The95th Academy Awardnominations have not been without their share of surprises, with the hugely popular legacy sequelTop Gun: Maverickreceiving the nod for Best Picture. The Tom Cruise led follow-up to the beloved 1986 classichas seen major success at the box office, grossing $1.489 billion worldwide and thus making it the second-highest-grossing movie of 2022 and the highest-grossing movie of Cruise’s career. And while fans had hoped to seeTop Gun: Maverickmake the Oscars list, a nomination for Best Picture is still a big surprise.
Top Gun: Maverickwill battle for Best Picture against the likes ofAll Quiet on the Western Front, Avatar: The Way of Water, The Banshees of Inisherin, Elvis, Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Fabelmans, Tár, Triangle of Sadness,andWomen Talking.Alongside Best Picture,Top Gun: Maverickhas also been nominated for Best Sound, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, and Best Original Song for “Hold My Hand.” Unfortunately, Cruise has not made the Best Actor list, despite the praise for his performance from both critics, audiences,and his co-stars alike.
Top Gun: Maverickpicks up after more than thirty years since the release of the firstTop Gun,and follows Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) who has been of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators for just as long. Feeling that he is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot, Maverick has dodged the advancement in rank that would ground him. When he finds himself training a detachment of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), call sign: “Rooster,” the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka “Goose.”
Directed by Joseph Kosinski and written by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and Christopher McQuarrie, from a story conceived by Peter Craig and Justin Marks,Top Gun: Maverickstars Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer, both of whom reprise their roles from the 80s original. The sequel introduces Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, and Ed Harris.
RELATED:Top Gun: Maverick Producer Says Tom Cruise Should Win an Oscar for the Blockbuster Sequel
Could the Top Gun Saga Continue with a Third Outing?
Considering the overwhelming success, both critically and financially, ofTop Gun: Maverick, talk has quickly turned to a possible third installment in the franchise.And it’s something that could very much be on the horizon…just not quite yet. “He’s in the middle of shooting Mission Impossible, he’s got a lot of very difficult, hard stunts he’s doing…It’s not the time to take attention away from what’s important to him right now,” said producer Jerry Bruckheimer ofTop Gun 3.
Top Gun: Maverickdirector Joseph Kosinski though sounds a lot more determined to continue the saga of Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell,stating that the Top Gun series has some more “gas left” in its cinematic tank. “Is there another story that is compelling enough that we need to go back? It seems to me at the end of this film that Maverick has some gas left in the tank,” the filmmaker said of a potential sequel. ”He’s not settling down.”
Top Gun: Maverickis now available to stream on Paramount+, where it has become the streaming platform’s most-watched movie debut. The95th Academy Awards 2023is scheduled to take place on Sunday, March 12.
