Top Gun: Maverick

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  Top Gun: Maverick contains a shot that nearly took the roof off a building. For a low-pass scene with the actor Ed Harris, a Blue Angels jet skimmed a test range at China Lake at under 50 feet and around 450 knots. On the 20th and last pass, the blast of air tore roofing material from a guard shack. It ended up flapping in the wind, held on only by a length of electrical cable.

  That pass belongs to the 2022 sequel to the 1986 film Top Gun, in which Tom Cruise returns as the naval aviator Pete "Maverick" Mitchell. This time Maverick is training a group of younger pilots for a dangerous mission, and one of them is the son of his dead best friend.

  The film took shape slowly, and almost by accident. Cruise had once brushed off the very idea of a follow-up. A director died before he could make it. Then the world shut down just as it was ready to open. So why did it get made at all? How do you get actors to film themselves while pulling heavy g-forces in a fighter jet? And what do you do when streaming companies line up to buy a finished blockbuster, and the star says no?

  899091

• 2. Years in Limbo

  ›

  In 1990, while promoting Born on the Fourth of July, Tom Cruise called the notion of a Top Gun sequel "irresponsible". Two decades later, Paramount Pictures changed the question. In 2010 the studio approached the first film's producer, Jerry Bruckheimer, and its director, Tony Scott, about a follow-up with Cruise back in the cockpit.

  Scott was clear about what he did not want. "This world fascinated me, because it's so different from what it was originally. But I don't want to do a remake. I don't want to do a reinvention. I want to do a new movie." Early reports said the story would deal with the end of the dogfighting era and the growing role of drones.

  The writer Peter Craig began a new draft in March 2012, with Scott directing. Scott had reportedly finalized the script and had toured Naval Air Station Fallon in Nevada with Cruise a week before he died in August of that year. The project stalled. Bruckheimer stayed committed, and in March 2014 he described a fresh approach in which drones made pilots obsolete. The sequel was officially revived that September.

  Momentum returned in 2017. In June, Cruise revealed the title, Top Gun: Maverick, and said he did not want a number in it. He called the film a competition story like the first, and "a progression for Maverick".

  In July 2017 Joseph Kosinski was announced as director. He had already worked with Cruise on Oblivion. Before being hired, Kosinski brought Cruise a lookbook, a poster and the title itself. In 2019 the Chinese company Tencent invested 12.5% of the film, then withdrew at the end of that year over fears that its themes could anger the Chinese government. After the pitch, Cruise phoned the studio executive Jim Gianopulos and asked to make the film.

  1213152426

• 3. Building the Script

  ›

  During scripting talks in Paris in 2017, Kosinski laid two ideas in front of Cruise, who was there shooting Mission: Impossible - Fallout. One centered on the broken bond between Maverick and Goose's son, set against a dangerous combat mission. The other followed Maverick's present role in the Navy, tied to the secret Darkstar program.

  The finished story keeps both. Maverick is a decorated test pilot whose insubordination has blocked his promotion. When he pushes the Darkstar hypersonic aircraft past Mach 10 against orders, the prototype is destroyed. He is then posted to the Top Gun school to train graduates for a strike on an underground uranium enrichment plant at the end of a canyon.

  One of those graduates is Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, who blames Maverick for his father's death. Rooster does not know that Maverick once promised Rooster's dying mother to keep him out of aviation. Maverick's old rival and friend, Admiral Tom "Iceman" Kazansky, tells him, "It's time to let go."

  A long line of writers shaped that story. Christopher McQuarrie received an offer to write a sequel by mid-2010. Justin Marks entered talks in 2014 and called the project his "dream project". He studied the F-35 to understand how Top Gun would look in the present day.

  Eric Warren Singer rewrote the script by August 2017, after working with Kosinski on Only the Brave. In October 2018, McQuarrie returned during production for further rewrites. He chose to mostly ignore the first film so that this one could stand on its own, and he flew with the Blue Angels to prepare.

  By January 2020, screenplay credit went to Ehren Kruger, Singer and McQuarrie, with story credit for Craig and Marks. Two other writers, Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz, had been credited on the project back in 2011.

  3740414393

• 4. Casting the Cockpit

  ›

  Cruise's return was announced in January 2016. He was paid between $12 and $14 million, plus a share of the box office gross that came to more than $100 million.

