Six years ago it looked like Tom Cruise’s career was on the downturn. A few PR missteps and the underperformance of Mission: Impossible 3 at the US box office ($135 million) led to his production deal at Paramount Pictures being scrapped – after a very public ticking off from the Viacom’s head honcho Sumner Redstone. The star’s seven film, $100 million-plus streak, was foiled when Robert Redford’s political drama Lions For Lambs scored just $15 million, and then Valkyrie and Knight and Day both failed to hit the magic $100 million mark at the domestic box office. Naysayers were spreading the word that Cruise’s twenty-five year reign at the top of the Hollywood food chain had finally come to an end.
Then Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol opened in December and scored a massive $209 million at the US box office, and an amazing $693 million globally – a franchise and career best for Cruise. Suddenly Cruise was hot again-red hot. He’s already got the potential franchise starter One Shot (or maybe it’s called Reacher) in the can, as well as sci-fi actioner Oblivion (not to mention the musical Rock of Ages) on the way. Top Gun 2 has been in active development for the last few years, but now it looks like it’s going to leapfrog Mission: Impossible 5 and come to the top of Cruise’s “to do” list.
Paramount’s Head of Production, Adam Goodman spoke to The Hollywood Reporter and stated the sequel to the jetfighter film will likely go into production before the next Ethan Hunt adventure:
“We’ll likely make a Top Gun sequel with Tom Cruise first. Jerry Bruckheimer would produce, with Tony Scott returning to direct. All parties are moving ahead. We’ve hired Peter Craig to write the script.”
After Mission: Impossible 3 there were rumors that Cruise was going to be phased out of the franchise to make way for fresher, younger blood, and the casting of Jeremy Renner in the fourth installment seemed to back-up that point, but the ‘bofo’ box office of Ghost Protocol highlights that audiences will still flock to see Cruise take part in impossible missions.
Ultimately, it’s good that Bruckheimer and Scott are involved in Top Gun 2. Bruckheimer has been riding the wave of franchise films since the first Pirates of the Caribbean set sail in 2003 , while Scott’s last film was the middle-of-the-road Unstoppable. The last time Cruise worked with Bruckheimer and Scott was with 1991’s Days Of Thunder, that film was a critical and commercial disappointment grossing ‘just’ $82 million domestically and $152 million worldwide – a small change when compared to the $176 million that Top Gun grossed (with a further $177 million abroad).
It remains to be seen if Top Gun 2 will recapture the box office success of the 1986 film, but with the trio of Cruise, Scott and Bruckheimer involved it has a good chance of being a hit. Let’s just hope that they give Val Kilmer a call.
Source: THR
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Will Val Kilmer be able to fit in the cockpit these days…
lol, i doubt he will want to work with Cruise anyway
haha, was thinking the same thing. Kilmer has really let himself go as of late.
It would be fun though to get as many of the original cast as possible.
sey it a bout time it was back
“while Scott’s last film was the relatively below-par The Taking of Pelham 123.”
Scotts last film i believe was Unstoppable with denzel washington and chris pine, and that got good reviews if i recall.
I enjoyed unstoppable
unstoppable was a very well-delivered story. they took something old and made it original and gripping, which is hard to do with today’s film industry. but honestly, i kind of liked taking of pelham 123. i mean, i know it was also a remake and received mixed-to-low reviews, but i thought it was a good one-time flick. john travolta’s always fun to watch, in my opinion.
Can’t believe anyone would even condider continuing this bad idea.
The people that Top Gun appealled to back then have all moved on and grown up.
Just talk for yourself. At the age of 36 I’m totally itching for a new movie that is all about flying. A new Top Gun with modern day aircraft like the F-22 would be fantastic, hopefully with more aircraft action and less romantic drama this time around.
just hacked into the sam h web site and complying with medication got my watch back hoping to do top gun 2 with the wife to be so my daughters beleive in me more god let me join the forces please so i,m not a dissapointment in the future. cat watch die hard dont listing to billy connely.
No im 21 and would love to see Top Gun 2…this is what I have been waiting for! Plus any movie that tom cruise does is awesome
as long as Tom Cruise doesn’t sing in Top Gun ll ,I’ll watch it ,no
more wooing for Tom Cruise atv a bar unless it’s absolutely part of
the script like in Cocktails,every time he starts serenading women
he starts to sing, we need more Tom Cruise action guy not romantic
guy,leave the romance stuff off the screen unless you really need it.
And who would had thought Mission :Impossible would be like it is,
does anyone remember the tv series at all ? It was one of the top tv
shows of all time.
It’s been many years since I saw the first one, but if I remember right…Wasn’t it actually more of a chick flick with some action scenes thrown in to keep the guys awake? I’m guessing this version will probably have less romance and more CG action so it will bring in the 16 to 35 crowd…..
tell that to all those guy who entered the navy in the 80′s….
“top gun” was the navy sole advertiser for decades.
I’d rather see Mission: Impossible 5 come out in summer 2014 than a delayed Top Gun sequel…
As long as MI5 is a guarantee I’m ok with A Top Gun sequel arriving 1st.
I know this phrase has been used over and over but if they “do it right” I can’t think of a reason why Top Gun 2 can’t be a fun action romp.
Maybe bring Chris Hemsworrh on as the new young cocky pilot and go from there.
I’m usually a bit negative in my response to sequels to my favorite movies, but I’d give Top Gun 2 a chance. It had the potential of a sequel. Maverick’s story was far from over, it seemed.
“i love” how you were all over m:i 3,valkyrie and knight and day failed to hit at the US box office but you failed to say that they were all huge hits overseas and overall big hits worldwide.
also Days Of Thunder was a critical and commercial disappointment?? are you serious??film that earned 166 mill(not 152 mill) in 1990. on 50 mill $ budget was a disappointment?
