The actor-producer is exploring a follow-up to his 1990 NASCAR racing film while also developing a ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ sequel and figuring out the future of the ‘Mission: Impossible’ franchise.

Days of Thunder, Tom Cruise, 1990 Courtesy Everett Collection

Tom Cruise is looking to make a sequel to another of his action classics, and it’s not one that you’d expect.

The actor is talking to Paramount about a follow-up to his 1990 NASCAR racing film Days of Thunder.

On its surface, the idea seems rather bold. Thunder wasn’t considered a box office hit upon its release (making $157 million globally with a production budget of $60 million), and the film received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics. But having revived and modernized 1986’s Top Gun with 2022’s blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick, the actor believes he can work similar magic with his racing drama (which, like the original Top Gun, was a Paramount film produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Tony Scott). A Thunder revival has been floated before — Paramount once pitched a reboot of the title as a TV show for Paramount+, an idea that Cruise nixed.

Key factors include the project’s script (the studio is out to potential writers now) and the 62-year-old actor-producer’s packed schedule. Cruise is about to start shooting The Revenant filmmaker Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s mysterious next film for Warner Bros./Legendary, developing a Doug Liman movie for Universal that’s set in actual space, and he’s developing a sequel to Maverick (which Cruise and Paramount both consider a top priority).

“He’s talking [to Paramount] about Top Gun and Days of Thunder,” says a studio insider familiar with the discussions. “It’s going to be what comes together first in terms of a script. It depends on the idea and, ultimately, the script.” (Cruise, sources say, has script approval over all of his projects).

Racing films have become rating fashionable lately, with the success of James Mangold’s 2019 picture Ford v Ferrari, Michael Mann’s less successful 2023 racing drama Ferrari, and next year’s F1 — which stars Brad Pitt and is directed by Maverick helmer Joseph Kosinski (who would seemingly be the ideal choice to helm Thunder, but one imagines he wouldn’t be too keen on making back-to-back racing movies). The glut of recent fast-cars-on-tracks projects makes the prospect of resurrecting Thunder even more daunting (imagine if Maverick had been released after three other fighter pilot movies), but at least none of the other titles specifically explore the world of NASCAR racing, which has a decidedly different Americana vibe compared to the more European-based world of Le Mans and Formula 1.

“I don’t think a [Days of Thunder sequel] is a terrible idea,” added the Paramount source (the studio declined to comment for this story). “You might have said that revisiting Top Gun was a terrible idea. I wouldn’t discount it.”

Days of Thunder certainly has its devotees, among them Tony Scott fan and collaborator Quentin Tarantino. “Hands down my favorite [racing movie] is Days of Thunder,” the director was quoted as saying in 2013. “Yeah, yeah, you laugh, but seriously, I’m a big fan. Sure, it had a big budget, big stars and a big director in Tony Scott, but it had the fun of those early [American International Picture racing] movies. I just don’t think [the genre] works if you take the whole thing too seriously.” Thunder is also remembered as the film where Cruise met his former wife of 11 years, Nicole Kidman, who co-starred in the project as a neurosurgeon and love interest for Cruise’s USAC racer Cole Trickle.

Then, there’s writer-director Christopher McQuarrie’s eagerly anticipated Mission: Impossible 8, which is finally wrapped and in post-production. The project has had a long and difficult journey, with a budget that’s reportedly approaching $400 million amid production delays — partly due to the 2023 Hollywood strikes.

While the franchise remains very popular and 2022’s seventh entry Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning — Part One largely drew raves (scoring more than 94 percent on Rotten Tomatoes among both critics and audiences), the last film’s budget before marketing was nearly $300 million and its box office return was considered disappointing ($566 million globally). Making matters more challenging for the upcoming film, Dead Reckoning ended on a cliffhanger — snapping the tradition of each M:I adventure being a stand-alone entry where each film is wholly accessible to a fresh audience. Paramount has since dropped the “Part One” from 7’s title. The new film’s title will be revealed in the next couple of weeks when Paramount drops the first M:I 8 trailer.

One intriguing wrinkle: Paramount has been interested in promoting M:I 8 as the “final” entry in the action franchise as a way of boosting audience interest. Yet Cruise has been against saying a public goodbye to Ethan Hunt — not surprising, considering the preternaturally youthful actor was quoted last year as saying he hopes to keep making M:I movies into his 80s. (“Harrison Ford is a legend, I’ve got 20 years to catch up with him,” Cruise said. “I hope to keep making Mission: Impossible films until I’m his age.”)

Still, Paramount is optimistic about M:I 8 and bullishly wants to bring the film to Cannes — a move that’s lately developed a reputation as high-risk for big-budget mainstream projects, given how the festival’s critical reception torpedoed Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Horizon: An American Saga months before each title opened. At least in the case of M:I 8, the festival is scheduled right before M:I 8 opens wide in theaters (Cannes runs May 13 to 24; the M:I 8 release date is May 23), so any critical barbs from France will be coming around the same time, or just after, the movie has already had its world premiere and domestic critic screenings.

“I think Tom’s in a good place,” the studio insider noted. “And I think Mission is going to be really good.”

— Pamela McClintock and Mia Galuppo contributed to this report