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Although Tom Cruise signed a non-exclusive agreement with Warner Bros. earlier this week, it looks like he will be keeping busy with Paramount for some time. Reports tonight are just that Top Gun 3 In development at Paramount with Top Gun: Maverick Co-author Ehren Kruger is currently writing a draft.
Word is that the project will bring Cruise along MaverickMiles Teller and Glen Powell, as well as producers Jerry Bruckheimer and David Ellison. Joe Kosinski will reportedly direct or produce.
Cruise is currently shooting Mission Impossible 8 For Paramount. The actor’s outer space film with NASA is also showing at Universal. Doug Liman is directing that.
Puck had news about him Top Gun 3 Tonight, they’re speculating that it could be the three-time Oscar nominee’s next potential project after that Mission Impossible 8. Even without Top Gun 3It will be a challenge for Cruise to achieve anything at Warners for a few years.
Top Gun: Maverick It is the highest-grossing film of Cruise’s career, earning $1.49 billion. It won an Academy Award last year for Best Sound and was nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture.
What’s really glaring about tonight’s news is that Ellison’s Skydance, which is circling to acquire National Amusements in an all-cash bid, was a producer on Top Gun: Maverick. Deadline first told you that Ellison and Red Bird Capital were kicking the tires at National Amusements. The Shari Redstone-led bidder controls nearly 80% of Paramount shares and is the gatekeeper for any M&A deal. One backer of Skydance’s current offering is Ellison’s father, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, per A Wall Street Journal a report. Ellison participated in the financing Top Gun: Maverick By 25% and participated in a total net profit for the second part of $391 million.
Deadline has reached out to Paramount for comment.