Paramount Has "No Plans" to Delay Top Gun: Maverick Again

With each passing month, movie studios have to update their planned releases as they await updates on when movie theaters will get to fully resume operations, but as it currently stands, Paramount Pictures isn't considering pushing back the highly anticipated sequel Top Gun: Maverick. As it currently stands, the film is expected to hit theaters in July, with at least one studio exec pointing out that, based on the current plans to distribute millions of coronavirus vaccines in the coming months, there will be much less concern about the pandemic continuing and audiences will be able to safely see films back on the big screen.

"We have no plans to move our theatrical release of Top Gun," Paramount president of distribution Chris Aronson shared with The Hollywood Reporter. "I think the next two months are critical, and whether the new administration can implement a robust vaccination plan. If [President Joe] Biden's 100 million vaccines in 100 days works, then I think we'll be in good shape."

Top Gun: Maverick was originally slated to hit theaters last summer, only to be delayed to this past December, until it was delayed to its current July release date. While the Paramount exec is currently optimistic about the release date, there's no real telling how things will play out in the coming months and the impact that will have on the studio's slate of releases.

Another complication is that if any delays are announced, whether they are from Paramount or other studios, there could be a chain reaction of pushing blockbusters further down the calendar as to avoid direct competition.

In the film, "After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy's top aviators, Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him. When he finds himself training a detachment of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), call sign: 'Rooster,' the son of Maverick's late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka 'Goose.' Facing an uncertain future and confronting the ghosts of his past, Maverick is drawn into a confrontation with his own deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who will be chosen to fly it."

Top Gun: Maverick will be hitting theaters on July 2nd.

Do you think the film will face more delays? Let us know in the comments below!