Isn’t this curious? Just days after Tom Cruise signed a film deal with Warner Bros., THR reports that Paramount has a sequel to “Top Gun: Maverick” in the works. That comes as a surprise after the fallout of Cruise’s new deal, with sources saying that the relationship between the actor and the studio he’s made five of his last seven films with had reached a boiling point. If “Top Gun 3” is in development, as THR claims it’s been since last Fall, then, no, Paramount and Tom Cruise are still in business together.
READ MORE: Tom Cruise’s Deal With Warner Bros. Comes With Star At Odds With Paramount
And that makes a lot of sense, considering “Maverick” was a runaway box office success that made over $1.5 billion at the global box office, saved movie theaters after the COVID-19 pandemic, bonded a frazzled nation with sentimental military propaganda, and all that good stuff. In short, there’s money to be made in “Top Gun 3”; a lot of it. And since Cruise wants to keep being the world’s biggest (and arguably last) movie star, and Paramount wants to stay afloat as a studio, they will make this movie together. Even if Paramount execs hate that Cruise consistently goes over budget on his projects. And that he nixed TV shows based on “Mission: Impossible” and “Days Of Thunder“ that could have helped the launch of Paramount+. And that “M:I – Dead Reckoning Part One” didn’t break even after its theatrical run. If “Top Gun 3” does numbers similar to “Maverick,” everybody wins, and both sides may look past any tension.
But don’t expect “Top Gun 3” any time soon. Cruise is still hard at work wrapping up the upcoming “M:I” sequel, set to hit theaters in 2025. And he’ll also have whatever Warner Bros. slates for him as future projects, with the first one sounding like an action thriller of sorts. Warner Bros. also has a sequel to Doug Liman‘s 2014 actioner “Edge Of Tomorrow” in mind, too, but that’s not confirmed either. But considering it took a few years of development for “Maverick” to start shooting, expect the same for its sequel. Paramount’s plan for now is to reunite Cruise with his 2021 co-stars Miles Teller and Glen Powell for a new mission. “Maverick” co-writer Ehren Kruger will pen the script, with Joe Kosinski eying a return to direct. Let’s hope Monica Barbaro, Lewis Pullman, and Jay Ellis come back too, as the next generation of “Top Gun” pilots will prove crucial for the franchise (Cruise will be in his mid-60s by the time they start shooting this).
Is this news out of left field? Kind of. It doesn’t track with this week’s narrative that Cruise has one foot out the door at Paramount and anticipates the studio folding imminently. It also doesn’t work with the narrative that he and WBD CEO David Zaslav have bonded over saving movie theaters and Warner Bros. is giving Cruise what Paramount cannot: an extra decade or two being a larger-than-life star. “Top Gun: Maverick” is Cruise’s (and Paramount’s) biggest financial success ever, so a sequel to the film would be hotly anticipated by Hollywood, critics, and audiences alike. That’s something Warner Bros. can’t offer, especially as Zaslav’s tenure as CEO has been chiefly about cutting costs and doing an abrupt about-face with their streaming model, various brands, and the makeover of the hapless DCEU into the new DCU.
Also, bear in mind that Cruise’s deal with Warner Bros. is not exclusive, so he’s free to work on developing “Top Gun 3” while he does other stuff. That ultimately may be what Cruise is after: remaining an in-demand icon that has studios battling for his star power, retaining creative control all the while. That’s a lot of influence for a 60-something actor to have, but Cruise has it, and he’ll wield it as he sees fit. So, in that case, news of “Top Gun 3” is not surprising at all. Just don’t expect the movie until 2027 or something.