  Val Kilmer had been treated for throat cancer and was by then cancer-free. He campaigned on his Facebook page to play Iceman again. In June 2018 TheWrap reported that he would appear, and Cruise's insistence helped. Kilmer could no longer speak easily. In 2021 he worked with the voice-synthesis company Sonantic on a digital model of his voice, but the film did not use it. Kosinski said they used Kilmer's real voice, digitally adjusted for clarity.

  In July 2018, Miles Teller was cast as Goose's son, beating out Nicholas Hoult and Glen Powell. Jennifer Connelly joined that month as a single mother who runs a bar near the base.

  Powell was not immediately sold on his role. He first read the arrogant pilot Hangman, then named Slayer, as a one-dimensional character who existed only to add conflict to Rooster's story. Cruise, Bruckheimer, Kosinski and McQuarrie persuaded him he could shape the part. Cruise even advised him on body language in different cultures, so audiences worldwide would connect with the character.

  Jon Hamm signed on before he had an official offer or a script. Monica Barbaro, Lewis Pullman, Jay Ellis and Danny Ramirez played the trainees. Lyliana Wray replaced Thomasin McKenzie, who left to join Lost Girls. The Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton was offered a fighter pilot role through his friendship with Cruise, but declined because of his racing commitments.

  Some performances never reached the screen. Rick Rossovich and Tom Skerritt, who played Slider and Viper in the first film, shot material for Iceman's funeral that was cut. In July 2024, Manny Jacinto said of his own deleted lines, "Tom Cruise is writing stories for Tom Cruise."

  4546484967

• 5. Real Jets, Real Forces

  ›

  The producers paid the Navy $11,374 per flight hour to fly F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornets with Navy pilots. Real Navy pilots flew the single-seat E for exterior shots. For footage of the actors in flight, the two-seat F carried the actual pilot in front. One F was rigged with special cameras to film an actor in the back seat.

  Cruise designed a three-month boot camp for the cast members with flying roles. It covered aerobatics, high g-forces and the spatial awareness needed to work camera equipment. Some training was required by the Navy for passengers in tactical jets, including underwater evacuation. Barbaro said the cast also flew aerobatics in an Extra 300L piloted by Chuck Coleman, even right before F/A-18F flights, to condition their bodies.

  The actors also had to learn lighting, cinematography and editing. Bruckheimer explained why: "when they're up in the jet, they have to direct themselves, essentially."

  The film was shot with IMAX-certified Sony Venice 6K cameras. In each cockpit, four cameras faced the actor and two faced outward. Kosinski said the team spent more than a year with Navy forces to get IMAX cameras inside the cockpit. NAVAIR engineers used wind tunnel tests and computer modeling to mount cameras that could survive carrier landings and stay safe in an ejection.

  External footage came from gimbal-stabilized cameras on a modified Aero L-39 Albatros, an Embraer Phenom 300 and an Airbus AS350 helicopter. The crew shot more than 800 hours of aerial footage, more than the three Lord of the Rings films combined. Kosinski wanted audiences to feel "the authenticity, strain, speed and gravitational forces".

  Preliminary production began on the 30th of May 2018 in San Diego. The story is set at Naval Air Station North Island, though the real Top Gun school had moved to Fallon. Crews filmed flight deck operations aboard USS Abraham Lincoln and later aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt. For the Cascade Mountains sequences, routes were scouted by helicopter and L-39 from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in Washington.

  The Hard Deck bar was built on the beach at North Island, with the Navy's permission, and was inspired by a real bar called the I-Bar.

  6970728791

• 6. Machines Real and Digital

  ›

  The production acquired 20 working aircraft from across the United States. Production designer Jeremy Hindle said Kosinski set specifications for every detail, from helmets to flight suits to props.

  The fictional Darkstar was designed with engineers from Lockheed Martin and its Skunk Works division. A full-scale mockup was built and filmed at China Lake. Kosinski said he wanted the most realistic hypersonic aircraft possible. Lockheed denied any link between Darkstar and the uncrewed SR-72, a craft the company has never confirmed exists.

  The F-14 Tomcat was harder. Hindle said no F-14s fly in the United States, because the retired fleet had its engines removed. Iran was the only other country to acquire the aircraft, and sanctions ruled out using its Tomcats. The U.S. scuttled or disabled its vast fleet after retirement to block illicit exports of spare parts. With the Navy's help, the team secured one engineless F-14A from the San Diego Air & Space Museum.

  Computers filled the gaps. Visual effects artist Fred Lyn said the F-14 and the Su-57 were created entirely by computer. The Super Hornet dogfights and the final strike were filmed with one jet, then multiplied on screen. The film has about 2,400 effects shots under supervisor Ryan Tudhope. Method Studios and MPC Film handled most of the work, while Lola VFX and Blind made the jet's head-up displays.

