Top Gun 2

It's been 36 years since Top Gun came out. Can you watch Tom Cruise's long-awaited sequel without seeing the first one?

So if you’re worried that you missed something from the first movie, you didn’t (we’ve seen the original—just recently, too—and actually wondered where the hell the Penny subplot in Maverick came from). On the other hand, Penny Benjamin is referenced in the original movie as an “admiral’s daughter” that Maverick got in trouble with, but that’s about it. Maverick’s major romance in the first movie was with flight instructor Charlotte “Charlie” Blackwood (Kelly McGillis), whose image is glimpsed in the sequel but whose name is not brought up once. Top Gun: Maverick is awash in nostalgia, to the point of recreating signature moments from the first movie like the opening montage of jets taking off (set again to Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone”) and the shirtless beach sports scene (although here volleyball is replaced by football, and the homoeroticism is turned way down). For instance, Maverick’s main motivating factor—the guilt that still haunts him over the death of Goose, his best friend and Radar Intercept Officer, in the original movie—is quite clearly explained and signaled. When Maverick also visits his old friend Iceman, now commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet (and the only other returning cast member), it’s also made quite evident that they are very dear friends.

It's a move as carefully calibrated as any of the top-line fighter jets Tom Cruise pilots throughout the movie. And there's a fist-pumping joy to watching an ...

"Maverick" takes its cues from a heist movie as much as an action one, carefully and repeatedly laying out the steps of a low-altitude mission in and around a snowy mountain pass in enemy territory. While the practical stunts in "Top Gun: Maverick" aren’t a million miles off from the work Cruise does in the "Mission: Impossible" films, "Maverick" sets itself apart with a knowingly corny earnestness. A titan of the genre, "Die Hard" is the little black dress of action movies: It works for every occasion. About the writer: Caroline Siede is a film and TV critic in Chicago, where the cold never bothers her anyway. The platform gives fans of entertainment, news and sports an easy way to discover new content that is available completely free. Though Teller fits seamlessly into the "Top Gun" universe (as do Jennifer Connelly, Glen Powell and a host of new Top Gun pilots), Maverick is the only character the movie really cares about. (The cast completed a three-month flight training course to be able to shoot the film largely in real jets.) But the biggest key to the film’s success is the refreshingly coherent staging of its action. Yet the best thing about "Top Gun: Maverick" is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously either. Not only is Pete ordered back to Top Gun to serve as a flight instructor, one of his students is Lieutenant Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw ( Miles Teller) — Goose’s grown-up son (disappointedly not nicknamed "Gosling") who’s got a grudge against his dad’s old friend. As "Top Gun: Maverick" opens, we learn Pete has spent the past 30-some years doing more of the same — refusing to climb the military ranks because he prefers to continue testing his limits as an active pilot. For as much as "Top Gun" is steeped in Cold War-era jingoism and 1980s masculinity, it also feels like the kind of earnest military spectacle that could’ve come out of the old Hollywood studio system. It’s a move as carefully calibrated as any of the top-line fighter jets Tom Cruise pilots throughout the movie.

Tom Cruise takes to the air once more in a long-awaited sequel to a much-loved '80s action blockbuster.

Which only confirms the sense that “Top Gun: Maverick” has nothing to say about geopolitics and everything to do with the defense of old-fashioned movie values in the face of streaming-era nihilism. At times Kosinski seems to be reaching for an updated version of the sun-kissed, high-style ’80s aesthetic that “Top Gun” so effortlessly and elegantly typified. Apart from the 2021 documentary “Val,” he hasn’t been onscreen much since losing his voice to throat cancer, and seeing him and Cruise in a quiet scene together is as sad and stirring as something from the Epic of Gilgamesh. There was a formidable — if mostly offscreen — real-world adversary (the Soviet Union, in case you forgot) and the hovering possibility of nuclear apocalypse. We never see the faces of the enemy pilots once the mission is underway. In the presence of a superior officer he is apt to salute, smirk and push his career into the middle of the table like a stack of poker chips. The first “Top Gun” unfolded against a backdrop of superpower conflict. The frat-house atmosphere of the ’80s has been toned down, and the pilots are a more diverse, less obnoxious bunch. In the last few decades, Pete has seen plenty of combat — Bosnia and Iraq are both mentioned — and pursued an on-and-off romance with Penny Benjamin (Jennifer Connelly). Now he finds her working at a bar near the base and an old spark rekindles. Pete is the instructor now, called back to the Miramar naval base to train a squad of eager young fliers for an urgent, dangerous mission. “Top Gun: Maverick,” directed by Joseph Kosinski ( “Tron: Legacy”), answers in the affirmative with a confident, aggressive swagger that might look like overcompensation. He’s one of the best fighter pilots ever to take wing, but the U.S. military hierarchy can be a treacherous political business, and Maverick is anything but a politician.

