Tom Cruise is headed to the 2022 Cannes Film Festival with his long-delayed blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick. The hotly anticipated sequel to Tony Scott's 1986 action epic, Top Gun, will mark Tom Cruise's first film to screen at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in three decades. The last film to do so was Ron Howard's 1992 film Far and Away, starring Cruise and Nicole Kidman.
Rumors of Top Gun: Maverick's Cannes premiere had been circulating for the past month, and The Hollywood Reporter finally confirmed the news recently. However, the film is still expected to have its world premiere in San Diego, like its predecessor, and will likely play out of competition at Cannes. This year, the festival celebrates its 75th anniversary and is looking to secure several high-profile films to mark the special occasion.
Baz Luhrmann's Elvis, Disney-Pixar's Lightyear, George Miller's Three Thousand Years of Longing, and David Cronenberg's Crimes of the Future are all expected to premiere at the festival, with Alejandro González Iñárritu's Bardo and Wes Anderson's Asteroid City also rumored to make the cut. The 2022 edition of the Cannes Film Festival will run from May 17 to 28.
Top Gun: Maverick will pick up 30 years after the events of Top Gun and follow Cruise's Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell as he trains a new generation of Navy fighter pilots while confronting the ghosts of his past. The film also stars Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Ed Harris, Monica Barbaro, Charles Parnell, Danny Ramirez, and Lewis Pullman. Val Kilmer also reprises his role as Admiral Tom "Iceman" Kazansky from the first film. Joseph Kosinski (Tron: Legacy, Only the Brave) directs Top Gun: Maverick from a screenplay by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and Christopher McQuarrie.
Top Gun: Maverick Has Been Years in The Making
A Top Gun sequel was announced to be in development in 2010, but after Tony Scott’s unfortunate demise in 2012, those plans were significantly delayed. In 2017, Cruise officially confirmed Top Gun 2’s title and shooting date. The film was planned to release on July 12, 2019, but was postponed to 2020 to allow the makers to perfect the film’s extensive, CGI-free flight sequences. Then the COVID-19 pandemic played spoilsport and delayed the film further. Top Gun: Maverick will finally fly into theaters on May 27, 2022. The film will be available for streaming on Paramount+ 45 days after its release.
Top Gun: Maverick will be Hollywood’s next big legacy sequel, but the makers have gone to great lengths to make sure the film respects the original while telling an original story with compelling new characters. Featuring bigger action sequences, a new theme, and a heavy dose of ‘80s nostalgia, Top Gun: Maverick looks to outdo the original.
The official plot synopsis for the film reads:
"After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete "Maverick" Mitchell is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him. When he finds himself training a detachment of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw call sign: "Rooster," the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka "Goose." Facing an uncertain future and confronting the ghosts of his past, Maverick is drawn into a confrontation with his own deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who will be chosen to fly it."