Tom Cruise Shocks Fans With A Rare Gift After Their Top Gun Tribute
Hollywood superstar and all-round nice guy, Tom Cruise, is living up to his reputation
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Hollywood superstar and all-round nice guy, Tom Cruise, is living up to his reputation by inviting the Ohio State marching band to a special screening of the Top Gun sequel. The gesture comes after the band’s Top Gun-themed halftime show caught the actor’s attention on social media. The action star sent a note thanking the group for their performance, along with movie merchandise and an invite to a special screening of the film.
Earlier this week, the marching band took to social media to reveal Tom Cruise’s message in a video. In the clip, athletic and band director Christopher Hoch reads the letter to his students who are also seen receiving their Top Gun shirts. “The Top Gun tribute was fantastic. What a phenomenal performance. Thank you,” the Mission: Impossible star wrote. To show his appreciation, Tom Cruise said he would love for the entire band to be his guests at a special screening of Top Gun: Maverick in Columbus this Spring. The actor also wished The Ohio State University all the luck in the world for the Rose Bowl.
The Ohio State University marching band is known for its spectacular halftime shows. During their Top Gun tribute, they performed an instrumental medley of songs from the 1986 Tom Cruise movie. This included Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins, You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling by the Righteous Brothers and Berlin’s Take My Breath Away. The crowd was also treated to cool visuals as they were playing. They even created the image of an F-14 Tomcat fighter plane on the field, moving in formation to show the plane taking off.
Top Gun: Maverick is directed by Joseph Kosinski from a screenplay by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and Christopher McQuarrie. It is based on the story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks. Serving as a sequel to 1986’s Top Gun, the film sees Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer reprise their roles as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell and Admiral Tom “Iceman” Kazansky, respectively. Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, and Ed Harris round out the cast.
The story follows Maverick (Tom Cruise) who, after more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, is where he belongs–pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him. Eventually Maverick finds himself training a detachment of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen. There he encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), 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 (Tom Cruise) 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.
After extensive filming delays due to Covid-19, Top Gun: Maverick is set for a theatrical release on May 27, 2022, by Paramount Pictures. The Tom Cruise starrer will also be available to stream on Paramount+ 45 days after its cinematic debut.
