Tom Cruise is heading back to NASCAR. The veteran Hollywood actor confirmed a sequel to Days of Thunder on Saturday at Daytona International Speedway, with Anne Hathaway joining him for the announcement. Paramount Pictures has set the film for a June 2, 2028, summer release.
Cruise returns as Cole Trickle, the NASCAR driver he first played in Tony Scott's 1990 original, with Hathaway playing the role as team owner and engineer. Both stars appeared together at Daytona International Speedway beside a battered lime-green stock car that looks well-used, complete with race grime, scuffed bodywork and Eagle-branded tires.
Daytona is also a fitting place to bring Cole Trickle back. The original Days of Thunder from 1990, which also features on our list of top car movies, followed the rookie driver as he worked his way through NASCAR, initially clashing with veteran racer Rowdy Burns, played by Michael Rooker. Robert Duvall starred as crew chief Harry Hogge, while Nicole Kidman played neurosurgeon Dr. Claire Lewicki. The story ultimately brought Trickle to the Daytona 500, making the speedway an obvious setting for his return nearly four decades later.
NASCAR has remained a fixture of American screen culture in the decades since, providing the racing world that inspired Disney Pixar's Cars. Last year we saw another unusual meeting of the two when NASCAR announced plans to turn Naval Base Coronado into a temporary race circuit, an event we fittingly described at the time as Top Gun meeting Days of Thunder.
The film also arrives as motorsport continues to enjoy a strong presence on the big screen. Bruckheimer recently produced the Brad Pitt-starrer F1: The Movie, while Cruise made a surprise appearance at the film’s European premiere in London last year, where he joined Bruckheimer, director Joseph Kosinski, Brad Pitt and Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali.
As for Cruise, his time with cars on screen extends well beyond Days of Thunder. The Mission: Impossible films have put Ethan Hunt at the center of elaborate car chases and motorcycle stunts, with everything from classic BMWs to modern M cars.
Jonathan Levine will direct the upcoming film from a script by Will Staples while Cruise produces alongside Jerry Bruckheimer and Tommy Harper. The sequel is being made for IMAX screens and is planned for an exclusive theatrical release, including premium formats such as Dolby Cinema and 4DX.
When Days of Thunder returns to theaters in June 2028, it will be over 38 years since Cruise got behind the wheel as Cole Trickle. For now, Paramount has revealed little about where Cole Trickle's story goes next. But the first look already makes one thing clear. The sequel is putting the cars, the track, and NASCAR front and center.
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