. Those interested in trying out a free trial of Paramount+ can do so by clicking here.

Top Gun: Maverick is a sequel to the 1986 action film Top Gun, in which Cruise played Air Force fighter pilot LT Pete "Maverick" Mitchell. The film sees Cruise reprising his role from the original film, as well as his Top Gun co-star Val Kilmer who plays Tom "Iceman" Kazansky. In addition to Cruise and Kilmer, the cast also features Jon Hamm, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Glen Powell, and Ed Harris. Notably, former Top Gun stars such as Kelly McGillis, Tom Skerritt, Meg Ryan, and Tim Robbins do not reprise their roles from the original film.

Top Gun: Maverick is one of the most successful movies of 2022, and has been widely praised by critics and fans alike. If you ask cast member Danny Ramirez, who plays LT Mickey "Fanboy" Garcia, a lot of the credit for why the film is such a success is due to the transparency and "exceptional culture" that Cruise cultivated while filming. Speaking to PopCulture.com in support of the film's digital release — alongside fellow cast member Greg Tarzan Davis — Ramirez spoke highly and candidly of the example that Cruise set for the rest of the cast.

"There was personal pressure to perform and also the cost of it," Rameriz said, then going on to share how Cruise put the rest of the cast at ease during filming. "The most beautiful thing was the first time that Tom actually went up and he shared the footage because everything was so transparent. He was like, 'Oh OK, well I messed that up. That doesn't work. That doesn't work.'" The actor explained, "He wanted to show us his mistakes every single time in order to take away the negative pressure to do something, but rather being like, 'There's going to be errors in this. It's not a perfect process.'"

Ramirez went on to say, "So everyone was also open about their errors in regards to there's one time that my mask was inside or out. Then it's knowing that because the next time it's like, 'OK because we've now understood that that happens,' so it was always a foundation to build on." He then added, "I've kept saying this because the more football season comes around, the more I think about establishing a culture within an organization and Tom really set an exceptional culture. I think we're all so tight friends still because I think the way that experience happened was organic, but also set in such a positive growth mindset is a place that is... Yeah. It's beautiful. I love it. I loved the entire experience."

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