Top Gun 2

Tom Cruise is back as the coolest fighter pilot ever in the long-awaited sequel.

Let me make this perfectly clear: I’m less of a Top Gun fan and more of a fan of putting Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer in more blockbuster movies, but the end result is pretty much the same: I am ready for a little Top Gun 2 action. The long-rumored film — or perhaps just long-desired film — was finally confirmed by Cruise earlier this year, and now Paramount Pictures is cranking up the movie-making machine to deliver on the promise of more midair dogfights and subtle homoeroticism. With Cruise back, and Kilmer hopefully soon to follow, this could be the perfect throwback to the heydays of studio filmmaking of the late ’80s and early ’90s.

After years of taunting us with the possibility of a (super) late-coming sequel to Top Gun, it’s actually happening. Tom Cruise is back, which guarantees our butts will be in those seats on opening day, no matter what. If you thought they were going to go with a basic title like Top Gun 2 for this major movie event, you were sadly mistaken.

Some days it seems like a new sequel rumor hits the Internet every day. Whispers of Top Gun 2 have been floating around the stratosphere for a few years, with the movie even getting a screenwriter at one point, Val Kilmer vowing to return, and even a mysterious meeting with Jerry Bruckheimer. Sometimes, because of timing or lack of resources or myriad other reasons, sequels just don’t end up happening even if they’re hyped. But today brings good news for Top Gun 2 hopefuls: it’s definitely happening, and Tom Cruise himself says it’ll start filming within the next twelve months.

Rumors of “Top Gun 2" have swirled since the original touched down in 1986. The movie will explore "the end of an era of dogfighting," says producer David Ellison.