Tom Cruise is one of the last real movie stars left in Hollywood.
He’s starred in some of the most popular summer blockbusters of all time.
And a Tom Cruise co-star revealed that this massive sequel is ready to take flight.
Top Gun: Maverick became a massive hit after a rocky production
No one was quite sure what to expect when Top Gun: Maverick was released in theaters in May 2022.
It had been 35 years since Top Gun was released in 1986.
The sequel was first announced in 2010 and was scheduled to be released in July 2019.
But production delays and the COVID pandemic pushed it back.
Given the hit-or-miss track record of sequels in Hollywood, the delays, and the slump at movie theaters coming out of the pandemic, Top Gun: Maverick blew away expectations.
It brought audiences back to the movie theaters and was the second-highest-grossing movie of 2022 behind Avatar: The Way of Water.
And it became the highest-grossing movie of Cruise’s decades-long career.
Now, plans for another Top Gun movie are in the works.
Jennifer Connelly reveals that she’s all-in for Top Gun 3
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight during the premiere of her AppleTV+ series, Dark Matter, actress Jennifer Connelly, who played Penny in Top Gun: Maverick, said she’s ready to go for another Top Gun movie.
“I’ll be there. I’m ready,” Connelly said. “We had such a great time shooting it. It was fun.”
But while she’s eager to get going on the franchise’s third installment, Connelly admitted that she doesn’t know when a script will be written or when production could possibly begin.
“I haven’t seen anything,” Connelly said. “I had a casual chat with my friend, Joe Kosinski, who directed it, who I worked with twice now. I’m his biggest fan. I think he’s so great. [I talked to him] about the possibility of it, but I don’t know anything concrete.”
Puck News reported in January that plans were coming together for a third Top Gun movie, with Cruise and co-stars Miles Teller and Glen Powell set to return.
Top Gun: Maverick screenwriter Ehren Kruger has reportedly been working on developing the script.
Reports have also indicated that Director Joseph Kosinski and producers Jerry Bruckheimer and David Ellison are also slated to return.
The outlet speculated that production on a third Top Gun movie would likely not begin until at least late 2025 or 2026, largely due to Cruise’s current contractual obligations on other projects.
“If that script comes together as expected, it could be Cruise’s next movie after M:I 8, or he might first do the Doug Liman space movie at Universal, which is still in active development (though NASA is involved, so who knows about the timing there). Either of those would push any Warners projects with Cruise into late 2025, 2026, or beyond,” Puck reported.
Teller played Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, the son of Maverick’s best friend Goose, who was killed in the first film.
He previously told Entertainment Tonight that a third film in the series would be “great,” but it all comes down to Cruise giving it the green light.
“It’s all up to Tom,” Teller said. “I’ve been having some conversations with him about it. We’ll see.”
With any luck, Top Gun fans will be able to see the iconic franchise take flight one last time.