# Top Gun (franchise)

Top Gun is an American action drama multimedia franchise based on the 1983 article "Top Guns" by Ehud Yonay, which was adapted into the eponymous 1986 film, written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr. The original film portrays Tom Cruise as Lieutenant Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, a young naval aviator aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, who with his radar intercept officer, LTJG Nick "Goose" Bradshaw, are given the chance to train at the US Navy's Fighter Weapons School at Naval Air Station Miramar in San Diego, California.
Produced and released by Paramount Pictures, Top Gun became a cultural phenomenon and, despite receiving mixed reviews, was acclaimed for its groundbreaking visual effects and energetic soundtrack. It was followed by the 2022 sequel film Top Gun: Maverick, which takes place 36 years after the events of the first film and depicts Maverick's reluctant return to the United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program, where he must confront his past as he trains a group of younger aviators, among them the son of his deceased best friend. Top Gun: Maverick was met with greater critical and commercial success than the original, with praise for its story, performances, emotional weight, and flying sequences.

## Film

| Film | U.S. release date | Director | Screenwriters | Story by | Producers |
| Top Gun | May 16, 1986 (1986-05-16) | Tony Scott | Jim Cash & Jack Epps Jr. | Jim Cash & Jack Epps Jr. | Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer |
| Top Gun: Maverick | May 27, 2022 (2022-05-27) | Joseph Kosinski | Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer & Christopher McQuarrie | Peter Craig & Justin Marks | Tom Cruise, David Ellison, Jerry Bruckheimer and Christopher McQuarrie |

### Future

In May 2022, Miles Teller stated that he had been pitching a follow-up film centered around his character to the studio. The actor referred to his pitch as Top Gun: Rooster. By July of the same year, he stated that he has been having ongoing discussions regarding a sequel with Tom Cruise.

## Cast and crew
### Cast

This section includes characters who will appear or have appeared in the franchise in main roles.
* An empty grey cell indicates the character was not in the film, or that the character's official presence has not yet been confirmed.
| Character | Films | Films |
| Character | Top Gun | Top Gun: Maverick |
| Pete "Maverick" Mitchell | Tom Cruise | Tom Cruise |
| Tom "Iceman" Kazansky | Val Kilmer | Val Kilmer |
| Charlotte "Charlie" Blackwood | Kelly McGillis | |
| Nick "Goose" Bradshaw | Anthony Edwards | Mentioned |
| Carole Bradshaw | Meg Ryan | Mentioned |
| Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw | Aaron and Adam Weis | Miles Teller |
| Mike "Viper" Metcalf | Tom Skerritt | |
| Rick "Jester" Heatherly | Michael Ironside | |
| Bill "Cougar" Cortell | John Stockwell | |
| Leonard "Wolfman" Wolfe | Barry Tubb | |
| Ron "Slider" Kerner | Rick Rossovich | |
| Sam "Merlin" Wells | Tim Robbins | |
| Marcus "Sundown" Williams | Clarence Gilyard | |
| Rick "Hollywood" Neven | Whip Hubley | |
| Tom "Stinger" Jardian | James Tolkan | |
| Charles "Chipper" Piper | Adrian Pasdar | |
| Penelope "Penny" Benjamin | Mentioned | Jennifer Connelly |
| Beau "Cyclone" Simpson | | Jon Hamm |
| Jake "Hangman" Seresin | | Glen Powell |
| Robert "Bob" Floyd | | Lewis Pullman |
| Chester "Hammer" Cain | | Ed Harris |
| Solomon "Warlock" Bates | | Charles Parnell |
| Natasha "Phoenix" Trace | | Monica Barbaro |
| Reuben "Payback" Fitch | | Jay Ellis |
| Mickey "Fanboy" Garcia | | Danny Ramirez |
| Javy "Coyote" Machado | | Greg Davis |
| Bernie "Hondo" Coleman | | Bashir Salahuddin |
| Billy "Fritz" Avalone | | Manny Jacinto |
| Logan "Yale" Lee | | Raymond Lee |
| Brigham "Harvard" Lennox | | Jake Picking |
| Neil "Omaha" Vikander | | Jack Schumacher |
| Callie "Halo" Bassett | | Kara Wang |
| Amelia Benjamin | | Lyliana Wray |
| Sarah Kazansky | | Jean Louisa Kelly |
| Jimmy | | James Handy |

