The fresh new year has brought with it a fresh batch of rumors that upcoming big-budget movies will be delayed yet again, or stream directly online. One movie that is not expected to meet this fate is Top Gun: Maverick. Paramount, which owns the movie, recently told THR that the aim even now is to stick to a July theatrical release, with Paramount president of distribution Chris Aronson expressing faith in the vaccine rollout soon making public gatherings much safer.

"We have no plans to move our theatrical release of Top Gun. I think the next two months are critical, and whether the new administration can implement a robust vaccination plan. If Biden's 100 million vaccines in 100 days works, then I think we'll be in good shape."

Paramount's decision to stick to a theatrical release for Top Gun: Maverick might not be entirely a result of faith in the vaccine rollout. In the past few months, a sharp division has been created in Hollywood, between those who see streaming as the future of cinema, and those who believe theatrical screenings to still be the purest, most prestigious form of movie watching.

According to recent rumors, Tom Cruise, one of the last true blue stars in Hollywood, and the lead of Top Gun: Maverick, is absolutely dead set on showcasing the movie in theaters, and the execs at Paramount do not dare go against the superstar's wishes for fear of him moving to another studio. In a past interview, Cruise had emphasized the big swings that they have taken with the stunts in Top Gun: Maverick, even going so far as to contend that the type of action scenes showcased in the movie might never be recreated again.

"I realized that there were things that we could accomplish cinematically. And I started getting excited about this big challenge of, 'How do we do it?' So I said to [producer] Jerry [Bruckheimer], 'I'll do it if...' meaning, I'm not going to do the CGI stuff... I said to the studio, 'You don't know how hard this movie's going to be. No-one's ever done this before. There's never been an aerial sequence shot this way. I don't know if there ever will be again, to be honest."

Top Gun: Maverick picks up several decades after the events of 1986's Top Gun. Cruise will be seen reprising his iconic role as Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, a test pilot and flight instructor who loves nothing more than being in the air. Maverick finds himself in charge of several fresh new pilot recruits, one of whom is connected to a painful incident from Maverick's past, forcing him to come to terms with events that he would prefer to leave forgotten.

Directed by Joseph Kosinski from a screenplay by Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie, Top Gun: Maverick stars Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connelly, Val Kilmer, Ed Harris, Jon Hamm, Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Manny Jacinto, Monica Barbaro, Lewis Pullman, Danny Ramirez, and Jay Ellis. The film arrives in theaters on July 2, 2021. This news coms from the Hollywood.