Tom Cruise is looking to make a sequel to another of his action classics, and it’s not one that you’d expect.
The actor is talking to Paramount about a follow-up to his 1990 NASCAR racing film Days of Thunder.
On its surface, the idea seems rather bold. Thunder wasn’t considered a box office hit upon its release (making $157 million globally with a production budget of $60 million), and the film received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics. But having revived and modernized 1984’s Top Gun with 2022’s blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick, the actor believes he can work similar magic with his racing drama (which, like the original Top Gun, was a Paramount film produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Tony Scott). A Thunder revival has been floated before — Paramount once pitched a reboot of the title as a TV show for Paramount+, an idea that Cruise nixed.
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“He’s talking [to Paramount] about Top Gun and Days of Thunder,” says a studio insider familiar with the discussions. “It’s going to be what comes together first in terms of a script. It depends on the idea and, ultimately, the script.” (Cruise, sources say, has script approval over all of his projects).