The internet was set ablaze on Jul. 18, 2019 when the first, sierra hotel trailer for Top Gun: Maverick debuted.

As reported by Washington Business Journal, we still must wait a year for the finished product to hit the screen, but we know the Pentagon had a lot to do with the production of this long-awaited sequel to 1986 blockbuster “Top Gun.” Shooting began in September 2018, but delays pushed the release date to June 2020.

Actually the Pentagon gave Paramount Pictures Corp. extensive access to its facilities and personnel during the filming of Top Gun 2.

The production assistance agreement also gave Paramount Pictures Corp. permission to fly aircraft, place cameras on and in F/A-18 Super Hornets and Navy helicopters, as well as escorted access to a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. The Navy was also expected to train cast members in water survival and aircraft seat ejection.

In return for the assistance, Paramount agreed to an “official DoD screening” of the movie before its official release.

The military also assigned a senior staff office in order to “review with public affairs the script’s thematics and weave in key talking points relevant to the aviation community.”

In order to “depict action scenes accurately,” a “senior subject matter expert” was on hand as well.

Active-duty personnel were given permission to appear in the film and select pilots were allowed to be filmed in cockpits during flight sequences.

All footage was subject to an on-set security review by a naval aviator or security manager. Any footage that was determined to be “classified or sensitive” was to be deleted or turned over to the Navy, according to the agreement.

Paramount was expected to reimburse the government for costs “not aligned to current operations.” The film went to production with an estimated $140 million budget.

That the Defense Department would give filmmakers so much access isn’t much of a surprise. The Navy famously offered a tremendous amount of support for production of the original “Top Gun,” and in return received a noticeable increase of interest in its naval aviation officer candidate program.

It’s no wonder, then, that Paramount is stipulated to provide an “official DoD screening” of the completed “Top Gun: Maverick” in the D.C. area prior to its official release, as well as movie posters and 10 DVD copies “for internal briefings and for historical purposes.”

The movie was assigned a theatrical release date of Jul. 12, 2019 last year, but on September Paramount announced that had delayed the sequel nearly an entire year, assigning it a new release date of Jun. 26, 2020.

A new group of U.S. Naval Aviators will join Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer returning as Maverick and Iceman respectively in Top Gun: Maverick.

The movie in fact will also feature Manny Jacinto (who will be playing a pilot named Fritz in Top Gun sequel) Ed Harris, Jon Hamm, Miles Teller, Glen Powell and Monica Barbaro. Many of the details surrounding Top Gun: Maverick have yet to be disclosed, but some of the other casting specifics give us a small indication of the direction of the film. Teller in fact has been cast as Goose’s son and will be Maverick’s new protégé – however the characters have been rumored to have a rocky relationship as well.

Top Gun: Maverick will also see Kenny Loggins re-recording ‘Danger Zone’ for the movie as well as Harold Faltermeyer and Hans Zimmer joining forces on the score for the movie.

This first appeared in Aviation Geek Club here.