Tom Cruise is heading back to Days of Thunder, and Anne Hathaway will be alongside him when Cole Trickle returns to the NASCAR world nearly four decades after the original movie.
Cruise and Hathaway announced the sequel at Daytona International Speedway on August 29, posing beside a green-and-yellow race car carrying the Days of Thunder name and its summer 2028 release window. The film will mark their first onscreen collaboration, according to PEOPLE.
Cruise, 64, will reprise his role as driver Cole Trickle. Hathaway, 43, will play a race-car team owner and engineer, putting her character directly inside the racing operation.
Paramount Pictures has set June 2, 2028, as the theatrical release date. Jonathan Levine will direct from a screenplay by Will Staples, with Cruise producing alongside Jerry Bruckheimer and Tommy Harper.
Cruise and Hathaway Announced the Sequel at Daytona
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Cruise and Hathaway revealed the project in a short video filmed at Daytona. After Cruise asked what they should do next, Hathaway answered, “Let’s make the movie!” She then joked that she first needed to have her baby before production could begin.
Cruise agreed with that order before telling viewers the movie would arrive in summer 2028. The pair stood beside a modern stock car using the familiar green-and-yellow color scheme associated with Cole Trickle.
The Instagram announcement also included a promotional image of Cruise and Hathaway at the speedway, giving the sequel its first official visual before filming has begun.
Anne Hathaway Will Play a Team Owner and Engineer
Plot details remain under wraps, but Hathaway’s role is already one of the first confirmed pieces of the story. Variety reported that she will play a race-car team owner and engineer opposite Cruise’s returning driver.
The casting puts Hathaway in a racing role rather than simply around the edge of Cole’s comeback. Further cast members have not been announced.
The project also gives Cruise another legacy sequel after Top Gun: Maverick, which brought him back to Pete “Maverick” Mitchell more than three decades after the original Top Gun.
Jonathan Levine Is Directing for a June 2028 Release
Jonathan Levine, whose credits include 50/50, Warm Bodies and Long Shot, will direct the new film. Will Staples wrote the screenplay.
The movie is being prepared for IMAX screens and will also receive premium-format releases, including Dolby Cinema and 4DX. Paramount has dated it for June 2, 2028, rather than leaving the project with only a general summer window.
The studio has not announced an official subtitle. Current reports refer to the project as a follow-up or sequel to Days of Thunder.
The Original Film Put Cole Trickle on the NASCAR Circuit
Tony Scott directed the original Days of Thunder, which opened in 1990 with Cruise playing talented but inexperienced driver Cole Trickle. Cole joins a NASCAR team and develops a rivalry with veteran driver Rowdy Burns, played by Michael Rooker, before a major crash changes their relationship.
Robert Duvall played crew chief Harry Hogge. Randy Quaid, Cary Elwes and John C. Reilly were also in the cast, while Nicole Kidman played Dr. Claire Lewicki in her first onscreen pairing with Cruise.
The film earned nearly $158 million worldwide against a reported $60 million production budget, according to The Numbers. Its NASCAR connection remained strong enough for Cruise to choose Daytona as the place to reveal the sequel.
Cruise Had Already Said Another Days of Thunder Was in Play
The August announcement followed a long stretch of sequel talk. Cruise said in 2025 that he and his collaborators were discussing both another Top Gun story and a return to Days of Thunder.
The new film also reunites Cruise with Bruckheimer, who produced the 1990 movie and later worked with him again on Top Gun: Maverick.
The pieces are now official: Cruise is returning as Cole Trickle, Hathaway has joined as a team owner and engineer, Levine is directing and Paramount has June 2, 2028, circled for theaters.