Start your engines! Thirty-six years after Tom Cruise roared into cinemas as NASCAR driver Cole Trickle in Days of Thunder, the actor has announced that the long-awaited sequel will be released on June 2, 2028, with Anne Hathaway joining the cast.
Tom will return as Cole, while Anne will play a team owner and engineer. The pair came together at the Daytona International Speedway to announce the news in a video on social media. Anne - who is expecting her third child - said: "Now what? Let’s make the movie … I’m gonna have the baby, and then we’re gonna make the movie."
"That’s a good idea. You have the baby, then we’ll go make the movie," repled Tom, joking: "We’re coming out summer of 2028. Don’t be late."
Days of Thunder starred Tom as a rookie hotshot who finds himself in a rivalry with veteran racer Rowdy Burns (Michael Rooker). But after a devastating incident leaves them both injured, they become close friends – and unite against an underhanded newcomer (Cary Elwes).
Despite a ballooning budget and on-set problems between producers, the film was a box office success, grossing over $150 million. Directed by Tony Scott and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, Robert Towne wrote the screenplay based on a story he co-wrote with Tom.
The sequel will be produced by Tom alongside Jerry Bruckheimer and Tommy Harper. Jonathan Levine is set to direct from a script by Will Staples.
© Getty ImagesNicole Kidman also starred as Tom's on-screen love interest Dr Claire Lewicki; the pair fell in love on set and married in 1990.
Together they adopted two children: Isabella Jane (born 1992) and Connor Antony (born 1995), but they announced their split on February 5, 2001 with Tom citing irreconcilable differences.
The pair remain estranged.
Days of Thunder will be only the third sequel Tom has ever starred in; Top Gun (1986) returned in 2022 with Top Gun: Maverick. It was a global success, with a worldwide total of $1.5 billion and becoming the highest-grossing film of Tom's career ever.
He has also appeared in all eight Mission: Impossible movies – the first was released in 1996 – and two Jack Reacher movies, in 2012 and 2016.
Tom's career began in the 1980s with hits such as Risky Business and Cocktail, as well as 1990s classics like Jerry Maguire.
He has since become known for his over-the-top stunts for the Mission: Impossible franchise, which he performs himself, including hanging from an upside-down plane without a parachute, freefalling off a 4,000 ft cliff while riding a motorcycle, and scaling the world's tallest building at 2,722 feet high using only specialized climbing gloves and lightweight harness wires.
