Joseph Kosinski Q&A: ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ & ‘Spiderhead’ Director On Opening Two Back To Back, A Gander At Finding Goose’s Son In Miles Teller And The Tom Cruise Call To The Studio He’ll Never Forget

Tom Cruise is breaking a new record! The Hollywood star is enjoying the success of ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ following the premiere of the film, with an estimated $156 million dollars domestically during the four-day opening weekend.The sequel to the 1986 fan-favorite blockbuster has surpassed all expectations, as the forecast for the opening weekend was approximately $130 million. Now the actor has achieved his biggest debut at the box office and his first surpassing $100 million.‘Top Gun: Maverick’ broke the record for biggest opening over Memorial Day weekend, taking the place of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End’ in 2007, making $153 million at the time for the third installment of the franchise.Directed by Joseph Kosinski, fans of the original ‘Top Gun’ shared their excitement to see the return of Tom Cruise, reprising his iconic character, Navy pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell 36 years after the first film.The new storyline follows a new generation of elite fighter pilots, mentored by Maverick, who will be in charge of their training.Celebrities also showed their excitement for the premiere of ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ including Prince William and Kate Middleton, attending the U.K.

Top Gun: Maverick has brought in a huge box office haul on its opening weekend.The sequel to 1986’s Top Gun, which sees Tom Cruise return as Captain Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell, has already taken $248million (£196million) worldwide since its release on Friday (May 27).Of those takings, $151million (£119million) were in the US, with the film screening at a record-breaking 4,732 cinemas, the most for any film on its first weekend.This makes Maverick the highest-grossing opening for a non-superhero film since the COVID-19 pandemic began, as well as the first Cruise film to go over the $100million (£79million) mark on opening weekend.It sits behind last year’s Spider-Man: No Way Home ($206million/£162million), Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness ($148million/£116million) and The Batman ($106million/£83million).While Cruise returns for the blockbuster, original stars Kelly McGillis (Charlie Blackwood) and Meg Ryan (Carole Bradshaw) are both absent from the film.Explaining the decision not to include the characters, director Joseph Kosinski told Insider: “Those weren’t stories that we were throwing around.“I didn’t want every storyline to always be looking backwards.

Forget breaking the sound barrier: Tom Cruise just flew past a major career milestone.

Some fans might be sad to see that Kelly McGillis, who played Charlie in the original Top Gun movie, is not in the sequel.

original “Top Gun” movie debuted in 1986, the blockbuster led to a major bump in Navy recruiting — reportedly a whopping 500%.“I don’t know if that figure is accurate but I will tell you that it definitely had an effect on recruiting if only one guy, which is me,” Captain Brian Ferguson, 53, told The Post. “I saw the movie, thought it looked like the most exciting job in the world.

Top Gun: Maverick (★★★☆☆).The folks in the high-flying sequel might as well be throwing their barbs at Maverick star Tom Cruise, who proved himself a box office draw 36 years ago with the phenomenal success of Top Gun, the film that cemented his brash onscreen persona.The courageous, grinning, gunning Little Engine that will always out-hustle his competition no longer radiates that same insatiable hunger. But Cruise — and Maverick — still move like men with something left to prove.Introduced living in an old Navy air hangar somewhere in the Mojave, Pete Mitchell is still a maverick after all these years, still forgoing a helmet while speeding around on his motorcycle, still ranked captain despite decades in service, and still risking his life for Navy and country as a test pilot for a Mach 9 program.

It was an intimate cocktail party. Tom Cruise wore a cheerful smile so I couldn’t resist the opportunity to test it. “For someone who’s just been fired, you look very happy,” I said. “Sumner Redstone figured you would be angry by the press release.”

Alexa, play “Take My Breath Away.” While the nostalgia is overwhelming for Top Gun fans in the sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, not everything is the same for the title character 30 years after the original film.

Val Kilmer’s daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, is reflecting on her experience witnessing her father lay down scenes on the set of "Top Gun: Maverick." The 30-year-old actress recalled being present when Kilmer, 62, made his anticipated cameo in the upcoming Tom Cruise flick as Tom "Iceman" Kazansky, the arch-nemesis of Cruise’s Pete "Maverick" Mitchell. According to the New York Post, both stars appear together in a scene, reuniting the pair in which Iceman and Maverick Mitchell come face-to-face and each deliver heartwarming performances that marked a culmination for the film franchise.