What Niall wrote is actually quite accurate. Even though M:I 3, Valkyrie and Knight and Day did gross a fair amount of money worldwide, all three were considering under-performers – as far as movies headlined by Cruise goes – and led to a lot of speculation around Hollywood that his A-list status was starting to diminish (before M:I 4 was released, that is).
Similarly, since we’re splitting hairs: Days of Thunder (which, according to Box Office Mojo, did NOT gross $166 million, like you claim) made less than half what Top Gun did, and was not a critical hit. Considering that it marked the reunion of the duo that helped make Top Gun so lucrative (ie. Scott and Cruise), it easily qualifies as a “disappointment.”
Kure, exactly! Screenrant is filled with HATRED and has a different agenda.
Valkyrie 200m, KnD 250m+. Screenrant are BIGOTS!!!!!! Cheap writers and biased mentality. Disgusting.
Why on Earth are you bothering to comment on an article for a news/editorial site that you think is “disgusting” – other than, you’re interested in stirring up trouble just for the heck of it?
There are plenty of other movie news sites out there. If you *really* find our writing style so offensive, then just stop reading our articles, plain and simple.
Nialle Browne is a bigot and has personal hate issues that should be addressed instead of writing these biased articles filled with his-her delusional nonsense.
See: my above comment to Tori. That’s assuming you and Tori aren’t the same person which, judging by the close proximity of your comments, I suspect you are.
Tori and “FreeAdvice” are either the same person or are two different people commenting from the same computer.
Banhammer has been dropped.
Vic
Vic you are the man. Sandy you rock too. Love this site
Finally !
“Thats right Ice…Man, I am Dangerous. Bite(Snap).” HaHaHaHa. Ahhh, the stupidous part of the movie, but I love it. I’m ready. I just hope they bring back song of the songs off the soundtrack. Danger Zone, Mighty Winds, The Rightous Bros. Song (forgot the name of it). And lets not forget, The Theme Song. Great guitar solo. I remember the Theme Song even had it’s own video on MTV back in the day. Just some guy shredding on guitar. Those we’re the days. I miss em.
Look. Ok for me you making. Movie top gun 2 what about mi5 is that great movie i love mi5 better. Ok. You will busy that movie. Love you tom.
I say Val Kilmer makes a cameo if anything. He used to be so cool, why has he let himself go so much?
Screen Rant is not filled with hate, and it has no agenda other than to deliver first rate movie news.
I am not a Tom Cruise “hater”. Check the amount of Cruise stories that I have written over the years for Screen Rant. They are all positive.
@ Kure, Tori, FreeAdvice
If you notice the reference to Days of Thunder says “just” in quotation marks – that shows that I believe that it is still serious money. I talk about naysayers at the beginning of the article. Again, I am not one of them. Go back and check my Box Office Wrap Ups about Knight and Day – see what I say.
I personally believe that this is an unbiased article. Do I say that Cruise had a rough time over the last few years? Yes, that is on public record. Do I say that he has come back and has had a career best box office gross with M:I4? Yes. Do I say that his star still shines bright? Not directly – but I strongly imply it.
“Nialle Browne is a bigot and has personal hate issues that should be addressed instead of writing these biased articles filled with his-her delusional nonsense.”
The only thing that I will address about the above comment is that I’m a man – Niall Browne. The rest, I won’t dignify with a response.
Niall
MI4 was great and (please don’t bash me), I have never seen Top Gun.
So IMO, I’d rather see another MI movie first.
I don’t think a Top Gun sequel will do that well! MI5
are you kidding me. i know we all know by now that nothing is sacred in hollywood.. but come on.
Top Gun 2? isn’t Tom Cruise too old to fly fighter jet planes?
No 80′s music, no russians , no iceman, NO GOOD.
I loved the 1st Top Gun, I was 14 when it came out and biked my way to see it about 5 times. Now that Im in my 40s I think this is wonderful news! There are Top Gun fans everywhere and with the original ditector and main star coming back this should be a blast! I heard Val Kilmer is interested in returning! Cant wait!
me too i loved top gun i am a big fan of top gun i have all of tom cruises movies
Military aviation technology has dramatically advanced since Top Gun came out, so the script might have to call for completely different kinds of flying/action scenes, especially if Top Gun 2 were to feature the F-35. As a stealth fighter with sophisticated sensors and situational awareness, no enemy plane would get close enough to engage with the F-35. The F-35 would detect it and fire air-to-air missiles to destroy it from beyond visual sight, and the enemy plane wouldn’t know it was even being targeted or that the F-35 is within range.
F-35 JSF (Lockheed Martin) is on STRIKE!
Hopefully Everyone respects the picket line!
Cruise and Kilmer were great together and I truly hope that Val is called to play his role! Amazing film, amazing actors and wonderful writing, producing and story line in “Top Gun” and I would not expect any less from theese brilliant people!!!
Hope this film is released soon!!!! A huge thank you to all involved !
How do I get in on this movie as a pilot….,!?
Scott is a bad director. Top Gun and Days of Thunder were almost the same movie. Unstoppable and the Taking of Pelham 123 were not good, despite decent performances from the cast, mostly due to shoddy directing. Like the scenes in the latter where the police are driving down the street and nothing is happening but- oh my- the camera is shaking all over the place and rapidly zooming in and out and rock music is blaring oh!! it’s so exciting!! (not) Jerry Bruckheimer is a fair producer but his movies are turds at least 2/3rds of the time.
First Top Gun was very overrated but, hey, it was the 80s.
val kilmar will work with tom cruise because at the end of the first movie he said you can be my wing man anytime the mavrick said bulls*** you can be mine