Paramount Pictures has just put Days of Thunder 2 into the fast lane with Anne Hathaway joining the Tom Cruise legacy sequel.
As well as announcing Hathaway’s casting, Saturday saw the picture’s release date confirmed: 2 June, 2028.
Rubbin’, son, is racin’!
What we know about ‘Days of Thunder 2’
Cruise, ahead of his Oscar campaign with prestige comedy drama Digger, used Saturday to welcome Hathaway to the Days of Thunder 2 film via social media.
A video posted on Cruise’s socials saw the Hollywood superstar and Hathaway standing side-by-side at the famous NASCAR venue, Daytona, with a stock car behind them in film branding.
Hathaway is set to play a team manager in the film, with Cruise reprising his lead role as racer Cole Trickle.
Director Jonathan Levine was tapped to helm the project earlier this summer, whose credits include 50/50, Warm Bodies and Mr Irrelevant.
Cruise is producing alongside Jerry Bruckheimer and Tommy Harper, and the film is being made for IMAX, so you can guarantee it will be as visceral as Top Gun: Maverick and F1: The Movie.
A screenplay was penned by Will Staples.
Picking up four decades later
The original Days of Thunder was released in 1990, almost four decades before the sequel’s planned arrival.
It was directed by the late, great Tony Scott, picking up from his collaboration with Cruise on the original Top Gun, which came out in 1986.
Cruise’s character back then was dropped into the NASCAR world after a stint in single-seater racing, struggling to adapt under the rough tutelage of Robert Duvall’s Harry Hogge.
Nicole Kidman, Michael Rooker, Randy Quaid, Cary Elwes and John C. Reilly also starred.
It’s an absolute classic, which shouldn’t come as a surprise thanks to Scott’s incredible catalogue of crowd-pleasing films that also includes Man on Fire and Deja Vu.
A focus on practical effects, racing and smashing real cars on real tracks, with Cruise at the wheel, is another endearing aspect of the film.
With the latest camera technology, and Cruise’s continued commitment to thrills on the big screen, you can guarantee that Days of Thunder 2 will also pack a big whallop.
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