Tom Cruise’s ‘Top Gun: Maverick’: Everything to Know About the Film’s Release Date, Plot and 1st Wave of Reviews

Credit: Paramount Pictures

Tom Cruise’s ‘Top Gun: Maverick’: Everything to Know About the Film’s Release Date, Plot and 1st Wave of Reviews

The need for speed! After much anticipation from both the cast and fans alike, Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick finally hit theaters in May. Cruise, 59, who played pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in 1986’s Top Gun, announced back in summer 2017 that a sequel was in the works. “We’re going to have the same tone that we had from the first,” the Jerry Maguire star told Access Hollywood in June 2017, revealing the official title. “Stylistically, it’s going to be the same.” The original movie — which also starred Kelly McGillis, Anthony Edwards, Meg Ryan and Val Kilmer — followed a rookie Maverick as he attended the United States Navy’s elite fighter weapons school. Throughout the film, Maverick went head-to-head with Kilmer’s Iceman as they competed to be “top gun” a.k.a. the best pilot in the class. More than 30 years later, Cruise’s Maverick returned to his old stomping grounds in Top Gun: Maverick to train the newest Top Gun recruits, including Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller), who is the son of his late friend Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Edwards). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVcMsjyKlaM "Facing an uncertain future and confronting the ghosts of his past, Maverick is drawn into a confrontation with his own deepest fears,” the film’s official synopsis read. “Culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who will be chosen to fly it." While fans had to wait four years to see the sequel come to fruition, Glen Powell, who plays student Hangman in the new movie, teased the finished product in August 2020 after wrapping filming one year prior. “Tom and I talked after I watched it, and I told him! I was like, ‘I literally have no more fingernails left. I’ve chewed off all of my fingernails.’ … You cry, you laugh. It’s got adventure. It’s got romance,” the Texas native, 33, exclusively told Us Weekly at the time. “It’s just like one of those movies, where you’re like, ‘Oh, God, why can’t all movies be this fun and great?’ It’s so rare.” The Scream Queens alum confessed that he did shed a tear or two while watching the movie. “It was a manly cry!” Powell said with a laugh. “There were tears but they were dry and salty, you know!” Scroll down for everything to know about Top Gun: Maverick:

Credit: Paramount Pictures

When Did It Film?

Cruise confirmed in May 2018 via social media that filming was underway. The cast wrapped shooting one year later in June 2019.

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When Did It Come Out?

The movie was originally slated to hit theaters in June 2020 but was later pushed to July 2021 amid the coronavirus pandemic. Now, Top Gun: Maverick was released in the U.S. on Friday, May 27, and in the U.K. two days prior.

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Who Returned?

In addition to Cruise reprising his role as Maverick, director Joseph Kosinski teased in January 2020 that Kilmer would be back as Maverick’s formal rival, Iceman. "The rivalry and relationship between Iceman and Maverick is one of those things that makes that first film so iconic," he told Entertainment Weekly at the time. "It's a relationship that is important to the Top Gun franchise and as a fan, I would want to see how it's evolved."

In March 2022, Kilmer confirmed his cameo by tweeting the trailer for the movie. “Here we go in 3 … 2 … 1 #TopGunMaverick Official Trailer,” he captioned the clip. “#Iceman signing off.”

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Who Else Is in the Cast?

Newbies Teller and Powell were joined by Jennifer Connelly as Penny Benjamin, Lewis Pullman as Bob, Jon Hamm as Cyclone, Ed Harris as Rear Admiral, Monica Barbaro as Phoenix, Manny Jacinto as Fritz, Jay Ellis as Payback and Jean Louisa Kelly as Carole Bradshaw.

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What’s It About?

"After more than 30 years of service as one of the Navy's top aviators, Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him," the official synopsis reads. "He finds himself training a detachment of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen.”

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1st Trailer

Cruise surprised fans in July 2019 by unveiling the first look at Top Gun: Maverick at San Diego Comic Con. The trailer kicked off with Rear Admiral (Harris) reading off a laundry list of Maverick’s skills and tendency to take risks, saying, “Despite your best efforts you refuse to die.”

The admiral then questions why Maverick hasn’t moved up in rank, adding, “You should at least be a two-star Admiral by now. Yet here you are, captain. Why is that?” Maverick simply replies, “It’s one of life’s mysteries, sir.”

The teaser also showed Maverick back in the cockpit, putting on his aviator sunglasses and leather jacket and hitting the road on his motorcycle. Glimpses of a funeral, the new recruits and his love interest Penny (Connelly), played out in the background.