'Top Gun: Maverick' Finally Hits Theaters — Here's When You'll Be Able to Watch It Online · Plus: how to stream the original 'Top Gun' movie with Tom Cruise for ...

While you’ll have to wait a few weeks to stream Top Gun: Maverick online, you can watch the original Top Gun movie online free. That way, you can stream Top Gun from your Hulu app afterwards. Use your free trial to stream Top Gun free online and then choose to continue on with a Paramount+ subscription at the $4.99 price point or cancel anytime. For now, the only way to watch Top Gun: Maverick is in person. Top Gun fans eager to see Maverick on their screens at home will have to wait a little longer. Plus, below we’ve found how to reserve tickets to see Top Gun: Maverick in time for its premiere in theaters.

After betting against a 'Top Gun' sequel more than a decade ago, Matt Patches is making good on his promise—and tempting the movie fates once more.

Growing up reading industry news in the 2000s and in the 2010s, there was a certain type of story that felt like it was designed for the trades just to test the waters. What’s most interesting about the tweet is the news that prompted it was Tom Cruise and Tony Scott, the director of Top Gun, were gonna get together with Jerry Bruckheimer, producer of the original movie. “I would’ve felt like I could just tweet, ‘Eh, I don’t think Top Gun 2 will ever happen,’ because I’m clowning around with what I think is a small audience of like-minded people.” And now?

Entertainment writer Matt Patches makes good on his decade-old promise to eat his shoe if Top Gun 2 ever made it to movie screens.

In the end it’s enough that Patches went to the trouble of making an edible shoe, documenting the process in a video and even making a silly (and frankly somewhat annoying) "Danger Zone" parody to play in the background. And so it was arguably not entirely a surprise when, back in 2010, it was announced that a long-awaited Top Gun sequel was finally in development from Paramount Pictures with Cruise to return as Maverick. But despite Cruise’s apparent desire to play Maverick once again, many expressed skepticism that Top Gun 2 would ever actually make it to screens. But instead of starring in an immediate sequel, Cruise elected to leave behind Pete “Maverick” Mitchell and his need for speed.

Journalist and editor Matt Patches promised to eat a shoe if Top Gun 2 ever got released in theaters. Today, Top Gun: Maverick premieres and he is feasting ...

And yet Patches found a way to make and eat a usable shoe nonetheless. And Patches is eating a shoe on YouTube. You can’t die right now.” As someone who relies on Patches on a daily basis, I have to agree. Patches himself went through a journey during this decade and change. In 2010, then-culture-journalist Matt Patches wrote a benign tweet: “If Top Gun 2 happens, I will eat a shoe.” In hindsight, he should have considered that dumb things said on the internet will haunt you forever. For a while, Patches’ tummy appeared to be pardoned.

In 2010, when news first broke that star Tom Cruise and producer Jerry Bruckheimer were interested in making a sequel to the 1986 classic “Top Gun,” film ...

It’s also a hilarious tribute to the "Top Gun" franchise (in this case "Top Gun: Shoe") and film culture in general — complete with a Tom Cruise impersonator, a parody of the Kenny Loggins anthem "Danger Zone" and, yes, a lot of logistics about how one actually goes about eating a shoe. Consumers can also watch Tubi content on the web at http://www.tubi.tv/. About the writer: Caroline Siede is a film and TV critic in Chicago, where the cold never bothers her anyway. The platform gives fans of entertainment, news and sports an easy way to discover new content that is available completely free. And don’t worry, there’s a slightly less odd and somewhat sweeter treat at the end of this story too. But 12 years later — after a long development process and many pandemic-related delays — "Top Gun: Maverick" finally soars into theaters this weekend.

Matt Patches, deputy entertainment editor at Polygon, tweeted on Oct. 26, 2010 that he would eat his shoe if 'Top Gun 2' ever happened.

