Long-awaited 'Top Gun' sequel takes off Thursday on screens around Greater Columbus

This week, fans of the 1986 Tom Cruise action blockbuster “Top Gun” will find out whether the long-awaited sequel is top gun or second banana.

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On Thursday, the much-anticipated sequel, “Top Gun: Maverick,” will open in movie theaters and multiplexes throughout Greater Columbus, including Crosswoods, Dublin 18, Easton 30, Grandview Theater & Drafthouse, Movies 12 Carriage Place, Movies 16 Gahanna, Polaris 18 and Studio 35 Cinema & Drafthouse. Check theater websites for showtimes and tickets.

The Paramount Pictures release, rated PG-13, brings audiences up to date with Cruise’s character, naval aviator Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. In the new movie, Maverick has been chosen to lead a fresh batch of initiates in the fabled “top gun” training program. The team then embarks on a mission of international significance.

The cast includes Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm and Ed Harris, as well as another veteran of the original movie, Val Kilmer as Tom “Iceman” Kazansky, now an admiral in the navy.

'Top Gun' sequel years in the making

It all adds up to a blast from the past that took years to reach the big screen.

Thirty-six years ago, the original “Top Gun,” starring Cruise, Kilmer and Kelly McGillis, became one of the signature blockbusters of the era, racking up over $176 million in domestic grosses and transforming Cruise from the appealing young actor of “Risky Business” and “All the Right Moves” into a bona fide action hero.

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Cameras rolled on “Top Gun: Maverick” in 2018, but the pandemic resulted in a series of shifting release dates that were announced and then abandoned. At various points, the movie was scheduled to come out in June 2020, December 2020 and November 2021.

How to get your Tom Cruise action fix this week

Before moviegoers check out “Top Gun: Maverick” at an area movie theater, some may want to refresh their memories of the nearly-40-year-old original film.

The 1986 “Top Gun” can be streamed on Amazon Prime Video, Paramount+ and Apple TV.

For those who want to curate their own Tom Cruise action movie marathon ahead of the release, here are some of the actor’s career highlights in the genre. All are available on home video or various streaming platforms.

• “Days of Thunder” (1990): Three years after he was airborne in “Top Gun,” Cruise had his feet planted on the ground — or on the gas pedal — in this NASCAR action drama. Directed by Tony Scott, the film co-stars Nicole Kidman, Robert Duvall and Randy Quaid.

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• “Mission: Impossible” (1996): This Brian De Palma-directed blockbuster deposits Cruise, starring as secret agent Ethan Hunt, in numerous heart-stopping action sequences and plenty of wild disguises.

• “Mission: Impossible II” (2000): Also a producer of the franchise, Cruise called on action director John Woo to bring his inimitably kinetic style to this, the first of multiple “Mission: Impossible” sequels. (The latest, “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning, Part One,” will be released in July of 2023.)

• “War of the Worlds” (2005): It was no surprise to Cruise fans that the actor could successfully contend with invaders from outer space in Steven Spielberg’s thrilling version of the classic tale by H.G. Wells.

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: How to stream Top Gun before watching the sequel