### Crew and production details

| Film | Composers | Cinematographer | Editors | Production companies | Distributing company | Runtime |
| Top Gun | Harold Faltermeyer & Giorgio Moroder | Jeffrey L. Kimball | Billy Weber & Chris Lebenzon | Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films | Paramount Pictures | 1 hr 50 mins |
| Top Gun: Maverick | Lady Gaga, Lorne Balfe, Hans Zimmer & Harold Faltermeyer | Claudio Miranda | Eddie Hamilton | Skydance Media, Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films | Paramount Pictures | 2 hrs 10 mins |

## Reception
### Box office performance

| Film | Release date | Box office | Box office | Box office | Budget | Ref. |
| Film | Release date | North America | Other territories | Worldwide | Budget | Ref. |
| Top Gun | May 16, 1986 | $180,470,489 | $176,999,033 | $357,469,522 | $15,000,000 | |
| Top Gun: Maverick | May 27, 2022 | $718,732,821 | $770,000,000 | $1,488,732,821 | $170,000,000 | |
| Total | Total | $899,203,310 | $946,999,033 | $1,810,919,866 | $185 million | |

### Critical and public response

| Film | Critical | Critical | Public |
| Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | CinemaScore |
| Top Gun | 58% (76 reviews) | 50 (15 reviews) | A |
| Top Gun: Maverick | 96% (444 reviews) | 78 (63 reviews) | A+ |

### Accolades

Academy Awards received by the Top Gun franchise :
| Category | 1987 | 2023 |
| Category | Top Gun | Top Gun: Maverick |
| Best Picture | — | Nominated |
| Best Adapted Screenplay | — | Nominated |
| Best Film Editing | Nominated | Nominated |
| Best Sound | Nominated | Won |
| Best Sound Editing | Nominated | — |
| Best Original Song | Won | Nominated |
| Best Visual Effects | — | Nominated |

## Music
### Soundtracks

| Title | U.S. release date | Length | Label |
| Top Gun | May 13, 1986 | 38:38 | Columbia Records |
| Top Gun: Maverick (Music from the Motion Picture) | May 27, 2022 | 43:35 | Interscope Records |

### Singles

* "Danger Zone"
* "Take My Breath Away"
* "Heaven in Your Eyes"
* "Mighty Wings"
* "Playing with the Boys"
* "Top Gun Anthem"
* "Hold My Hand"
* "I Ain't Worried"
The soundtrack to the original film reached number one in the US charts for five nonconsecutive weeks in the summer and autumn of 1986. It was the best selling soundtrack of 1986 and is still one of the best selling soundtrack albums of all time. The soundtrack spawned two top 10 singles on the US charts, with the song "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins peaking at number two and the song "Take My Breath Away" by Berlin reaching number one, the latter of which would also go on to win both the Academy Award for Best Original Song and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. According to Allmusic, the album "remains a quintessential artifact of the mid-'80s", and the album's hits "still define the bombastic, melodramatic sound that dominated the pop charts of the era."
The soundtrack to the sequel featured the singles "Hold My Hand" by Lady Gaga and "I Ain't Worried" by OneRepublic, with the latter becoming a top 10 hit. The score of the film harkened back to the original film's sound and was noted by Zanobard Reviews as a "thoroughly entertaining and incredibly nostalgic musical experience from beginning to end".

## Other media

Top Gun also spawned a number of video games for various platforms. The original game was released in 1986 under the same title as the film. It was released on Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, and Atari ST. Another game, also titled Top Gun, was released in 1987 for Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and Nintendo VS. System arcade cabinets. In the 1987 game, the player pilots an F-14 Tomcat fighter, and has to complete four missions. A sequel, Top Gun: The Second Mission, was released for the NES three years later.
Another game, Top Gun: Fire at Will, was released in 1996 for the PC and later for the Sony PlayStation platform. Top Gun: Hornet's Nest was released in 1998. Top Gun: Combat Zones was released for PlayStation 2 in 2001 and was subsequently released for the GameCube and Microsoft Windows. Combat Zones features other aircraft besides the F-14. In 2006, another game simply titled Top Gun was released for the Nintendo DS. A 2010 game, also titled Top Gun, retells the film's story. At E3 2011, a new game was announced, Top Gun: Hard Lock, which was released in March 2012 for Xbox 360, PC, and PlayStation 3.