COLLIDER – Paramount Pictures will screen the film at their panel on April 28.
After several delays, Top Gun: Maverick is finally within reach of its release date. Paramount Pictures announced that the Tom Cruise-led sequel will screen at the studio’s CinemaCon panel on Thursday, April 28. This will be the world premiere for the film, though it is also set for a Cannes appearance prior to its May 27 release. This will bring the Top Gun sequel full circle, as the film screened the first 13 minutes of the film at last year’s event.

CinemaCon runs from April 25 through April 28, and it is an event for studios to preview their upcoming releases for movie theaters. It is run by the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO), and it began in 2011. Top Gun: Maverick isn’t the only film screening at the event, as Universal and Blumhouse will be screening The Black Phone, which stars Ethan Hawke. Yet tons of reactions and pieces of news will surely follow the event, as Disney, Lionsgate, and others will be previewing their own respective release slates.

Top Gun: Maverick has been in various states of development since 2010. Filming began in 2018 and wrapped by the summer of 2019, with some test footage even screening for attendees at CineEurope in Barcelona in 2019. A July 2019 release was initially intended for the film, though additional time was needed to perfect the film’s effects and flight sequences. Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic compounded on top of that, leading to its final date next month.

Aside from Cruise, the sequel will star Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Ed Harris, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Danny Ramirez, Monica Barbaro, and Manny Jacinto. Val Kilmer will also reprise his iconic role as Tom “Iceman” Kazansky. No other original characters are set to appear, though Miles Teller will play the son of Maverick’s right-hand man Goose (Anthony Edwards), who of course dies during the events of the first film.

Paramount has released the following synopsis for the highly-anticipated sequel:
“Test pilot Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Cruise) has purposely dodged an advancement in rank after thirty years of service. One day Maverick is called to be put in charge of training a group of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission under the orders of his fellow naval aviator friend and former rival, Tom “Iceman” Kazansky (Kilmer), who is the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Among them is Lieutenant Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Teller), the son of Maverick’s late best friend Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Edwards).”

Top Gun: Maverick lands in theaters on May 27.