Tom Cruise "really did not want to" make "Top Gun: Maverick," director Joseph Kosinski said.
During an interview with Polygon, Kosinski explained that the star was initially resistant to the idea of a sequel to the 1986 blockbuster, and he had 30 minutes to change Cruise's mind.
“So I read the script; I had some ideas, and Jerry [Bruckheimer] liked those ideas. He said, ‘You know what, you gotta go pitch this to Tom directly,'” Kosinski recalled.
"We flew to Paris, where Tom was shooting 'Mission: Impossible,' we got about a half-hour of his time between setups," he continued. "And I basically had 30 minutes to pitch this film, which I didn’t realize when we were flying over. But when I got there, I found that Tom really didn’t want to make another 'Top Gun.'
It’s one of those moments as a director, you have one on every film, where you’re on the spot to make a case for why this movie should be made. I had 30 minutes to do it."
After wrapping up his pitch, Cruise immediately called Paramount Pictures and told execs that they were going to be making the sequel. Kosinski said it was "pretty impressive to see the power of a real movie star in that moment."
During the interview, Kosinski also explained why he chose to name the film "Top Gun: Maverick."
"I just had the title, you know, which I think kind of summed it all up," he told Polygon. "We aren’t going to call it ‘Top Gun 2,’ we’re going to call it ‘Top Gun: Maverick.'"
He added that the film is a "character-driven story, a drama with this giant action film around it. And that to me was what a 'Top Gun' movie is."
In its first three days in North American theaters, the long-in-the-works sequel earned an estimated $124 million in ticket sales, Paramount Pictures said Sunday. Including international showings, its worldwide total is $248 million.