Tom Cruise Surprised NFL Fans with a Reminder About 'Top Gun: Maverick'

It's been two years before the hype machine first cranked up to promote the June 2020 release of the long-awaited sequel "Top Gun: Maverick," with Tom Cruise returning to the role that made him a superstar after more than three decades.

There was an epic commercial that ran during the Super Bowl on Feb. 2, 2020, and, just a few weeks later, the world caved in. The movie kept getting pushed back as the pandemic raged on, and now it's scheduled to premiere in theaters on May 27, 2022.

Depending on how you want to count, that's either the fifth, sixth or seventh release date for "Top Gun: Maverick." There was a 2019 release planned at one point, but that was scrubbed before the movie was finished. And then Paramount moved up the first 2020 release date by two days when everyone was excited by the Super Bowl ad. Let's ignore those two and just stick with the five different release dates.

Anyway, it's got to be now or never at this point, right?

CBS broadcast the AFC Championship game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, Jan. 30. The CBS network shares a parent company with Paramount Pictures, so it used a little corporate synergy and enlisted Cruise to do an intro to the broadcast.

The NFL loves to equate football with patriotism, and Cruise doesn't disappoint with his pregame speech. "America doesn't root for the timid or the scared or those who back away from a challenge," he said. "We root for the bold, the brave, the risk takers who will push to the very limits to succeed. After all, life is more fun when it comes with a little action."

Cruise is standing in front of a giant screen that's cutting between scenes from "Top Gun: Maverick" and images of the Chiefs and Bengals players. There's not really anything new for fans waiting for the movie, but America probably needs to be reminded that the movie is coming soon.

Maverick ends the spot with a promise, "So, let's kick the tires and light the fires, because the time is now." Here's hoping that 2022 really is the time for "Top Gun: Maverick" and that we get a new commercial during the Super Bowl on Feb. 13.

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