Published : 30 Aug 2026, 04:56 PM
Updated : 08 Sep 2026, 09:37 AM
Anne Hathaway is joining Tom Cruise for a return to the racetrack in a sequel to “Days of Thunder”, nearly four decades after the original film.
The follow-up is set for release on Jun 2, 2028, with Cruise reprising his role as Cole Trickle and Hathaway playing a race-team owner and engineer, according to Variety.
Plot details remain under wraps.
Jonathan Levine, whose credits include “Long Shot” and “50/50”, will direct, with Cruise producing alongside Jerry Bruckheimer and Tommy Harper.
The film will be shot for IMAX and released exclusively in cinemas, including in Dolby Cinema and 4DX formats, Variety said.
Cruise also released a promotional image on Saturday celebrating Hathaway’s casting, showing the pair together at a NASCAR track.
Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter subsequently confirmed Hathaway’s casting and the June 2028 release date.
The original “Days of Thunder”, directed by Tony Scott, was released in 1990 and followed Trickle as he was recruited to drive for a new NASCAR team.
The film also starred Robert Duvall as veteran crew chief Harry Hogge, alongside Nicole Kidman, Randy Quaid and John C Reilly.
Produced by Bruckheimer and the late Don Simpson, the film reunited Cruise with the producing team behind his 1986 blockbuster “Top Gun”.
Cruise had confirmed in 2025 that discussions were under way about revisiting both “Days of Thunder” and “Top Gun”, saying he and his collaborators were considering several possible stories.
The new “Days of Thunder” project comes after the blockbuster success of “Top Gun: Maverick”, which returned Cruise to another of his early-career roles more than three decades after the original.
Hathaway, meanwhile, has had a busy 2026, appearing in “Mother Mary”, “The Devil Wears Prada 2”, “The Odyssey” and “The End of Oak Street”. Variety said she has also wrapped production on the military drama “Alone at Dawn” and is working on a third “Princess Diaries” film.
For Cruise, the sequel will mark another return to a major franchise as he winds down his long-running “Mission: Impossible” series. He is also attached to another “Top Gun” film and stars in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “Digger”.
