Paramount looking to get back in the danger zone (again) with Top Gun 2

Stinger: They gave you your choice of duty, son. Anything, anywhere. Do you believe that shit? Where do you think you wanna go?

Maverick: I thought of being an instructor, sir.

Stinger: Top Gun?

Maverick: Yes, sir.

Stinger: God help us.

Vulture has gotten the inside scoop today, having learned that Paramount has put out offers to uber-producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Tony Scott to follow up with a sequel to the 1986 pop culture classic TOP GUN. Paramount is also apparently courting screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie (VALKYRIE, THE USUAL SUSPECTS) to hammer out a script. But what of Maverick himself? Tom Cruise – who’s friends with McQuarrie – is apparently game, agreeing to appear in what’s being called a smaller, less “obvious” role (meaning, don’t count on the above quote from the film to come into play).

Back in June, the last time we heard about TOP GUN 2, Bruckheimer stated that while stabs at the project had been taken, development continually fell apart in one way or another. He was quoted as saying, “We were recently approached again to start talking about it but, you know, nothing yet. We kicked around some ideas because the aviation community has completely changed since we made the movie a long time ago.” What did that mean exactly? Vulture points out: “Since 1986, the TOPGUN syllabus has been changed so the focus is far less on the spectacular and dramatic air-to-air dogfights that defined Top Gun and far more about teaching US pilots to drop very large bombs on very small ground targets.”

So what does this mean for the potential sequel? Why is Paramount suddenly so gung-ho about starting up development again?

The reason is David Ellison, the 27-year-old son of Oracle Corporation founder – and world’s sixth-richest man – Larry Ellison, whose first production was the 2006 blip on a radar FLYBOYS. (The guy is obsessed with aviation – he’s an aerobatic pilot and an instrument-rated commercial pilot, and naturally, attended USC film school before launching his own production company – all spurred on by the original TOP GUN.) And apparently, Ellison has been the co-financier to much of Paramount’s upcoming films… starting with MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 4.

Will Paramount now succeed where it failed before? What kind of small and less “obvious” roll could McQuarrie possibly have in mind for Cruise? And seriously… will Val Kilmer be asked to return? If this happens, he motherf*cking better be.