The theatrical film industry underwent a complete transformation as a result of the pandemic. Films that once screened for months now screen for weeks, days, or perhaps no time at all before making their streaming debut. Many studios started rushing their pictures into home video in as little as 45 days after their big-screen releases, even after the world became used to covid, the theatres reopened, and the restrictions were relaxed.
Maverick, not Top Gun. Throughout the epidemic, Paramount delayed the film’s release; on May 25, it was eventually and solely released in theatres. The movie then spent months playing exclusively in cinemas, where it amassed the highest box office earnings in both the United States and the rest of the world in 2022. (On Halloween, it was still playing in a few cinemas across the US.)
Maverick eventually came to an end after grossing $716 million locally and $1.4 billion globally. That indicates that the streaming debut is now prepared to take place. Next month, Paramount+ will release the eagerly anticipated Top Gun sequel, which will once again star Tom Cruise as the daring Navy pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell.
Maverick, which was directed by Joseph Kosinski, broke box office records because it was a true big-screen experience. But I’ve already seen it again, this time on a little screen and even on a plane, and I was astonished at how effectively it worked. The screenplay, the acting, and yes, even the fantastic aerial stunts, all work even without the immersive aspects of a dark room and a vast white wall. It’s a fantastic film! And regardless of where or how you watch it, a great movie is still a wonderful movie.
Top Gun Easter Eggs in Top Gun: Maverick
Did you see the sequel’s references to the first Top Gun?
A Flyby
Maverick finds it hilarious to buzz air traffic control towers in his fighter jet for any reason. Even though it gets him into trouble with his superior officers, he continues to do it in Top Gun. Then, in Top Gun: Maverick, what do you think he does to celebrate after that absurdly perilous mission, getting shot down in hostile territory, and barely making it home? Of course, another flyby of a tower. Maverick!!!!
A Training Mission Gone Wrong
Top Gun’s whole storyline is predicated on a horrific training accident that takes the life of Maverick’s best friend Goose. Although Maverick is found not guilty in the incident and permitted to continue his training, for a while his confidence is severely damaged, and he isn’t sure he really wants to continue as a fighter pilot without his dead comrade. In a scene where there is almost a fatal accident, Top Gun: Maverick plays with fans’ expectations that a training mission could go horribly wrong. However, just as it seems like Maverick has avoided a repeat catastrophe, something else goes wrong, and two trainees are almost killed when they lose control of their aircraft.
Below the Hard Deck
The hard deck, an altitude the pilots are not allowed to fly below since doing so is regarded as a violation of the rules of engagement, is a topic that receives a lot of attention in the first Top Gun movie. The topic is brought up once more in Top Gun: Maverick, but this time it becomes an important plot aspect because the pilots must be trained to fly below the usual hard deck in order to complete their mission. Furthermore, “The Hard Deck” is the name of the popular bar in Maverick. This movie features a lot of hard decks.
Don’t think up there!
In both Top Gun films, the adage “If you think, you’re dead” is repeated frequently. It’s utilised in Maverick in a similar way during training scenes to explain why Maverick abruptly becomes a less successful pilot after Goose’s death—thinking he’s too much. Ironically, Maverick decides to try to rescue Rooster after his plane is shot down over enemy territory, but Rooster ironically throws the line back in his face near the climax of the movie. He wasn’t making any decisions. He instructed him to not think. Maverick is forced to acknowledge that he did tell him that.
Flying Upside Down
Maverick inverts his fighter plane while flying directly above an enemy combatant in an early Top Gun sequence, then waves down to his cockpit down below, showcasing both his talent as a pilot and his devil-may-care attitude. He repeats the technique when testing the Maverick’s pilots. The implication: Despite being a couple decades older, the man is still Maverick.
Great Balls of Fire
In the first Top Gun, Maverick’s pal Goose (Anthony Edwards), who enjoyed playing the piano, sang Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Great Balls of Fire” to his wife (a young Meg Ryan) in a famous moment. His son Rooster (Miles Teller), who shares his father’s passion for the piano, even performs “Great Balls of Fire” in one scene. Maverick is truly taken aback by that one.
“Ice”
The characters of Top Gun receive a farewell performance before the credits roll. Each title card for the characters includes the actors’ names and their Navy callsigns. Despite being referred to as “Iceman” throughout the film, Val Kilmer’s character’s title card only says “Ice” at the conclusion. (Perhaps it was just that it was cooler.) Therefore, it is only fitting that Kilmer is still referred to as “Ice” in Maverick’s last credit at the end of Top Gun. I bid you farewell, Ice. You’ll always be Maverick’s heart’s wingman.
