(Spoiler alert: Do not read on if you don’t want to know what happens in “Top Gun: Maverick.”)
Paramount surprised the CinemaCon crowd on Thursday with the first 13 minutes and the latest trailer to this fall’s “Top Gun: Maverick.”
The film opens with a sequence of fighter jets taking off in a beautiful hue of yellow and orange, shot to the classic “Top Gun” theme “Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins, which fans will remember from the first film. Then, it cuts to Tom Cruise’s Maverick in an airplane hanger in the Mojave Desert, where he gets on a Kawasaki and rides to the air base, only to be told they’ve been ordered to stand down on their latest test flight.
Cruise gets into his jet wanting to hit Mach 10, and puts on what looks like a space helmet. “Alright sweetheart, one last ride.” Indeed, he takes off into the earth’s atmosphere, going so fast in his fighter jet that he is “the fastest man alive.” As the Mach level rises, you can see the jet heating up as it approaches “high hypersonic.”
But of course, Maverick can’t stop there, and he pushes it past Mach 10. At 10.3, the alarms and signals go off, and connection is lost. We see the jet falling out of the sky, and the screen fades to black. But he shows up at a cafe in a desolate town, asking, “Where am I?”
Then, Paramount played the trailer, which delved into more action jet scenes, and showed Miles Teller and Glen Powell’s characters as Maverick becomes a new instructor for the next generation of Navy fighter pilots. But Teller’s character has a history with Maverick: He’s Bradley Bradshaw, the son of Maverick’s closest friend Nick “Goose” Bradshaw, who was killed in the original “Top Gun” while in training.
“My father believed in you. I’m not going to make the same mistake,” Bradshaw tells Maverick.
The film is due in theaters Nov. 19.
In addition to Cruise, the film also stars Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Monica Barbaro and Lewis Pullman. Joseph Kosinski, who directed Cruise in “Oblivion,” takes over for Tony Scott.
Scott’s original action movie, which starred Cruise, Val Kilmer, Anthony Edwards and Kelly McGillis, followed the exploits of a U.S. Navy flight academy and its students. The sequel will follow Cruise’s Maverick, who is now a mentor to a new generation of U.S. Navy fighter pilots.
“Top Gun: Maverick” is being produced by Jerry Bruckheimer for Jerry Bruckheimer Films and David Ellison for Skydance. Cruise also serves as a producer.