Top Gun is headed back into the danger zone and theaters to celebrate the original film’s 40th anniversary, giving military movie fans a one-week chance to see the full Maverick story on the big screen again.
Top Gun and Top Gun: Maverick. May 13th. One week only.
Franchise star Tom Cruise announced the one-week theatrical return on his official X account, writing, “Top Gun and Top Gun: Maverick. May 13th. One week only.” His post included the official trailer for the 40th anniversary engagement.
Why ‘Top Gun’ Still Hits With Military Audiences
The original 1986 Top Gun and its 2022 sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, will return to theaters beginning May 13. Tickets are on sale now through the movie’s official website and Fandango, with showings listed at major chains including AMC, Cinemark and Regal. Some screenings are also expected to be available in premium formats, including IMAX and Dolby Cinema, depending on location.
May 13 has become known among fans as “Top Gun Day,” even though the original film was released May 16, 1986. According to the fan-run Top Gun Day site, the date stuck after organizers used May 13 in early graphics, and the word had already spread by the time they caught the mistake. So it’s no mistake that both films are returning to the cinemas on this specific date.
For military audiences, the theatrical return is more than another nostalgia play from Hollywood’s reboot hangar. Top Gun has had a long, complicated and often affectionate relationship with the military community, especially the Navy. The 1986 film turned aircraft carriers, flight decks, aviator sunglasses and F-14 Tomcats into pop-culture icons. It also gave generations of viewers one of the most famous military-adjacent movie fantasies ever put on screen, even if actual naval aviation is, predictably, less volleyball and more grinding hours of training.
The original Top Gun follows Maverick as a talented but reckless pilot sent to the Navy’s elite fighter weapons school, where he clashes with rivals, courts danger and tries to prove he belongs among the best aviators in the service. Fandango lists the 40th anniversary presentation at 1 hour and 51 minutes, with the film rated PG.
Top Gun: Maverick, released in 2022 after years of delays, brought Cruise back to the role more than three decades later. This time, Maverick is an older test pilot and instructor tasked with training a new generation of aviators for a near-impossible mission. The sequel became one of the biggest theatrical stories of the post-pandemic box office, earning nearly $1.5 billion worldwide and becoming the highest-grossing movie of Cruise’s career.
The sequel also won over plenty of military and veteran viewers by treating the flying with enough physical weight to make the cockpit scenes feel less like digital decoration and more like a stress dream with afterburners. Cruise and the cast famously trained for intense aerial sequences, and the film’s emphasis on practical aviation footage became one of its major selling points.
When Movies Return to Theaters
The one-week engagement gives viewers a chance to watch the full Maverick arc in theaters, from the young pilot who buzzed towers and broke rules to the older version trying to teach younger aviators how to survive a mission he knows might not bring everyone home.
The Top Gun brand may not be finished after this anniversary run, either. A third Top Gun movie has been in development, with Top Gun: Maverick co-writer Ehren Kruger reportedly working on the script, according to Deadline, as cited in coverage of the anniversary screenings.
For now, the immediate mission is simpler: two films, one week, big screens and probably more than a few audience members whispering the words “talk to me, Goose” before the lights go down.
The one-week engagement includes:
- Top Gun from 1986
- Top Gun: Maverick from 2022
- A May 13 start date
- Participating AMC, Cinemark and Regal theaters
- Select premium formats, including IMAX and Dolby Cinema, depending on location
Tickets and show times are available at topgunmovie.com and through participating theater chains.
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