Anne Hathaway is hitting cruise control. The star of “The Odyssey” and “The Devil Wears Prada 2” has set her sights on her next tentpole role, joining Tom Cruise in the star’s legacy sequel to his 1990 NASCAR drama “Days of Thunder” at Paramount.
Cruise announced Hathaway would be coming aboard the project through his official social media accounts, sharing a video of the two actors in Daytona, posing in front of a lemon-lime locomotive emblazoned with the “Days of Thunder” logo.
Paramount has set a June 2, 2028 theatrical release date for the film. There are no other major releases currently slated for that frame, though Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch 2” and Lionsgate’s threequel “The Resurrection of the Christ: Part Two” are set to debut a week before, on May 26, 2028.
Per a media release from Paramount, Hathaway will be playing a NASCAR team owner and engineer in the sequel, as Cruise reprises his role as the hot-headed driver Cole Trickle.
The studio also announced that the production plans to be filmed for Imax (not to be confused with being filmed with Imax, which would mean using Imax cameras). Paramount also touted a release that will include other premium large-format auditoriums, such as Dolby Cinema and 4DX.
Paramount also confirmed that Jonathan Levine will helm the sequel, following previous reports of the director behind the coming “Mr. Irrelevant” and 2011’s “50/50” being in talks to join. Will Staples has written the script for the follow-up, with previous credits including Michael B. Jordan’s actioner “Without Remorse.”
Jerry Bruckheimer and Tommy Harper are on board as producers, as well as Cruise. Bruckheimer was a producer on the first “Days of Thunder.”
Notably, the studio’s media release simply calls the sequel “Days of Thunder,” as opposed to a more traditional sequel title featuring a “2” or a subtitle of some kind. It has become more common for years-later franchise follow-ups to skip such accoutrements and release with the same title as a predecessor (see: 2018’s’ “Halloween,” 2022’s “Scream” and 2025’s “I Know What You Did Last Summer”).
Released in 1990, the original “Days of Thunder” served as a spiritual successor to Cruise’s breakout blockbuster “Top Gun,” re-teaming the star with director Tony Scott and trading military jet dogfights for another wonderland of masculine angst: NASCAR racing. The film starred Cruise and Nicole Kidman (the two married after filming together, before divorcing in 2001), as well as Michael Rooker, Cary Elwes and the late Robert Duvall.
“Days of Thunder” didn’t rank among Cruise’s biggest hits upon release, hitting $157 million worldwide against a $60 million production budget. But the film has endured thanks to popular home video releases and its ties to Nascar fandom. After Apple’s “F1” became a theatrical hit last summer, Bruckheimer, who also produced that racing drama, quickly began publicly floating the possibility of a “Days of Thunder” follow-up.
Hathaway is currently in the midst of what is likely the busiest year of her career, with roles in “The Odyssey,” “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” “The End of Oak Street” and “Mother Mary,” as well as the coming Colleen Hoover adaptation “Verity.” Earlier this month, she appeared onstage at Disney’s D23 expo to preview plans for “The Princess Diaries 3.”
“Days of Thunder” represents Cruise’s latest return to IP fare after seemingly wrapping the “Mission: Impossible” series with 2025’s “The Final Reckoning” and reviving “Top Gun” with 2022’s “Top Gun: Maverick.” He can next be seen in Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s apocalyptic comedy “Digger”; Warner Bros. has set a prime awards season date of Oct. 2 for the production.
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