In 1980, director Werner Herzog released the documentary short Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe after placing a bet with his friend Errol Morris that he would eat his shoe if Morris ever finished a movie he was working on. Though he was obviously not thrilled to eat the shoe — as Patches reminded viewers in a 20-minute YouTube video documenting his saga — it has been done before. Top Gun: Maverick soars into theaters this week, the long-awaited sequel to the 1986 action drama that has been over a decade in the making.

In 2010, when news first broke that star Tom Cruise and producer Jerry Bruckheimer were interested in making a sequel to the 1986 classic “Top Gun,” film ...

It’s also a hilarious tribute to the "Top Gun" franchise (in this case "Top Gun: Shoe") and film culture in general — complete with a Tom Cruise impersonator, a parody of the Kenny Loggins anthem "Danger Zone" and, yes, a lot of logistics about how one actually goes about eating a shoe. Consumers can also watch Tubi content on the web at http://www.tubi.tv/. About the writer: Caroline Siede is a film and TV critic in Chicago, where the cold never bothers her anyway. The platform gives fans of entertainment, news and sports an easy way to discover new content that is available completely free. And don’t worry, there’s a slightly less odd and somewhat sweeter treat at the end of this story too. But 12 years later — after a long development process and many pandemic-related delays — "Top Gun: Maverick" finally soars into theaters this weekend.

Top Gun: Maverick has finally landed in theaters, so let's break down the intense ending. Who were Maverick and the gang fighting this time, and will there ...

With Top Gun: Maverick already tracking to have the best global opening weekend of any Tom Cruise movie to date, it stands to reason a sequel could be in the cards. Sure, Maverick and Rooster prove there's no substitute for human ingenuity, but their mission also would have been much simpler and less risky if the Navy had been able to dispatch a fleet of unmanned fighters that weren't subject to the limits of human endurance. Top Gun: Maverick deals with the clash between old-school fighter pilots and a new generation of advanced, unmanned drones, and that debate is never entirely settled by the end of the film. The studio has yet to confirm any plans for a Top Gun 3. Maverick and Rooster made peace, and now the former finally seems ready to move on and enjoy life on the ground for a change. So it only makes sense that Top Gun: Maverick ends with an added wrinkle to the mission that forces Maverick and Rooster to finally bury the hatchet and work together. There's no real-world country that matches "the enemy" as depicted in Top Gun: Maverick. Presumably, Paramount is wary of stirring up controversy by showing the US Navy carrying out a military strike on a hostile foreign power. The frozen terrain seen in the climax certainly evokes images of Russia. On the other hand, Russia and China are already established nuclear powers, whereas the stealthy strike on the uranium enrichment facility would seem to point to a smaller adversary like North Korea or Iran. One of the more curious elements of Top Gun: Maverick is that the film is never clear on who its villains are. Maverick is called on to train a new group of Top Gun recruits for a mission most would find physically impossible to complete. The movie leaves certain doors open for a possible sequel (and we'll cover that later in this article), but there's nothing during or after the credits that directly sets up a possible Top Gun 3. The Top Gun franchise might not be terribly complex in the story department, but the sequel still raises a few interesting questions worth addressing.

Three Decades after the original Top Gun, Tom Cruise returns to lead a fresh squadron of Navy fighter pilots in Top Gun: Maverick.

You may click on “Your Choices” below to learn about and use cookie management tools to limit use of cookies when you visit NPR’s sites. If you click “Agree and Continue” below, you acknowledge that your cookie choices in those tools will be respected and that you otherwise agree to the use of cookies on NPR’s sites. NPR’s sites use cookies, similar tracking and storage technologies, and information about the device you use to access our sites (together, “cookies”) to enhance your viewing, listening and user experience, personalize content, personalize messages from NPR’s sponsors, provide social media features, and analyze NPR’s traffic.

Chicago - Even in 1986, the original "Top Gun" felt like a bit of a retro throwback. Its fighter-pilot training school setting was such a holdover from a ...

