Paramount working on 'Days of Thunder' sequel, per report

Paramount Pictures has confirmed it is working on a “Days of Thunder” sequel. According to a report from Variety, Tom Cruise recently visited the Paramount lot to “congratulate the Skydance team on its takeover and to discuss a return to those franchises and other possible collaborations.” The other franchise in play for another film is “Top Gun,” another classic starring Cruise.

The original Days of Thunder film was released in 1990. Cruise starred as Cole Trickle, a young NASCAR driver looking to make his way to the top of the Cup Series. Days of Thunder was a financial success as it made over $157 million worldwide. It also earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Sound.

Jerry Bruckheimer, producer of the original film, already made it clear he was ready to do a Days of Thunder sequel with Cruise. At the “F1” premiere in mid-June, Bruckheimer spoke to Entertainment Tonight about a new Days of Thunder movie being in the works.

“There’s always new technology. There’s always new ways to do things and see things,” Bruckheimer said. “Tom is such a great individual, comes up with phenomenal ideas. So, we’ll have something really exciting for an audience once we pull it together.”

Days of Thunder sequel appears to be on the horizon

Joseph Kosinski, director of F1 and “Top Gun: Maverick,” spoke to GQ in June about the dream pitch he has for a Days of Thunder sequel, which includes a crossover with F1 star Brad Pitt: “Well, right now, it’d be Cole Trickle, who was [Cruise’s] Days of Thunder character, we find out that he and [Pitt’s] Sonny Hayes have a past. They were rivals at some point, maybe crossed paths… I heard about this epic go-kart battle on ‘Interview With a Vampire’ that Brad and Tom had, and who wouldn’t pay to see those two go head-to-head on the track?”

You can likely except several cameos from current drivers in the Days of Thunder sequel. Two-time champion Kyle Larson would like to be one of them.

“I was with Jeff Gordon the other night and he’s good friends with Tom, and he went to the premiere of Mission Impossible,” Larson said in August on Julian Edelman‘s Games With Names podcast. “He’s like, ‘We’re doing it. We’ve got to do another Days of Thunder.’ I hope they do it. … I would absolutely be in it. I would like to be in it.”