Paramount Confirms ‘Top Gun 3’ With Tom Cruise Returning, ‘World War Z’ Sequel A Go, ‘Call Of Duty’ Set For Summer 2028

With a lot of scrutiny from Hollywood aimed at Paramount right now (numerous actors are fighting the Paramount/WB merger), it was…well, paramount that it put on a good show at CinemaCon. And given the strength of the announcements today, that seems to be the case. The biggest news (via Variety) of all is that Top Gun 3 is a go with Tom Cruise set to return.

Of course, this isn’t exactly shocking. 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick was a massive $1.5B hit, the biggest in the studio’s history and also in Cruise’s storied career. There’s been talk of a sequel ever since, so it being made official is just a formality. What’s unclear is  if Joseph Kosinski will get back behind the camera, and if co-stars Glen Powell, Miles Teller, Lewis Pullman, Monica Barbaro, Tarzan Davis, and Danny Ramirez will return. All of them are much more in demand now than they were back then.

What we do know is that Cruise’s pal and Mission: Impossible director, Christopher McQuarrie, is co-writing the script with Ehren Kruger.

Another huge franchise flick getting a sequel? World War Z. A follow-up to the 2013 zombie horror that earned $540M worldwide has been in the works for over a decade. David Fincher was attached to direct until the whole project collapsed in 2019. There have been rumblings that Dan Trachtenberg (Prey, Predator: Badlands) might take over as part of his new deal with Paramount, but nothing is set.

Finally, the long-awaited video game adaptation Call of Duty finally has a release date: June 30th 2028. The military film from Peter Berg (Lone Survivor) and Taylor Sheridan (Yellowstone) will probably start casting soon.