Wilson Chapman editorLess than a month after the highly anticipated “Top Gun: Maverick” flies into theaters, director Joseph Kosinski is reuniting with star Miles Teller for the Netflix sci-fi thriller “Spiderhead.”Based on the George Saunders short story “Escape From Spiderhead,” which was originally published in The New Yorker, “Spiderhead” stars Teller as a prisoner at the titular state-of-the-art penitentiary, designed by inventor Steve Abnesti (Chris Hemsworth). Located on a gorgeous island, the island offers its prisoners reduced prison sentences and good accommodations at a price; every inmate wears a surgically attached experimental device that administers mind-altering drugs in their brain.Although Abnesti is convinced that his work will save lives, the experiments he carries out on his patients begins to test the boundaries of free will.

In a world continuing to be ravaged by a pandemic, who doesn’t want a little more dystopian escapism? Look no further than Netflix’s upcoming film “Spiderhead.” The upcoming film finds a way to marry post-apocalyptic tension with romance. The movie is based on the George Saunders short story that originally ran in the New Yorker called “Escape from Spiderhead.” It was later collected in his bestselling anthology, Tenth Of October.

Tom Cruise as Pete «Maverick» Mitchell and features a special return from Val Kilmer as now-Admiral Tom «Iceman» Kazansky -- doesn't feature any appearances from the female stars of the 1986 original: Kelly McGillis and Meg Ryan.Ryan's character, Carole, the wife of Maverick's late wingman and best friend Nick «Goose» Bradshaw (played by Anthony Edwards) and mother to Miles Teller's Bradley «Rooster» Bradshaw, is referenced in the sequel and seen in flashback scenes. However, there isn't even a mention of McGillis' Charlie Blackwood, a Top Gun instructor and Maverick's love interested in the original.«Those weren't stories that we were throwing around,» Maverick director Joseph Kosinski told Insider of the actresses' absences.

Val Kilmer took to Twitter on Friday night to share a "special throwback" picture featuring members of the original "Top Gun" cast. "Here's a very special throwback from the OG Top Gun.

Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski has explained why two major characters from the first film didn’t return for the sequel.Kelly McGillis, who plays Pete “Maverick” Mitchell’s love interest Charlie Blackwood, and Meg Ryan as Goose’s wife Carole Bradshaw are both noticeably absent from the new movie.Miles Teller has been cast as Nick “Goose” Bradshaw’s son in the new film, but his mother does not appear.“Those weren’t stories that we were throwing around,” Kosinski said in an interview with Insider, saying that he hadn’t considered bringing the two women back.“I didn’t want every storyline to always be looking backwards,” Kosinski said. “It was important to introduce some new characters.”Twenty One Pilots’ Tyler Joseph, meanwhile, has claimed he was asked to write a song for the film before Tom Cruise rescinded the offer.“I saw some scenes.

"Top Gun: Maverick" director Joseph Kosinski shared that bringing back the female characters played by Meg Ryan and Kelly McGillis was never considered for the 2022 sequel.  During an interview with Insider, Kosinski said, "Those weren't stories that we were throwing around." Ryan, 60, played the character of Goose’s wife Carole Bradshaw in the 1986 movie, and McGillis, 64, played Top Gun instructor Charlotte "Charlie" Blackwood.  Meg Ryan and Kelly McGillis were never asked to return in the 2022 sequel "Top Gun: Maverick." (Getty Images) According to Kosinski, the filmmakers wanted to take "Top Gun: Maverick" in a different direction. "I didn't want every storyline to always be looking backwards," Kosinski shared.

With Tom Cruise reprising his “Top Gun” role in the new sequel “Top Gun: Maverick”, fans may have noticed that while some stars from the original (such as Val Kilmer) are back for brief cameos, that isn’t the case with Kelly McGillis and Meg Ryan, neither of whom appear in the new movie.

Singer Tyler Joseph of 21 Pilots revealed the band was supposed to write music for the soundtrack of "Top Gun: Maverick." Joseph claimed the project came to a halt when Tom Cruise "fired everyone." "You know, I was working with the – I don't know if I'm even supposed to say this, whatever – I was working with the music placement person for the new ‘Top Gun’ on writing a new song for them," Joseph told radio station KROQ.  "And then I believe Tom Cruise came in and just fired everyone." 21 Pilots singer Tyler Joseph recently revealed he was supposed to write music for "Top Gun: Maverick" but was "fired" by Tom Cruise. Joseph noted there were a few "overhauls" throughout filming saying, "The trailer has been out for like three years, so there's been a few overhauls, and I was a part of that.They moved on." "Top Gun: Maverick" will premiere on May 24 after delays due to the coronavirus pandemic.