I Feel the Need
Top Gun &
Maverick
In 1986, Top Gun made Tom Cruise the biggest movie star on Earth. In 2022, he waited 36 years, then made a sequel that grossed $1.5 billion and proved that movie theaters still matter. Nobody else could have done this. Nobody else would have tried.
You're here for the running, right? Of course you are. 8.3 miles. 26 films. Zero body doubles. The arm pump index. Go.
Back to the running1986 vs. 2022
36 years apart — and somehow the sequel was better.
Top Gun: Maverick
The Sequel That Saved an Industry
$1.496 Billion Worldwide
Maverick became the highest-grossing film of Tom Cruise's career and the 14th highest-grossing film in history. It was the first Cruise film to cross $1 billion.
36-Year Gap Between Films
The longest gap between an original and its sequel to result in a massive hit. Cruise waited specifically for the technology to exist to film real cockpit footage at high G-forces.
Real F/A-18 Footage
Every cockpit shot is real. The actors flew in real F/A-18 Super Hornets pulling up to 7.5 Gs. No CGI was used for flight sequences. The cast trained for three months in aviation.
Saved Movie Theaters
Released in May 2022 when theaters were on life support after COVID. Maverick proved audiences would still come to theaters for the right film. It single-handedly restored industry confidence.
96% on Rotten Tomatoes
One of the best-reviewed films of 2022. Critics praised it as not just a great sequel but a great film, period. Many called it the best legacy sequel ever made.
Val Kilmer's Return as Iceman
Val Kilmer, who had lost his voice to throat cancer, returned for an emotionally devastating scene with Cruise. They used AI technology to recreate his voice. Both actors wept during filming.
The Original: Top Gun (1986)
Before Maverick, there was the original. Directed by Tony Scott, Top Gun was a $15 million film that grossed $357 million worldwide and turned Tom Cruise from a promising young actor into the biggest movie star on the planet.
The film increased Navy recruitment by 500%. It made Ray-Ban Aviators the best-selling sunglasses in America. It turned “I feel the need — the need for speed” into a permanent part of the English language. The beach volleyball scene. The inverted bird flip. The motorcycle sunset. Every frame was designed to make you feel like Tom Cruise was the coolest human being alive.
And he was 23 years old.
Cruise knew immediately that a sequel would only work when the technology existed to film real cockpit footage at extreme G-forces. So he waited. For 36 years. While every studio in Hollywood begged him to make Top Gun 2, he said no — until the cameras were good enough to capture what he wanted to show the audience.
You're here for the running, right? Of course you are. 8.3 miles. 26 films. Zero body doubles. The arm pump index. Go.
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