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Jon Hamm Teases Hi-Def Filming

“They’re using some technology on this that is never before seen. We’re shooting the movie in, I think, 6K. So it’s incredibly hi-def,” the Mad Men alum, 51, told Collider in May 2019. “The aerial footage is mind-blowing. And it’s mostly practical. There’s not a lot of CG. Those guys are really up in planes and getting thrown around in multiple Gs. … It very much takes the story in a different direction. But I think for the new fans it’s gonna be something very cool, too. I’ve seen some of the footage, it is out of this world.”

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Glen Powell Is ‘Excited’ By Final Product

“I got to see the full cut of it the other day. It is one of the greatest movies of all time. I am so excited to show the world this,” he exclusively told Us in August 2020. “What makes me feel so good about it is that when you know you have the goods, there’s no need to rush it.”

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New Trailer Gives More Details

Paramount Pictures gave viewers one final look at the movie with its March 2022 trailer. In the new teaser, fans get a better feel for all the Top Gun recruits, including Goose’s son, Rooster (Teller), and his apparent rival, Hangman (Powell). “Good morning, aviators, this is your captain speaking,” Maverick says as he surprises his students by flying into the air during a training course.

In another scene, viewers quickly learn that while Goose’s wife didn’t seem to hold Maverick responsible for his death in the original movie, his son isn’t as sure about what went down. “My dad believed in you, I’m not going to make the same mistake,” Rooster tells Maverick during one of his missions, hinting at some hostility between the young pilot and his late father’s best friend.

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Early Reviews Are In

In April 2022, Paramount Pictures debuted the film at CinemaCon and received an overwhelming amount of positive reviews. Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes reporter Erik Davis tweeted his take on the filming, writing at the time, “Folks, trust me when I say this is a legitimately GREAT film. Whatever your plans are for Memorial Day weekend, make #TopGunMaverick a part of them. I think I cried the whole friggin’ movie because I’m such a dork. Loved the cast, and it’s another classic @TomCruise performance.”

We Live Entertainment journalist Scott Menzel agreed, tweeting, “Top Gun Maverick is going to completely blow away fans of the original and may even make some new ones along the way. Truthfully, even though the plot is very dependent on that of the original, I found the film to be better than the original in almost every way. #TopGunMaverick.”

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How Is Lady Gaga Involved?

The 36-year-old Grammy winner released a new song written for the movie in May 2022 called “Hold My Hand.”

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Why Tom Wanted Val to Return

"I really rallied hard for him to make the movie," Cruise told Entertainment Tonight in May 2022 of Kilmer’s cameo. "The kind of talent that he has, and you see that scene [with him in it], it's very special. It's just very special.”

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Why Meg Ryan and Kelly McGillis Didn't Return

Kosinski revealed in a May 2022 interview with Insider that he didn’t ask original actors Ryan and McGillis to return because he “didn’t want every storyline [in the movie] to always be looking backwards," adding, “It was important to introduce some new characters."

McGillis, for her part, told Entertainment Tonight in 2019 her own opinion on why she wasn't asked to reprise her role.

“I’m old, and I’m fat, and I look age-appropriate for what my age is. And that is not what that whole scene is about," she explained. 

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How Successful Is the Film?

Deadline reported on Saturday, May 28, that the action-adventure sequel grossed $150 million over four days, Cruise's best stateside opening weekend ever for a film. 

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Blasting to the Top of the Box Office

On June 14, 2022, Top Gun: Maverick became the highest-grossing movie of the year, bringing in over $400 million at the domestic box office. It is the second highest earning film of the pandemic era, blasting past Doctor Strange 2: Multiverse of Madness and only falling short of Spiderman: No Way Home. It is projected to earn over $1 billion before it leaves theaters.

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Are There Deleted Scenes?

In a June 2022 video, Teller can be seen playing piano and singing to “Great Balls of Fire” in never-before-seen footage. While Top Gun: Maverick showed snippets of the sing-a-long, the special clip included the Pennsylvania native's entire musical performance.

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Rising to the Top

In July 2022, Top Gun: Maverick became Paramount Pictures' highest-grossing movie in the United States and Canada after earning $601.9 million in the first month of its theatrical release. The sequel unseated Titanic — which earned $600.8 on its first run — as the studio's most successful film and became the first one of Cruise's films to earn more than $1 billion in box-office sales worldwide.

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When Can Fans Stream the Movie?

The blockbuster hit will premiere on Paramount+ on December 22.