Top Gun: Maverick's Release Date Coming Slightly Earlier Than Planned

Tom Cruise isn't set to return to his his best-known action role, Mission Impossible's Ethan Hunt, for more than a year. But while Mission Impossible 7 releases next year--and recently halted production because of the coronavirus outbreak--the star is set to return to the franchise that helped make him a superstar. Top Gun: Maverick arrives this summer, and it has now been announced that we'll get to see it earlier than planned.

Admittedly, the movie isn't coming to theaters that much earlier, but it will release two days ahead of its previous date. Top Gun: Maverick now arrives on Wednesday, June 24 instead of Friday, June 26. As Deadline notes, this follows Paramount's traditional pattern of releasing big action movies on Wednesdays--previous examples include the Transformers series and an earlier Cruise movie, War of the Worlds.

Top Gun: Maverick also stars Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, and Ed Harris. It's directed by Joseph Kosinski, who previously directed Cruise in 2014's Oblivion. The spectacular second full trailer was released in December, while the first promo arrived at San Diego Comic-Con last summer. There was also this shorter teaser revealed during January's Super Bowl.

Kosinski has previously spoken about how the film will deal with the realities of combat and the military in an age of drones and advanced technology. "It's just a different world now, so you can't remake the first movie. It has to adapt," he said. "The Navy is very different now than it was in 1986. Back then, they hadn't been in any war for 15 or 20 years at that point. Now, the Navy's been at war for 20 years."

For more, check out GameSpot's guide to the biggest upcoming movies of 2020. One of those films, No Time to Die, has just been delayed.