After the immense success of new installments of the Top Gun and Mission: Impossible franchises in recent years, Tom Cruise may soon be making another major sequel. The news comes 34 years after the movie’s original release in theaters.

The Hollywood Reporter has divulged that Cruise is in talks with Paramount to potentially star in a sequel to the 1990 movie Days of Thunder. The film was a modest hit at the box office upon release with $157 million earned with a budget of $60 million, and with Cruise bigger than ever, it’s not hard to see why Paramount would want to revisit another classic film to feature the iconic actor. Top Gun: Maverick was incredibly successful for the studio when it was released in 2022, garnering very high acclaim along with a box office haul of more than $1.4 billion.

Days of Thunder was directed by Tony Scott and written by Robert Towne. It told the story of rival racers striking an unlikely friendship after they are both seriously injured in competition. The film also starred Michael Rooker, Robert Duvall, Nicole Kidman, Randy Quaid, and Cary Elwes.

Notably, Paramount has also given consideration to rebooting Days of Thunder in the past, but as a television series. Reportedly, Cruise personally shut down the idea. With the planned sequel, Cruise’s signing on isn’t official just yet, as one of the key factors reported is a submitted screenplay the actor will be happy with; no writers are yet on board. The other big hurdle in getting Days of Thunder 2 into production will be finding time in Cruise’s packed schedule. He has multiple other big-budget films in development, including a third Top Gun movie with Paramount.

It depends on the idea and, ultimately, the script.

One unnamed studio insider is quoted as saying about the situation, “He’s talking [to Paramount] about Top Gun and Days of Thunder. It’s going to be what comes together first in terms of a script. It depends on the idea and, ultimately, the script… I don’t think a [Days of Thunder sequel] is a terrible idea. You might have said that revisiting Top Gun was a terrible idea. I wouldn’t discount it.”

Tom Cruise Is Working on Mission: Impossible 8

Cruise is currently working on Mission: Impossible 8. According to the new report, there has been a bit of a conflict between the actor and Paramount over that movie’s marketing. Word is that Paramount wants to market the film as the final installment of the Mission: Impossible movie series, while Cruise doesn’t want to definitively declare the film to be the end of Ethan Hunt’s story just yet. That coincides with comments made by Cruise in 2023 that suggested he wanted to continue playing Ethan for decades to come, with the 62-year-old actor pointing to Harrison Ford’s performance in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny in his 80s.

“Harrison Ford is a legend, I’ve got 20 years to catch up with him,” Cruise explained, per the Sydney Morning Herald. “I hope to keep making Mission: Impossible films until I’m his age.”)

Days of Thunder is currently streaming for free on Pluto TV.