Jerry Bruckheimer Isn't Counting Tom Cruise Out For Top Gun 3 (If He Survives Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, Of Course)
When you revisit some of the biggest blockbusters of the past few decades, there's a huge chance that Jerry Bruckheimer was backing it up. The prolific producer built his production company with Don Simpson with hits like "Beverly Hills Cop," "Top Gun," and "Bad Boys," until his business partner sadly passed away in 1996. Since then, Bruckheimer continued his winning streak with "Con Air," "Armageddon," and countless others. If you saw that production logo lightning strike at the top of the film, you knew you were in for a ride.
Bruckheimer largely stuck to the world of television throughout the 2010s, after Disney had let him go for the commercial disappointments of "Prince of Persia" and "The Lone Ranger." He never stopped producing, but the release of last year's "Top Gun: Maverick" saw the Hollywood powerhouse make one hell of a return with the kind of big-screen action spectacle that made his career. Bruckheimer hadn't worked with Cruise since "Days of Thunder," but together, they would make history once again.
In the span of three decades, "Top Gun" went from one of the signature action flicks of the '80s to a Best Picture contender, along with five other Oscar nominations. It's insane to think how great this legacy sequel ended up, especially since I don't have much reverence for the original, but the results speak for themselves. "Maverick" hit that sweet spot for audiences around the globe, so why not move forward with another installment? It seems like a no-brainer to get Cruise back to do whatever he wants with the series, but Bruckheimer realizes that he's going to be waiting a while before that happens.
'You never know'
Bruckheimer sure seems interested in taking another flight into the Danger Zone, but it may all depend on whether Cruise gets through his insane stunt work on the "Mission: Impossible" movies first (via The Wrap):
"A lot of people talk about it. [...] But Tom is off doing two 'Mission: Impossible' movies and he's out there risking his life as he usually does, unfortunately. But we haven't had a discussion with him about it yet. [...] You always like to make movies that entertain audiences, if we can come up with a way to bring another one back, of course. Why wouldn't we? Look, it took us 35/36 years to get this one done. You never know."
After the six Oscar nominations the film acquired, coupled with the $1.4 billion box office draw, it would surprise me if the Paramount executives weren't coming up with their own war room to get Cruise back onboard for "Top Gun 3." While I'd rather let "Maverick" stand on its own, it would be monetarily foolish to leave that opportunity on the table, especially if the seemingly immortal movie star shows any interest in it.
On top of everything he's doing with Christopher McQuarrie, Cruise is also set to reunite with "Edge of Tomorrow" director Doug Liman, where he's aiming to be the first civilian to pull off an actual spacewalk. Much like Bruckheimer, all we can do is just sit back and see what happens.
"Top Gun: Maverick" is currently streaming on Paramount+.