"Maverick" takes its cues from a heist movie as much as an action one, carefully and repeatedly laying out the steps of a low-altitude mission in and around a snowy mountain pass in enemy territory. While the practical stunts in "Top Gun: Maverick" aren’t a million miles off from the work Cruise does in the "Mission: Impossible" films, "Maverick" sets itself apart with a knowingly corny earnestness. A titan of the genre, "Die Hard" is the little black dress of action movies: It works for every occasion. About the writer: Caroline Siede is a film and TV critic in Chicago, where the cold never bothers her anyway. The platform gives fans of entertainment, news and sports an easy way to discover new content that is available completely free. Though Teller fits seamlessly into the "Top Gun" universe (as do Jennifer Connelly, Glen Powell and a host of new Top Gun pilots), Maverick is the only character the movie really cares about. (The cast completed a three-month flight training course to be able to shoot the film largely in real jets.) But the biggest key to the film’s success is the refreshingly coherent staging of its action. Yet the best thing about "Top Gun: Maverick" is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously either. Not only is Pete ordered back to Top Gun to serve as a flight instructor, one of his students is Lieutenant Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw ( Miles Teller) — Goose’s grown-up son (disappointedly not nicknamed "Gosling") who’s got a grudge against his dad’s old friend. As "Top Gun: Maverick" opens, we learn Pete has spent the past 30-some years doing more of the same — refusing to climb the military ranks because he prefers to continue testing his limits as an active pilot. For as much as "Top Gun" is steeped in Cold War-era jingoism and 1980s masculinity, it also feels like the kind of earnest military spectacle that could’ve come out of the old Hollywood studio system. It’s a move as carefully calibrated as any of the top-line fighter jets Tom Cruise pilots throughout the movie.

It's a move as carefully calibrated as any of the top-line fighter jets Tom Cruise pilots throughout the movie. And there's a fist-pumping joy to watching an ...

"Maverick" takes its cues from a heist movie as much as an action one, carefully and repeatedly laying out the steps of a low-altitude mission in and around a snowy mountain pass in enemy territory. While the practical stunts in "Top Gun: Maverick" aren’t a million miles off from the work Cruise does in the "Mission: Impossible" films, "Maverick" sets itself apart with a knowingly corny earnestness. A titan of the genre, "Die Hard" is the little black dress of action movies: It works for every occasion. About the writer: Caroline Siede is a film and TV critic in Chicago, where the cold never bothers her anyway. The platform gives fans of entertainment, news and sports an easy way to discover new content that is available completely free. Though Teller fits seamlessly into the "Top Gun" universe (as do Jennifer Connelly, Glen Powell and a host of new Top Gun pilots), Maverick is the only character the movie really cares about. (The cast completed a three-month flight training course to be able to shoot the film largely in real jets.) But the biggest key to the film’s success is the refreshingly coherent staging of its action. Yet the best thing about "Top Gun: Maverick" is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously either. Not only is Pete ordered back to Top Gun to serve as a flight instructor, one of his students is Lieutenant Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw ( Miles Teller) — Goose’s grown-up son (disappointedly not nicknamed "Gosling") who’s got a grudge against his dad’s old friend. As "Top Gun: Maverick" opens, we learn Pete has spent the past 30-some years doing more of the same — refusing to climb the military ranks because he prefers to continue testing his limits as an active pilot. For as much as "Top Gun" is steeped in Cold War-era jingoism and 1980s masculinity, it also feels like the kind of earnest military spectacle that could’ve come out of the old Hollywood studio system. It’s a move as carefully calibrated as any of the top-line fighter jets Tom Cruise pilots throughout the movie.

Capt. Ferguson brought the movie's director, producers and Tom Cruise to I Bar on Naval Air Station North Island, and they immediately fell in love.

Top Gun 2 is being released exclusively in cinemas – but will the movie eventually be available to stream on Paramount Plus?

Here’s all the latest Top Gun 2 streaming information. Just know we are making Mission: Impossible and Top Gun is coming out.” If this turns out to be the case for Top Gun 2, we can expect to see the movie land on the streaming service roughly three months after its theatrical release.

Tom Cruise has been one of the biggest voices in Hollywood against early streaming release dates, but "Top Gun 2" will eventually be available to watch ...

This was revealed in a Hollywood Reporter article, where it alleged that Cruise and Paramount were locked in a battle over the theatrical window of another of his films, the long-delayed Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (aka Mission: Impossible 7). He said: "We do still look at it on a case-by-case [basis]. There are certain movies that are really made for the theatrical experience. A 45 day window would mean the film streams from Tuesday, July 12, 2022. There are two schools of thought here—Paramount's, and Cruise's. At a recent summit, Paramount's executive VP and CFO Naveen Chopra said that a 45-day theatrical window is the "default" for their films. You should see that movie in a theater, and it will stay in the theater for a longer period of time." That is the easy question.

