Outside of Transformers and Mission: Impossible, Paramount don’t have many active franchises at their disposal that they can rely on to bring in big numbers at the box office, and as a result, the studio’s method of covering their losses during the Coronavirus pandemic has been to sell off many of their projects to streaming services.
Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 and Kumail Nanjiani comedy The Lovebirds were released by Netflix, prestige drama The United States vs. Billie Holiday was picked up by Hulu and Michael B. Jordan thriller Without Remorse, Eddie Murphy’s long-awaited comedy sequel Coming 2 America and Chris Pratt’s big budget sci-fi actioner The Tomorrow War have moved to Amazon.
However, there’s one major title that the executives are refusing to let go of, after the news broke that Netflix and AppleTV+ both inquired about adding Top Gun: Maverick to their respective libraries. As a sequel to the Tony Scott classic with Tom Cruise reprising the role that first launched him to the top of the A-list 35 years ago, you can guarantee that each company no doubt put in a lucrative offer, but Paramount refused to budge.
Presumably, that sort of decision would need to be approved by the leading man, and so far, Cruise has shown little interest in the world of streaming. Not only that, but based on the footage we’ve seen already, Top Gun: Maverick needs to be viewed on the biggest screen possible so that the jaw-dropping aerial combat sequences can unfold in their intended form.
The 58 year-old’s return as Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell is still penciled in to arrive on July 2nd, and while that could very well change, we at least know that we won’t be seeing it anywhere else other than the theater.