Paramount Pictures is really revving its engines on the upcoming Days of Thunder 2 starring Tom Cruise, with Anne Hathaway now set to join Cruise in the sequel. Cruise revealed the news Saturday on his social platforms featuring a picture of the two A-listers leaning against a NASCAR race car in Daytona.
The post also announced that the film would be released June 2, 2028. The movie will be filmed for Imax and also available in Dolby cinemas, 4DX and premium large-screen formats.
Hathaway’s addition comes after Paramount tapped Jonathan Levine to direct, hence fast-tracking the pic as Cruise’s next project. Cruise returns as NASCAR driver Cole Trickle, reprising the role from his 1990 hit racing pic. While plot details are unknown, Hathaway is expected to play a team owner and engineer in the follow-up.
Cruise is also producing alongside Jerry Bruckheimer and Tommy Harper. Will Staples penned the script.
Days of Thunder, directed by the late Tony Scott, was released during the summer of 1990 and made $82.6 million at the domestic box office, and $157.9M worldwide. Cruise played Cole Trickle in the Robert Towne-written pic, a hot-headed rookie stock car driver who joins NASCAR and must overcome personal and professional challenges to achieve success. The film also saw him introduced to Nicole Kidman, who became his wife of 11 years, and who went on to star with him in Ron Howard’s Far and Away and Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut.
Cruise conceived the story for the racing movie,which was produced by Don Simpson and Bruckheimer. Robert Duvall, Randy Quaid, Cary Elwes, Caroline Williams and Michael Rooker also starred in the original.
As for Hathaway, she is coming off a big summer that included The Devil Wears Prada 2, The Odyssey and The End of Oak Street. She can be seen next in Verity, which bows in October. She is repped by CAA and Entertainment 360.
