London calling...hollywood star Cruise ready to meet fans for Top Gun sequel
MOVIE superstar Tom Cruise is planning a world tour to promote his Top Gun sequel later this year.
Paramount Studios pushed back the July release to November so the actor, 58, could attend premieres. The action star intends to jet across Europe, including attending a large-scale London premiere for the follow-up to the 1986 action movie.
It was thought a July premiere may mean restrictions on attending full-scale galas.
Cruise is famous for walking around the crowds and chatting to fans at his London premieres, often for as long as three hours.
“Tom Cruise is one of the few stars who can move the needle by doing late-night shows and premieres across the world,” says a veteran studio executive.
A London PR insider said: “Tom Cruise coming to London for a winter premiere is a massive deal and would be a fantastic way to welcome back normality to the movie biz and London showbiz circuit. He attracts thousands of people for his premieres and the magic of this would be even greater. London, hopefully, should be the start of this trek.”
While US cinema owners were not ecstatic to learn of Top Gun’s move, they are confident of a summer season after a flurry of positive data on the recovery of the US box office.
“You learn to roll with it. Other movies have moved to that space,” says Patrick Corcoran, of the National Association of Theatre Owners.
After Top Gun was moved Universal snapped up the July 2 date for The Forever Purge.
Analyst Eric Wold of B. Riley Securities says the Top Gun 2 switch should not cause alarm: “These moves merely represent a mindset amongst studios to have these films available when capacity restrictions are loosened.”