Recently, we reported that plans were underway to convert Top Gun to 3D. As many of you probably remember, Top Gun was the #1 film of 1986, and it’s remarkable how much nostalgia there is for the film today.
There were also plans for a sequel, in fact, according to reports, the late director Tony Scott met with Tom Cruise about Top Gun 2 plans this year.
Now as The Wrap reports, Paramount is planning to premiere the 3D version of Top Gun possibly by the end of the year, this time in China.
As we’ve previously reported, converting a movie to 3D is crucial if you want it to play in China, because they won’t play an American film if it’s not in the format. This is why Guillermo Del Toro’s upcoming sci-fi epic Pacific Rim is getting a 3D conversion, and the 3D conversion of Titanic was a big hit in China as well.
Still, a 3D conversion of Top Gun was in the works since last year, and it’s a good candidate for the process. Not to mention, Top Gun nostalgia is definitely part of the current zeitgeist here in the States. How much nostalgia there is for Top Gun in other countries remains to be seen, but The Wrap reports that the premiere for a 3D Top Gun could happen within the first quarter of next year.
As Rob Hummel of Legend 3D told the Hollywood Reporter and FoxNews last year, “Top Gun lends itself to 3D due to the aerial fight. We think there is great potential for catalog titles in 3D, but studios have had trouble justifying the expense.”
Yet now with the foreign market opening up like never before, China demanding movies in 3D, and the current Top Gun nostalgia, there’s quite a few reasons to justify the expense.
Jack Epps Jr., who wrote Top Gun with his partner Jim Cash, recalled in the book How I Broke Into Hollywood, “We had written the slickest, most commercial movie we could think of. We had written the perfect Saturday night movie.”
Can Top Gun be the perfect Saturday night movie again? We’ll find out soon enough.
