Top Gun: Maverick will hit cinemas on July 12, 2019 almost 33 years after the original

FANS can finally start counting down to the much-anticipated Top Gun sequel with the studio announcing the release date and who will be directing it.

IF YOU’VE been holding out for a Top Gun sequel, the more than 30 year wait is almost over because Paramount Pictures have finally dropped the much-anticipated release date.

You can finally get your countdown clocks going because the studio have announced Cruise will hit the skies on July 12, 2019, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Talks of a Top Gun sequel pretty much halted after the movie’s director Tony Scott died in August, 2012.

But now, after 33 years, Tom Cruise will again star as the hot shot pilot Maverick and this time will be directed Joseph Kosinski, who also directed the actor in the 2013 movie Oblivion.

Kelly McGillis and Tom Cruise starred in the original 1986 Top Gun.

While the date is over two years away, the studio have released a rough plot line of how they’re planning on bringing the hit movie into the 21st century.

David Ellison, the CEO of Skydance Productions, revealed plans for the sequel in 2015.

“It is very much a world we live in today where it’s drone technology, and fifth-generation fighters are really what the United States Navy is calling the last man-made fighter that we’re actually going to produce, so it’s really [about] exploring the ‘end of an era’ of dogfighting and fighter pilots and what that culture is today,” Ellison said.

Cruise revealed the name of the sequel and assured everyone the Aviators would be back

in June when he sat down with Access Hollywood.

“It’s not going to be called Top Gun 2, it’s going to be called Top Gun: Maverick. I didn’t want a number,” he said.

Top Gun: Maverick’s July release date is currently the only movie slated for release on that day.

The live-action version of The Lion King will be released a week later.

Originally published as Top Gun: Maverick will hit cinemas on July 12, 2019 almost 33 years after the original