'Top Gun: Maverick' has its director and an official release date
Paramount Pictures sequel to 1986 hit 'Top Gun' has a release date set for July 12, 2019, and Tron: Legacy director Joseph Kosinski is set to helm the film, re-teaming with Tom Cruise, whom he directed in the sci-fi pic Oblivion.
As previously confirmed, "Top Gun 2" now titled Top Gun: Maverick will mark the return of Cruise's Naval Aviator Lt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell where he'll will re-team with long-time collaborator and producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Though no official plot details have been confirmed, Cruise teased Top Gun: Maverick will be a"Maverick" focused action-oriented sequel: “Aviators are back, the need for speed. 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.”
Though we can speculate a few scenarios that would put "Maverick" Pete Mitchell in the instructors seat and/or out of 'retirement' the larger question remains, why and for what cause? And to a lesser degree, who from 'Top Gun' will reprise their roles? Val Kilmer took to Instagram to express interest in reprising his role as Iceman: "I'm ready Tom - still got my top gun plaque," Kilmer wrote. "Still got the moves! Still got it!" Whether or not we see the return of "Iceman" or other graduates from Miramar's Naval Fighter Weapons School, it's certain Cruise and Bruckheimer have an even larger platform to intermingle new and existing talent in what appears to be a similar political landscape to the events in 1986's 'Top Gun'.
Top Gun: Maverick has assembled a talented group of writers and will be co-written by Peter Craig (The Town, Blood Father) and Justin Marks (The Jungle Book), along with Thor and X-Men First Class writers Ashley E. Miller and Zack Stentz.
I'm probably in the minority here but I'm looking forward to Top Gun: Maverick. How about you?
