If you want to feel the need (the need for speed) but weren’t invited to the “Top Gun: Maverick” premiere today in beautiful San Diego, California (aka Fighter Town), fear not – you can watch the action unfold on YouTube.
The premiere is taking place on the USS Midway, an iconic Navy aircraft carrier that is docked in San Diego. “Top Gun: Maverick” stars Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Charles Parnell, Bashir Salahuddin, Monica Barbaro, Jay Ellis, Danny Ramirez, Greg Tarzan Davis, Manny Jacinto, Peter Mark Kendall, Jean Louisa Kelly, Lyliana Wray, Jack Schumacher and Kara Wang are scheduled to appear, starting at 3:30 p.m. Pacific time ahead of the 7 p.m. premiere screening.
Also making an appearance is Kenny Loggins, whose “Danger Zone” is on the soundtrack to both the 1986 original and the new movie. (Can you say iconic?)
Director Joseph Kosinski, producer Jerry Bruckheimer (also returning from the original film), screenwriter-producer (and Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible” main man) Christopher McQuarrie, producer David Ellison from Skydance and executive producer Chad Oman, who works alongside Bruckheimer, are all also expected to appear.
“Top Gun: Maverick” sees Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Cruise) returning to the Top Gun flight school to train a new group of cadets for a deadly mission in enemy territory. Of course, his reputation and his strained relationship with Rooster (Teller), the son of his old partner Goose (played by Anthony Edwards in the first movie) prove to add complications to an already complex situation. With a heady mixture of high octane action and complex emotions, “Top Gun: Maverick” is poised to be one of the biggest movies of the summer, a true you-must-see-it-in-a-theater experience.
The San Diego premiere is just one stop in the massive promotional tour for “Top Gun: Maverick.” It played to its first big audience last week during CinemaCon, to rapturous reactions. And later this month, it will screen at the Cannes Film Festival, complete with Cruise in attendance for a career retrospective chat. All of this leads up to its big debut in theaters on May 27, after several release date shifts, most of which owing to the coronavirus.
Watch the “Top Gun: Maverick” premiere red carpet livestream above.