Paramount's TOP GUN: MAVERICK is changing its flight pattern, and will now be hot-dogging away from its June 24 theatrical debut, due to theater closures and continued concerns about the spread of COVID-19. The film will instead fly into theaters for a December 23, 2020 release, just in time for Christmas.
Other tentpole releases such as Marvel's BLACK WIDOW, Disney's live-action MULAN, WONDER WOMAN 1984, IN THE HEIGHTS, Sony's MORBIUS, GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE, and A QUIET PLACE PART II as well as many others have all seen their premieres delayed as well. The bottom line is that even if theaters are able to open by June, studios and theater owners are unsure about how eager moviegoers will be to pack theater spaces. I mean, you've seen those cinema floors, right? Imagine if that gunk were germs, and they're busy having a party on the very seat that you've reserved. It's a bone-chilling thought, and I've no doubt that scores of theater patrons will be nervous about going to the movies long after their area is given the all-clear.
To put things into perspective, TOP GUN: MAVERICK cost over $150 million to produce. With that in mind, it's easy to understand why Paramount is going to want that release to fly quite high during its theatrical run. You've got to recoup those costs somehow, and ticket sales will be more valuable than ever, once theaters allow their doors to swing wide.
Directed by Joseph Kosinski, and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, and David Ellison, TOP GUN: MAVERICK finds Cruise's Maverick back in the cockpit and ready to fly headlong into his most challenging mission yet, training a group pilots for a specialized mission that will test their skills as well as their mettle.
Set to join Tom Cruise amidst the big blue for TOP GUN: MAVERICK are Miles Teller as Lt. Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw, Glen Powell as 'Hangman', Monica Barbaro as 'Phoenix', Lewis Pullman as 'Bob', Jay Ellis as 'Payback', and Danny Ramirez as 'Fanboy'.
Here is the official synopsis for TOP GUN: MAVERICK:
After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him. When he finds himself training a detachment of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), call sign: “Rooster,” the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka “Goose”.
Facing an uncertain future and confronting the ghosts of his past, Maverick is drawn into a confrontation with his own deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who will be chosen to fly it.
TOP GUN: MAVERICK will now split the sky like a sheet in theaters on December 23, 2020.