Exclusive: Tom Cruise In Talks For Legend 2
Our trusted and proven sources are telling us that Tom Cruise has sequel fever and Legend 2 is next on the docket.
The massive success of Top Gun: Maverick seems to have emboldened Tom Cruise. Prior to the release of the often-delayed sequel about speed and the need for it, Cruise had not appeared in a non-Mission: Impossible movie in five years. The high-profile failure of 2017’s The Mummy and its attempt to jumpstart a Dark Universe for Universal might have put him into defensive mode for a bit, but it looks like Maverick is ready to take a few more risks. According to our trusted and proven sources, his next step is a pretty unexpected one: Tom Cruise is developing Legend 2.
Of all the movies that Tom Cruise could decide to make a decades-later sequel to, Top Gun absolutely made the most sense, because the US military always likes a high-profile propaganda push and Miles Teller wasn’t doing anything in particular. While Tom Cruise starring in Legend 2 is not the most unlikely of the bunch (we would rank that as either being Far and Away 2: Westward Expansion or A Few More Good Men), it definitely would not be at the top of the list either.
The original Legend was directed by Ridley Scott just after his genre-defining science fiction films Alien and Blade Runner. However, the director’s pivot into the fantasy genre did not do quite as well, not quite breaking even and currently holding a 40% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, it did end up with a cult audience and has been reissued several times (including as a trademark Ridley Scott Director’s Cut) with appreciation growing for its creature design, practical makeup effects, and ethereal score by Tangerine Dream. Tom Cruise may be betting on that cult audience as having developed over the decades and being ready for a Legend 2.
If he follows the same pattern as Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise’s Legend 2 could potentially be a “handing of the torch to a new generation, plus maybe we get a franchise out of this” maneuver. After all, it is not like there are all that many pure sword and sorcery, fairytale-style genre films out there, which means that Tom Cruise could fill a theoretical niche with Legend 2. On the other hand, there’s a reason why there are not that many fantasy films out there: they very rarely do well.
With the notable exceptions of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, fantasy movies tend not to sustain themselves for very long as a series. The attempted Narnia adaptations stalled after three movies, attempts to update traditional stories like Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters usually go nowhere, and the less said about Krull, the better. However, with the upcoming reboot of Willow as a Disney+ series, maybe studios are feeling out the potential of projects like Tom Cruise in a Legend 2.
However, before we ever see Tom Cruise in a potential Legend 2, we are going to get him in at least two more Mission: Impossible movies and possibly see him die in space. So let’s just wait and see what we get.
