I guess this is happening after all. If you haven’t noticed, Tom Cruise made an interesting post on Twitter late last night, which you can see right here.
#Day1 pic.twitter.com/7jjPL277Es
— Tom Cruise (@TomCruise) May 31, 2018
Yep. Top Gun 2 has started production. The Hollywood Reporter summed up the details we already knew, but still worth reading as a refresher now that we know this is actually coming.
It will be directed by Joseph Kosinski (a director I really like for the record, check out his highly underrated Only The Brave from last year). Sure, he’s no Tony Scott, but at the very least, he can deliver the kind of spectacle that this film will need. All of Kosinski’s film are visually breathtaking, so I can’t wait to see what he does here.
No writers are mentioned in the Hollywood Reporter article, but IMDb currently lists Peter Craig, Justin Marks, and Eric Warren Singer (who also worked on Only The Brave) as the writers of Top Gun: Maverick.
Jerry Bruckheimer is, of course, returning as producer, working alongside the folks at Skydance, but my favorite thing about this is the return of composer, Harold Faltermeyer, who worked on a number of films from the 80s, most famously for Beverly Hills Cop.
Now, the big question is: what are they going to do in a Top Gun sequel? The story has been reported to be about modern warfare and drone technology making flying obsolete. Which…eh? I don’t know, tackling drone warfare seems like it is way too loaded of a subject matter for Top Gun 2 of all movies to handle. Because it is worth noting that Top Gun is not a great movie. It’s got its charms, a great soundtrack, stunning aerial photography, 80s cheese up the wazoo, which I all enjoy, but the story is simplistic at best and problematic at its worst, and I highly doubt they’re going to change things up for the sequel. If anything last year’s excellent American Made can be interpreted as a secretly subversive and delightfully cynical answer to Top Gun. I’m just worried about the movie’s angle here.
So, is it dead on arrival, could it maybe be a pleasant surprise? I’m very curious to see how it turns out. We’ll find out more soon enough, as more info will probably get released during the film’s production. We’ll keep you updated.
Top Gun: Maverick is slated to release on July 12, 2019.