• A Day of Thunder sequel starring Tom Cruise? That’s the rumour.
Back in 1990, the film Days of Thunder, about the NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) series, first hit screens, starring the then rising star of the big screen, Tom Cruise.
The future actor of the Mission Impossible franchise played Cole Trickle, an unscrupulous racing driver recruited by a new team set on conquering NASCAR. Tom Cruise's connection with the film is considerable: he received his first and, to date, only official writing credit on the film. It's also where he met Nicole Kidman.
That report comes courtesy The Hollywood Reporter, which explained that the film was only a modest box-office success initially, grossing $157.9 million from a budget of $60 million. Not bad, but critics were hard on the film. The film’s producers might have had access to NASCAR races for shooting many of the scenes, but too many of those were found to be unrealistic.
Still, the film gained a cult following over the years, because if nothing else it entertains.
Since then, we’ve see a number of racing films hit screens, some with little success (Driven), others to critical acclaim (Rush, Ford vs. Ferrari).
A sequel?
Now, following the success of Top Gun: Maverick, the 61-year-old Cruise has reportedly entered into negotiations with Paramount for a sequel to Days of Thunder.
We'll have to see what comes of this. Cruise's immediate schedule includes shooting Mission Impossible 8, and making a Thunder sequel will require the collaboration of NASCAR series. Which certainly implies a ton of logistical preparation. Recall that in the first film, Rick Hendricks' racing team was responsible for preparing the film's cars, which took part in a number of races to create sequences.
If the project does go ahead, we shouldn't expect it to get off the ground quickly.