After a 36-year wait, the Tom Cruise sequel Top Gun: Maverick finally took off in theaters Thursday with $19.3 million in previews.

20th Century Studios/Disney’s The Bob’s Burgers Movie saw $1.5M in previews from shows that began at 5PM. The pic is 86% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a current audience score of 96%. A $10M-$14M four-day launch is expected at 3,425 U.S./Canada locations. In addition, there was also a “Top Gun” Tuesday with premium large format, Imax, and Dolby screens opening their curtains at 7 p.m. for one show alone. Imax alone counted $4.1M in previews, the best ever for the exhibitor with a Paramount title, a Cruise movie and a top 10 all-time Imax result as well. Everything is working in Top Gun 2‘s favor: It’s the widest release ever at 4,735 theaters and has 5 out of 5 stars on ComScore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak, with a 96% positive and an enormous 84% definite recommend. Fallout‘s Thursday night repped 26% of its first day Friday of $22.8M before going on to make $61.2M. Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s The Bad Guys was third yesterday with $576K, +1%, at 3,705 venues and a running five week total of $76.7M. The previous big preview for Paramount was 2009’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen with $16M, which was on a Tuesday and resulted in a $62M Wednesday (previews repped 25% of that figure). Best Thursday previews for a movie opening over Memorial Day weekend actually belongs to Disney’s Star Wars: A Solo Story which saw $14.1M, but only repped 40% of its first Friday’s $35.3M. That movie was panned by fans and yet resulted in a $103M four-day holiday opening. Thursday previews began at 3 p.m. for the Paramount/ Skydance feature. That’s the highest-grossing preview in Paramount Pictures’ history and the highest-grossing Memorial Day preview in history; and of course, it’s the best for Cruise. Early projections heading into the weekend were $80M-$100M over four days, and a high octane start such as this could easily propel Top Gun: Maverick to the best Memorial Day weekend opening ever, besting the $139.8M four-day total of 2007’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. Also juicing bucks for Top Gun 2 is a 97% Certified Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes after a month’s worth of buzzy global premieres and a current audience score on RT of an amazing 99%. Without a question Top Gun: Maverick is also looking to be the best opening of Cruise’s career, easily leaving behind his 2005 three-day cume of War of the Worlds which was $64.8M. After a 36-year wait, the Tom Cruise sequel Top Gun: Maverick finally took off to a massive $19.3 million in previews from Thursday 3 p.m. showtimes and a one-time 7 p.m. Tuesday fan event.

'Top Gun: Maverick,' starring Tom Cruise, scored the best preview gross in Paramount's history as began hitting theaters.

Overseas, Maverick opens in 62 markets, although it has yet to secure a China release date and won’t open in South Korea for two more weeks. The film, which presently sports a stellar 97 percent critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, co-stars Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell and Ed Harris, while Val Kilmer also makes a brief appearance as “Iceman,” Maverick’s one-time nemesis-turned-pal. The rest of his films have opened to less than $60 million. It earned $1.5 million in previews. The film’s release was delayed two years due to the coronavirus pandemic. Many pundits believe the critically acclaimed sequel could soar well north of $100 million domestically, but tracking — one of Hollywood’s favorite pastimes — has become fraught in the pandemic era.

Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell goes through a lot to get to Top Gun: Maverick's ending.

The very end of Top Gun: Maverick isn’t only focused on where Maverick is going, as we see Lieutenant Bradley Bradshaw coming to terms with his father’s death as well. Top Gun 3 doesn’t only have to be about Captain Pete Mitchell and his post Maverick career. In a sense, Maverick would become the new Viper, continuing to teach the next generation how to maintain air powered superiority. Now that Pete Mitchell has found love with Penny Benjamin in Top Gun: Maverick, Maverick’s days of risking his life in the air seem to be over. That being said, there are a couple of choice paths that are laid out ahead of Captain Pete Mitchell. With everything that happened in Top Gun: Maverick, you can’t just jump into another movie without the right plan. It’s all thanks to Captain Pete Mitchell’s Top Gun: Maverick training program, which teaches these young folks how to engage the enemy, and make it home.