Paramount Pictures premiered the first trailer Thursday for “Top Gun: Maverick,” the long-awaited follow-up to the beloved, quintessentially Tom Cruise flick — and fans are stoked.
Cruise, who showed up unannounced at Comic-Con Thursday in San Diego, treated fans at the “Terminator: Dark Fate” panel (also a Paramount production) with the brand new teaser.
“I felt it was my responsibility to deliver for you,” Cruise told the audience.
“To me, ‘Top Gun’ is about competition,” he continued. But this time, Maverick isn’t competing for rank or respect. He’s just trying to keep his job in the face of advanced aero technology, i.e. drones.
“You’re a dinosaur,” says a shadowy Ed Harris in the trailer, who plays a not-yet-named superior to Cruise’s Maverick. “You’re headed for extinction.”
“Maybe so, sir,” replies Maverick now a pilot instructor, “but not today.”
The film, which was originally set to release in 2019 but has since been pushed to 2020, stars Val Kilmer, reprising his role as “Iceman,” and Miles Teller — who plays Goose’s son and Maverick’s star student — along with Jon Hamm, Harris, Lewis Pullman, Charles Parnell, Jay Ellis, Bashir Salahuddin, Danny Ramirez and Monica Barbaro.
The trailer is already flying high on social media.
“I’ll be seeing this. It looks fantastic,” wrote MMA reporter Stephie Haynes on Twitter. “Tom Cruise might be crazier than a s–thouse rat, but I think he’s a phenomenal filmmaker and actor.”
“I was nervous when I heard this was being made but after seeing the preview, the only nerves I have are pure excitement. 2020 can’t come soon enough!!! #TopGun,” tweeted UFC fighter Michael Chiesa.
Of course not everyone is here for the old-guard-desperately-tries-to-stay-relevant movie trope.
“Based on the trailer, the new #TopGun should’ve been called ‘Top Gun 2: Mid Life Crisis,’ ” quipped British comedian Tiernan Douieb.
