DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Tom Cruise will reprise his role as NASCAR driver Cole Trickle in a follow-up to “Days of Thunder.”
Anne Hathaway will co-star as a team owner and engineer in the film scheduled to be released by Paramount Pictures on June 2, 2028. Cruise made the announcement from Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, hours before NASCAR’s regular-season finale.
The Hollywood Reporter reported in November 2024 that Cruise had talked to Paramount about a follow-up to his 1990 NASCAR racing film. The movie introduced NASCAR to a wider audience that had very limited exposure to stock-car racing before that summer. The original was a critically panned summer blockbuster that was largely lampooned throughout the NASCAR industry for its exaggeration and overindulgence. And so began the making of “Days of Thunder. NASCAR has seen more swings and misses than checkered flags when it comes to its portrayal on the big or small screen since “Days of Thunder.
Riding high from his “Top Gun” fame, Cruise had an idea for a movie based on fast cars and the characters who raced them. There had been racing movies before — think “Thunder Road,” “Grand Prix,” “Stroker Ace,” or even “Smokey and the Bandit” — but none that had depicted NASCAR in such a mainstream style. For every “Talladega Nights,” there are 10 more bombs such as comedian Kevin James’ ill-fated Netflix’s comedy series, “ The Crew .”
