Top Gun: Maverick Delayed Six Months To May 2022

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Top Gun Maverick

Fans have been waiting 35 years to see Tom Cruise take to the skies as Pete Mitchell again, so they’ve become accustomed to twiddling their thumbs waiting for Top Gun: Maverick to release. The bad news is that they’ll have to wait even longer after Paramount shunted Joseph Kosinski’s sequel back six months to May 2022.

As if spending three decades and change in development hell wasn’t bad enough, Maverick will now be arriving a full three years later than intended. The airborne spectacular was first announced to be coming on July 12th, 2019, and the latest setback is the seventh different release date to have been bestowed upon the blockbuster as the effects of the pandemic continue to ravage the industry.

Mission: Impossible 7 was also moved to September 2022, so Cruise’s schedule may be a factor. The A-lister was initially set to shoot his seventh and eighth outings as Ethan Hunt back-to-back, but COVID-19 put paid to that. He was also due to wrap Mission 7 and then hit the promotional trail for Top Gun: Maverick, before getting back to work on Christopher McQuarrie’s next globetrotting epic, but that won’t be happening either.

The fact production is still ongoing on number seven has altered Cruise’s upcoming slate dramatically, so his availability to promote his long-awaited return to his breakout role from Tony Scott’s 1986 original could well be a significant factor in why Top Gun: Maverick has been moved.

After all, Cruise is arguably Paramount’s biggest draw, and they’ll need that megawatt grin firing on all cylinders when it’s time to hit the press circuit. The good news for fans is that they’ll be getting two major movies starring the action icon in the space of four months, even if it’s not happening until next year.