by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
A voice-over in TOP GUN: MAVERICK announces “thirty plus years of service” to describe fighter pilot Tom Cruise as call-sign Maverick – and you could swear he’s describing TC’s film career since the first box office barn-burner, TOP GUN from 1986.
Cruise, who turned 57 this month on July 3, was only 24 years old when the original milestone blockbuster, with Val Kilmer and Meg Ryan, blazed a path to the stars for this Syracuse, NY, native. Paramount Pictures will release this new monster at the box office on June 26, 2020, but it’s never too early for a sneak peek. Plus the poster looks like an instant classic.
From the first soundtrack ping-tone, that signature 80’s hollow bell sound effect established in the original release, the new TOP GUN promises the Tom Cruise we know and remember. The pilot who is still a Captain all these years later at Miramar because he keeps getting busted down in the ranks due to his bad-ass, anti-authority, motorcycle-manic self. And it’s important to note that TC, as Tom Cruise is shorthanded in his Hollywood call-sign, is the industry’s first billion-dollar movie star with hot properties like the TG franchise making this cinema history for him.
Meanwhile Jerry Bruckheimer, whose partner on the first picture Don Simpson is long gone, has paired up with Megan Ellison’s (Annapurna) brother David Ellison as producer in a nice changing of the guard, as the younger generation of hungry talent takes over the helm in Hollywood.
It’s also a show of casting respect to include Jennifer Connelly and Ed Harris, both storied actors with unique filmographies. Then here’s feisty new talent like Miles Teller from WHIPLASH, whose haywire emotional barometer is perfect chemistry here. And whoever thought to cast Jon Hamm deserves a gold star, as Hamm brings his “Mad Men” cred to the testosterone party.
Top Gun isn’t just a movie, it is a benchmark of sorts, and how much bank it does next year when it opens really matters.
But these are just the mathematics of show business, whereas a mega-star like TC, who is probably the only person on the planet in film capable of opening a picture anywhere in the world, is here to entertain you.
Snap on your harness for this first look with complete credits to follow:
TOP GUN: MAVERICK
DIRECTED BY:
Joseph Kosinski
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS:
Tommy Harper
Chad Oman
Mike Stenson
Dan Goldberg
Don Granger
PRODUCED BY:
Jerry Bruckheimer, David Ellison
STARRING:
Tom Cruise
Miles Teller
Jennifer Connelly
Jon Hamm
Glen Powell
Lewis Pullman
with Ed Harris
#TopGun
Visit TOP GUN: MAVERICK official for updates.
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