Could TOP GUN 2 save Tom Cruise?

Top Gun is probably the most beloved mass audience-pleasing Tom Cruise movie of all time, and with the actor's box office viability once again put into question this week with Knight & Day's disappointing $20 million 5-day weekend opening, it wouldn't be all that surprising to see him wear Maverick's jacket and shades once again, would it? Cruise is desperate to be welcomed back into the tight embrace of the general movie-goer bosom, and we already know he is gearing up Mission Impossible IV (his other beloved franchise) to film next, followed by a Les Grossman movie, to try and make himself relevant again. We are skeptical either will fix 'the Cruise dilemma' that has weighed him down for half a decade, but a return of the character that made him a star, might go someway to bridging the gap between Cruise and Joe Popcorn - a distance that has existed ever since he went barmy on Oprah's couch. Speaking to MTV, mega producer Jerry Bruckheimer claimed that he has been approached about making a sequel to the 1986 hit;

"We were recently approached again to start talking about it but, you know, nothing yet... ...We kicked around some ideas because the aviation community has completely changed since we made the movie a long time ago. So we have to find a way in and how to incorporate the Maverick character into it."

Indeed, it was only a matter of time in this franchise driven era before studios, producers, writers, and Hollywood in general would set its sights on Top Gun for either a remake, reboot, makeover, or in this case...a sequel(?). Take note that this is all very early talk and nothing has been finalized yet, or Cruise even approached. Personally, I think they will approach him but Bruckheimer will have no qualms about re-booting and replacing him if he or Tony Scott (the original director) declined the chance to return. You can certainly see the pattern of what could happen.... Bruckheimer approaches Michael Bay post-Transformers 3, who then hires Shia LaBeouf to star alongside a young hottie, and HEY PRESTO. Cruise isn't really vital in the project getting made, but I do think Bruckheimer will ask him first (and come to think of it, a Michael Bay directed Top Gun sequel might be exactly what Cruise needs right now). Top Gun was the highest grossing movie of 1986 earning $176 million domestic and $353 million worldwide - catching the pop culture wave like no other movie of that year. In a hundred years time when a historian wants to know what people did for entertainment in '86, they will look to Top Gun. After all, it dominated the VHS market and was instrumental in the format catching on and becoming the consumer choice for how to watch films in the home. It cemented the young Tom Cruise as a major movie star and began his run of incredibly success that made him the biggest star on the planet. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZnpUWHOdIs&feature=related But, in 2013 (as early as this could be out, realistically) - will audiences care to see a visibly over-the-hill Cruise, playing shirt-less volleyball, with the chest-thumbing, the homoerotic overtones and of course - the cheesy soundtrack. Would it work these days (as we say, maybe with Bay, it could).