Tom Cruise digs into his back catalogue again, and this time it’s the not-heavily-demanded Days Of Thunder 2 that’s coming. I confess, there’s been a rumour or two about a possible sequel to 1990’s Days Of Thunder that we’ve reported on over the years, but I never really expected it to actually happen. In further ... Who had Days Of Thunder 2 on their bingo card?
Tom Cruise digs into his back catalogue again, and this time it’s the not-heavily-demanded Days Of Thunder 2 that’s coming.
I confess, there’s been a rumour or two about a possible sequel to 1990’s Days Of Thunder that we’ve reported on over the years, but I never really expected it to actually happen. In further evidence that I know precisely nothing, it now appears that that Days Of Thunder 2 will be shooting by the end of the year.
The original is a mess of a film, where the behind the scenes stories of making it look far more interesting than what we got. Reuniting the team behind Top Gun, the late Tony Scott directed, with Cruise playing Cole Trickle, a racing car driver who has a crisis of confidence.
This was an era of Tom Cruise’s filmmaking that the terrific Rich Hall rather effectively managed to summarise…
Cruise in more recent times has revisited Top Gun to astounding effect with Top Gun Maverick, his biggest ever hit. And now he’s going to have another bash around the circuit with Days Of Thunder 2.
Jerry Bruckheumer returns to produce, and Jonathan Levine has been brought in to direct. He’s not the most obvious choice to do so, but his films to date – including Warm Bodies, 50/50 and the much-enjoyed comedy Long Shot – should happily cover off the human side, while cars zoom around a track. He’s also got sports drama Mr Irrelevant to his name, although I confess I’ve not seen that. Mainly because it isn’t out yet.
Days Of Thunder wasn’t a massive box office success on its original release, but I do wonder if Cruise sees a bit of unfinished business here. That there’s a good film to be made in the world of NASCAR racing, he’s just not made it yet.
The original also had Robert Duvall, Nicole Kidman, Cary Elwes and Randy Quaid in the cast. Duvall passed earlier this year, and I’m not seeing Nicole Kidman back. Will Staples is in charge of the script, though, and Paramount will be backing the movie. We wait and see what they all come up with.
Cruise Like Thunder remains a bizarre tagline, though. Wonder if the sequel will use it?
