'Top Gun' sequel: Do they really need Tom Cruise?
According to producer David Ellison, Cruise is on board for a 'Top Gun' sequel. Franchises in Hollywood have taken different strategies when it comes to bringing on or discarding the original stars.
Tom Cruise poses for photographers in the winners room during the 2015 British Academy Film and Television Awards.
Jonathan Short/Invision/AP
鈥淭op Gun鈥� fans got a few more details about an upcoming sequel when Skydance CEO David Ellison recently discussed the film.聽
Ellison was an executive producer on such projects starring Tom Cruise as 鈥淢ission Impossible: Ghost Protocol鈥� and 鈥淛ack Reacher.鈥� He鈥檚 also producing the upcoming film 鈥淭erminator Genisys,鈥� and it was during a press conference for that movie that he discussed a possible sequel to 鈥淭op Gun.鈥�
鈥淛ustin Marks is writing the screenplay right now,鈥� Ellison said of the project, according to the website . 鈥淗e has a phenomenal take to really update that world for what fighter pilots in the Navy has turned into today. There is an amazing role for Maverick in the movie and there is no Top Gun without Maverick, and it is going to be Maverick playing Maverick.鈥� Collider writer Matt Goldberg asserted that this last comment means that Cruise, who starred in the original 鈥淭op Gun,鈥� is on board.
Is it a good or bad thing for an original star to come back for a sequel? There can of course be a comforting sense of familiarity in seeing the original actors return. Anticipation is currently high for the upcoming 鈥淪tar Wars鈥� film 鈥淪tar Wars: The Force Awakens,鈥� which will be released this December and which will see original series stars Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford return.
However, some movie series have made a practice of bringing on new talent to keep the movie franchise invigorated, with the recent 鈥淛ames Bond鈥� films topping the box office and getting good reviews for movies starring Daniel Craig. The stars of 1993's 鈥淛urassic Park鈥� are nowhere to be found in the new 鈥淛urassic World,鈥� but while reviews of 鈥淲orld鈥� have been lackluster, many critics praised star Chris Pratt, who鈥檚 new to the franchise and is the center of the film. writer Peter Bradshaw wrote that the actor 鈥済ives a tremendously likeable performance,鈥� while writer Daniel Krupa wrote that 鈥淧ratt is every bit the matinee idol here.鈥�
It鈥檚 also a simple question of longevity. Every Hollywood studio wants a long-running series, and a model like that of the upcoming 鈥淪tar Wars鈥� movie, in which Hamill, Fisher, and Ford are on the scene but younger actors fill out the cast, possibly able to take over if the original trio bow out, seems like the best idea. A young pilot sidekick for Maverick may be a good idea.聽