20 facts you might not know about 'Top Gun: Maverick'

While “Top Gun” was one of Cruise’s first defining hits as a movie star, he did not want to necessarily jump into making a sequel. In fact, when the idea was broached to him while he was promoting 1989’s “Born on the Fourth of July,” Cruise called the idea of a “Top Gun” sequel “irresponsible.” It would take a while for the project to find legs.

In 2010, Paramount felt the need for speed, or at least a “Top Gun” sequel. Jerry Bruckheimer was approached to produce, while Tony Scott, the director of the original, was in talks to direct. Christopher McQuarrie, a frequent Cruise collaborator, was hired to write a screenplay, though reportedly with the role of Cruise’s Maverick less significant than in the original.

After McQuarrie’s draft, screenwriters Ashley Edward Miller, Zach Stentz and Peter Craig all took a crack at the script. Craig was hired in March of 2012, when Scott was attached to direct. Sadly, in August of that year, Scott took his own life, which understandably left the movie in limbo, with the potential it might never get made. The interest of Bruckheimer, now bolstered by Cruise, is what kept things going. “Top Gun: Maverick” is dedicated to the memory of Scott.

“Top Gun: Maverick” would get revved back up in 2014, when Justin Marks was hired to write a draft. He and Craig would end up sharing Story By credit, while Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer and McQuarrie got screenplay credit. McQuarrie, by the way, was brought back on in 2018 to do extensive rewrites, so he both began and finished the project effectively.

The movie truly felt official when, in 2016, Cruise was announced to be starring in a “Top Gun” sequel, which would get the official title “Top Gun: Maverick” in June of 2017. It was initially reported that Cruise was paid $13 million to reprise his role, but another report came out in 2022 that indicated that, when all was said and done, Cruise made $100 million for “Maverick.”

Say what you will about him, but Cruise is loyal. McQuarrie will be working in Hollywood as long as Cruise is, and he’s not the only one. The actor worked with director Joseph Kosinski on 2013’s “Oblivion,” and apparently Kosinski made an impression on Cruise. Cruise met with Kosinski when he was filming “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” (directly by McQuarrie, naturally) to discuss “Top Gun: Maverick,” and soon thereafter Kosinski was announced as the director.

Val Kilmer memorably played Iceman in “Top Gun,” but unfortunately cancer complications had severely impacted the actor’s health, and his ability to speak. However, Kilmer posted on Facebook that he was cancer free and hoping to appear in “Top Gun: Maverick.” Cruise was insistent that Kilmer’s Iceman be included, so the actor did get to play a part in the film.

The biggest new role in the sequel was that of Rooster, the son of Goose from the first film. Miles Teller, Glen Powell and Nicholas Hoult were all brought to Cruise’s home to read with the actor for the part. In the end, it was Teller who got the role.

While Teller got the part of Rooster, all parties involved were impressed with Powell. As such, he was offered the role of Hangman, who was called “Slayer” in the early versions of the script. At first, Powell blanched, as the role was one dimensional in his opinion. Cruise and Kosinski convinced Powell he could make the role his own, though, and gave him the opportunity to flesh out Hangman as he saw fit.

Originally, Thomasin McKenzie was going to play the daughter of Jennifer Connelly’s character. Then, she signed on to a role in the film “Lost Girls” and dropped out. Lyliana Wray stepped into McKenzie’s part.

Hamm plays the tut-tutting naval commander Vice Admiral Beau “Cyclone” Simpson, who has had enough of Maverick’s cavalier attitude, which admittedly seems like a fun role to play in a movie like this. The actor presumably agreed. Hamm signed on for the film before he even saw a script.

Famous, and super successful, Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton is friends with Cruise, and Cruise offered Hamilton a role as a fighter pilot in the movie. However, Hamilton had to decline because, well, he had Formula One races to drive in and such.

Production was able to film in a few real naval ships, including the USS Abraham Lincoln where the flight deck scenes were shot. Additionally, they were able to rent out both single-seat and dual-seat Super F-18 Super Hornets, and naval pilots, for filming as well. Reportedly, it cost the production over $11,000 per flight hour for that.

Kosinski took a “more is more” approach to aerial footage. There was evidently over 800 hours of aerial footage shot in the making of “Top Gun: Maverick.” To put that in perspective, Peter Jackson didn’t shoot that much footage when making the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.

Originally, “Top Gun: Maverick” was going to be released on July 12, 2019. However, they wanted to shoot some more action sequences and owing to the complexity, they decided to push the release to June 26, 2020. Of course, when they did this, they couldn’t have known what would happen. That delay pushed the scheduled release of the film into the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused further delays.

Early during the pandemic, a lot of films were pushed in hopes of getting a normal run in theaters, but eventually many studios gave up on that and put the movies out via streaming services. There were services out there that approached Paramount in hopes of getting the rights to release “Top Gun: Maverick.” However, Cruise wanted to wait it out and have his movie open in theaters. It took until May of 2022, but it did indeed happen.

“Top Gun: Maverick” was released over Memorial Day weekend, and it isn’t surprising that it was the number-one film, bringing in $160.5 million domestically over the four days of the holiday weekend. The notion this movie might have legs was clear when the box office only dropped 29 percent in its second weekend. That was the least drop of any movie to ever clear $100 million. It would not be until the movie’s 11th weekend that it fell out of the top five. They then goosed the numbers by re-releasing it in more theaters in its 12th weekend, getting it back up to second. In its 15th weekend, which was also Labor Day weekend, it topped the box office again. Yes, “Top Gun: Maverick” was the top movie domestically over both Memorial Day and Labor Day.

Apparently that 30-year wait got people hyped for a “Top Gun” sequel. The movie ended up making $718.7 million domestically and $1.488 billion worldwide. It became only the second film to clear a billion after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the highest-grossing film in Cruise’s career, and also the highest-grossing movie of 2022.

It’s one thing to make a lot of cash, but critics have also really enjoyed “Top Gun: Maverick.” So have awards bodies. The overall awards haul for the film is yet to be fully tallied, but it has already taken home a few Saturns, a People’s Choice Award, the National Board of Review’s award for Best Film, and it got a spot in the American Film Institute’s top 10 movies of the year. It's also been nominated for six Academy Awards, including those for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Miles Teller is already out there trying to speak another “Top Gun” movie into existence. He has expressed interest in a sequel centered on his character Rooster, with hopes of having Cruise on board as Maverick once again. For now, this is just talk, but over a billion dollars at the box office leads us to believe we won’t be waiting another 30-odd years for a new “Top Gun” film.