Tom Cruise’s ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ For Release on June 24

Variety.com: Tom Cruise’s “Top Gun: Maverick” will fly forward two days to release on June 24, giving the blockbuster a Wednesday start.

Paramount Pictures made the announcement on Monday. The “Top Gun” sequel. Cruise is reprising his role as Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell.

A recent trailer for films showed Cruise being introduced thusly to young flyers in a hangar: “Your instructor is one of the finest pilots this program has ever produced. His exploits are legendary.What he has to teach you may very well mean the difference between life and death.”

“Oblivion” helmer Joseph Kosinski is directing the film, a sequel to the 1986 classic action film, from a script by Peter Craig, Justin Marks, and Eric Warren Singer. Jerry Bruckheimer, who produced the first movie with the late Don Simpson, will produce with Cruise and Skydance CEO David Ellison.

“Only the Brave” star Miles Teller will play the son of Goose, Maverick’s co-pilot played by Anthony Edwards in the original movie, who’s Maverick’s new protege.

Val Kilmer will reprise his role as Tom “Iceman” Kazansky in the sequel. Jon Hamm, Ed Harris, Lewis Pullman, Charles Parnell, Jay Ellis, Bashir Salahuddin, Danny Ramirez, and Monica Barbaro round out the cast.

The original film was a massive success, grossing more than $350 million worldwide on a $15 million budget. Paramount had originally planned to release the film in the summer of 2019, but decided to move it back a year to give filmmakers the opportunity to work out the logistics of presenting flight sequences with new technology and planes.

Moving “Top Gun: Maverick” forward will give it a jump on Warner Bros.’ “In the Heights,” its adaption of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s stage musical and an expected summer blockbuster.