Top Gun: Maverick – First 12 minutes debut at CinemaCon

JoBlo.com is at this year’s CinemaCon, where Paramount recently debuted the first 12 minutes of the anticipated sequel Top Gun: Maverick. We’ve got our own hot dog who wishes he could be Tom Cruise’s co-pilot, Chris Bumbray, on the scene, and he’s got details about the film’s brand-new footage.

According to Chris, the film starts exactly like the first movie. We’re talking about the same font and color palate here, folks. The nostalgia is clearly going to be flying high. Credited as a Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer production, the film opens with a jet preparing for take-off. Harold Faltermeyer’s score begins to play but then transitions into “Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins. You can already feel the adrenaline starting to kick in.

We then meet up with Maverick in the Mohave Desert, where he’s testing planes. He has a shrine built for Goose. Enter Ed Harris’s character (Admiral Caine), who is trying to shut down Maverick’s program in favor of drones. Maverick then ignores the admiral’s order to stand down. He’s more interested in getting the plane to reach Mach 10. It’s only supposed to go up to Mach 9, but as we know, Maverick is a madman. He then buzzes the admiral with his jet stream. The admiral doesn’t react because he’s a hard man who’s all about that drone life.

Maverick is ordered to stand down again. He then pretends to have problems with his coms. Cruise is in full-on brash mode, even though it’s clear that Maverick has matured since the last film. He’s going through with the stunt because he doesn’t want his crew to lose their jobs. As the plane climbs into the sky and things get a bit hectic, he says, “Talk to me, Goose.” He pushes the plane to Mach 9.9, and the damn thing nearly falls apart. He keeps pushing, though. The plane accelerates to Mach 10.1, then to Mach 10.2. “You’ve got some balls, Stick Jockey,” Admiral Caine says.

In the end, Maverick destroys the plane but makes it out alive. He then walks to a diner to ask where he is. A young boy replies, “Earth.” Kids these days, they’re such smart asses.

It was at this point Paramount’s presentation when they showed off a new trailer for Top Gun: Maverick.

In the trailer, we see Miles Teller in “Goose Mode,” the film’s recruits, and Maverick as their instructor. This being the case, Maverick is only there because Iceman saves his career after destroying the plane in the opening scene. Naturally, Goose’s son (Teller) blames Maverick for his dad’s death. Next, there’s plenty of dogfighting action, letting you know loud and clear that Top Gun is back, baby!

Hopefully, Paramount will drop the new trailer online soon for the rest of us. Until then, we’ll just have to use our imaginations. After several delays due to the pandemic, Top Gun: Maverick is expected to fly into theaters on November 19, 2021.

Check out our CinemaCon coverage here!