“I Shot Down Three MiGs In One of These Things”
Unexpectedly, Maverick and Rooster manage to commandeer one of The Enemy’s old F-14s and fly it back to safety after both of their jets are shot down, enabling them to reach their aircraft carrier in safety. Rooster doubts that the F-14 will be able to transport them back to base as they prepare it for takeoff. A defiant Maverick responds, “I shot down three MiGs in one of these things!” That remark alludes to the pivotal scene in the first Top Gun, in which Maverick and his fellow TOPGUN alums are dispatched to a communication ship that has drifted into hostile (or The Enemy) waters. Maverick shoots down three enemy planes while saving his old nemesis Iceman (Val Kilmer).
Jennifer Connolly’s Character
Despite the fact that Jennifer Connolly didn’t appear in Top Gun, her role was alluded to in a well-known sequence. The commanding officer of Maverick and Goose yells at them early in the movie, accusing Maverick of a “history of high-speed passes over five air control towers and one admiral’s daughter!” Goose noted that the daughter’s name was Penny Benjamin. Though she was not present in Top Gun, Connolly portrays her 35 years later in Top Gun: Maverick. Due to the fact that the connection between Maverick and Kelly McGillis’ Charlie from the original Top Gun is not continued in the sequel, it is a really brilliant approach to give the romance more emotional weight.
“Let’s turn and burn!”
Let’s spin and burn!, which is probably pilot lingo for “It’s time to fly our aeroplanes expeditiously,” is another line from the original Top Gun that is repeatedly quoted exactly. In the final mission of Top Gun: Maverick, when they are trying to smuggle themselves into their target beneath the opposing radar, you can hear Payback utter it.
Maverick Kept All His Old Stuff
Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, who was played by Tom Cruise, is reintroduced working on a jet in a hangar where, it seems, he stored all his old souvenirs from his time at TOPGUN. He still wears his vintage aviator sunglasses, bomber jacket, and rides the same Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle that he used to race throughout Southern California in the first Top Gun movie. Certain things are timeless.
Students Unwittingly Messing With Their Teacher
The plots of Top Gun and Top Gun: Maverick have a clear and intentional echo. The night before their first class, the student pilots in both movies end up giving their new instructor a poor first impression. The incidents in both movies take place in bars. In Top Gun, Maverick makes advances toward Kelly McGillis’ persona without realising that the attractive woman he is smitten with is a brand-new civilian TOPGUN trainer. In Maverick, the new pilot class ejects Cruise’s character from the bar because he is unable to pay for a round of drinks. Once more, they are completely unaware that they are criticising their new instructor, which makes their first lesson the next morning quite awkward.
“The Enemy”
The nation the pilots battle in Top Gun is never mentioned; instead, they are typically referred to as “MiGs,” which is a Russian aircraft variant. This custom is still practised in Maverick; we are never made aware of the location of this top-secret mission. The Navy exclusively uses the term “The Enemy” to refer to the target. The enemy is using “Fifth Generation Fighters” this time, which I assume are even more dangerous than MiGs.
The Old Simpson/Bruckheimer Logo
The Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films lightning bolt logo appears in the very first frame of Top Gun: Maverick. Top Gun was one of Bruckheimer/most Simpson’s notable triumphs; they were among the most successful producers of the 1980s. However, Simpson passed away in 1996, many years before Maverick began filming, so his presence here is a wonderful nod to the first movie.
The Title Sequence
The opening scene of Top Gun: Maverick is almost an exact replica of the opening scene of the original Top Gun, right down to the use of the soaring theme song by Harold Faltermeyer that seamlessly transitions into Kenny Loggins’ well-known song “Danger Zone.” Although the cinematography is slightly higher resolution, some of the pictures are so identical that for a brief moment you might believe they are playing the incorrect Top Gun.
Who’s Up For a Game?
Nobody who has watched Top Gun will ever forget the scene where Maverick, Goose, Iceman, and Slider play a fiercely competitive and topless game of beach volleyball to try to resolve their disagreements as pilots. Similar to the sequence in Top Gun: Maverick, Maverick has his new recruits engage in a match of similarly topless “Dogfight Football” in order to foster collaboration. Although the focus of the new game is the group coming together, it’s difficult to image the scene pausing for some silly fun on the beach if it weren’t for the analogous scene in the first film.
