Brian Robbins, President and CEO of Paramount Pictures, describes the likelihood of a Top Gun 3 movie happening. For many, including Robbins, the biggest surprise of the year has been the magnitude of Top Gun: Maverick’s success, particularly because it came out so long after the original film. It has been 36 years since Tony Scott’s Top Gun released, but despite the long delay, there is still clearly a taste for high-octane aerial action.
This is best displayed by the fact that Top Gun: Maverick has completely exceeded expectations at the box office. Currently, the movie has grossed a total of $308 million domestically and $569 million globally, making it star Tom Cruise’s biggest movie in the US and putting it well on track to become his best earner ever. The financial success is matched by Top Gun: Maverick’s incredible review scores, with a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 78 on Metacritic, and most critics seem agree that it packs its punches in not only the thrilling action sequences, but in its more emotional moments, too.
It is therefore somewhat surprising that Paramount isn’t immediately talking about a cash-in sequel. In an interview with Variety, Robbins says he doesn’t want to “speculate” on a Top Gun 3 movie and is happy to just let Maverick continue to hold the spotlight. He is clearly pleased with the sequel's success and doesn’t point to any kind of plan for a follow-up in the near future. Read the full quote below:
Let’s see where we are 35 years from now. I don’t want to speculate. This is an incredible run. The sky is the limit for this movie.
Whilst it may seem against the flow of current movie trends, the fact that neither Robbins nor Cruise have begun to hype up a Top Gun 3 movie does speak to their sense of integrity. It is rare nowadays that a studio wouldn’t want to cash in on the runaway success of a picture like Top Gun: Maverick, but perhaps that is all part of the creative philosophy that has made the movie such a success. Many critics have said it feels like a return to the blockbuster filmmaking of years past, when successful films were allowed to stand on their own without continuous sequels; maybe the fact that there isn’t a Top Gun 3 already in development is just another part of this old-fashioned ethos.
However, there might also be a pressing issue that is hampering any talk of further films - earlier this month, the family of Ehud Yonay, who wrote the article that the original Top Gun was based on, sued Paramount for copyright infringement. The suit claims that Top Gun: Maverick contained elements similar to Yonay’s article, which the studio no longer had the rights to use, as the copyright expired after 35 years. Whether anything comes of this remains to be seen, although it could put a sizeable spanner in the works for any potential Top Gun 3.
Source: Variety