  Skywalker Sound built the aviation effects with help from the engine maker GE Aviation. Final mixing in Dolby Atmos and IMAX took place in June and July 2020. Harold Faltermeyer, composer of the first film's score, returned and was joined by Lady Gaga, OneRepublic and Hans Zimmer. Lorne Balfe produced the soundtrack. Singles included "Hold My Hand" and "I Ain't Worried", and "Danger Zone", sung by Kenny Loggins, also returns.

  One of the film's most emotional moments was not in the script. Kosinski proposed, during editing, a flashback to the first film when Maverick watches Rooster play "Great Balls of Fire" on the piano.

  93949697100

• 7. Theaters Only

  ›

  Top Gun: Maverick was originally set for the 12th of July 2019. Complex action sequences pushed it to June 2020, and the pandemic moved it again to December 2020. It then slid to July 2021, and to the 19th of November 2021, before landing in May 2022.

  During the pandemic, streaming companies tried to buy the finished film. Apple TV+ attempted to purchase the distribution rights, and Paramount declined. Bruckheimer said the film had always had a big-screen destination. At Cannes, Cruise also denied that the film was headed to streaming.

  The film had its world premiere at CinemaCon on the 28th of April 2022. On the 18th of May it screened at the Cannes Film Festival, where it received a five-minute standing ovation. The next day, the UK premiere was the Royal Film Performance in London, the last of Queen Elizabeth II's reign. The general release followed on the 27th of May 2022.

  The opening weekend in the United States and Canada brought in $126.7 million. The four-day Memorial Day weekend reached $160.5 million, nearly double Cruise's previous best. The second weekend fell only 29%, the smallest drop ever for a film that had opened above $100 million. It beat the 33% drop of Shrek 2.

  The film stayed in the top five for its first ten weeks. In its 15th weekend, it returned to first place during Labor Day. Analysts credited good reviews and word of mouth. Typical industry practice then was streaming after 45 days, but Paramount kept the film in theaters.

  On the 17th of June 2022, the film became the highest-grossing of Cruise's career after crossing $800 million worldwide. It crossed $1 billion on the 26th of June. It finished with $722 million in the United States and Canada and $781 million elsewhere, for $1.503 billion in total. Deadline Hollywood put its net profit at $391.1 million. Home viewing began with a digital release on the 23rd of August 2022, and Paramount+ followed in December.

  2342485

• 8. Praise, Propaganda and Lawsuits

  ›

  Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a rare A+, and PostTrak reported that 96% of viewers rated it positively. Critics were warmer than they had been for the original. Mark Kermode of The Guardian called it an "eye-popping blockbuster" that "manages to take your breath away". A. O. Scott of The New York Times offered a mixed verdict, describing a "thin, over-strenuous and sometimes very enjoyable movie". In June 2025, IndieWire ranked it number 7 among the best movies of the 2020s so far.

  Quentin Tarantino called it "fantastic" and said it was the closest anyone would get to "one more Tony Scott movie". Steven Spielberg praised it as having "saved the entire theatrical industry". Scott's brother Ridley saw a private screening. Bruckheimer said he praised the care taken to honor Tony. Fede Álvarez, however, later recalled Ridley's reaction as a shrug.

  The United States Department of Defense and the Navy actively supported the film, aiming to show the military in a good light and aid recruitment. The U.S. Air Force ran recruitment ads before screenings. Some critics called the film propaganda.

  At the 95th Academy Awards, it was nominated for Best Picture, among other categories, and won Best Sound.

  In June 2022, the family of the author Ehud Yonay sued Paramount. His May 1983 magazine article, "Top Guns", inspired the first film. The family argued that the rights had reverted to them in January 2020 under the 35-year copyright rule. A court dismissed the suit in April 2024, and the Ninth Circuit later upheld that ruling.

  In April 2025, Shaun Gray, a cousin of co-screenwriter Eric Singer, claimed joint authorship of the film. The judge dismissed that claim in July, and on the 9th of January 2026 dismissed his copyright claim, while Paramount's counterclaims moved toward trial.

  Meanwhile, Miles Teller pitched a sequel in May 2022 under the working title Top Gun: Rooster. In May 2025, McQuarrie confirmed he was writing Top Gun 3, and in April 2026 the third film was announced as officially in the works.

  6752624