Tom Cruise and Anne Hathaway Take 'Days of Thunder' to June 2028
Tom Cruise has turned a long-rumored return to 'Days of Thunder' into an official sequel, and Anne Hathaway is in the car with him. Paramount has set the film for summer 2028, which gives this one a clear date and a real charge: Cruise is back as Cole Trickle, Hathaway is stepping in as a team owner and engineer, and the old racing movie is getting a new engine.
Tom Cruise and Anne Hathaway have made "Days of Thunder 2" official. Paramount Pictures backed the announcement on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026, and Variety says the sequel is headed for June 2, 2028, with Cruise back as Cole Trickle and Hathaway joining as a team owner and engineer. Film readers should care because this is not just another legacy sequel being dragged out by brand memory. It puts Cruise back in one of his old speed machines, gives Hathaway a role with some shape, and hands the project to Jonathan Levine from a Will Staples script.
The Daytona Announcement
Cruise and Hathaway revealed the news in a short Instagram reel and a promotional image set at Daytona International Speedway. The setup was simple and smart: a race car, a release date, and two actors who looked as if they knew exactly how to sell the idea without overexplaining it.
Rolling Stone and UPI both noted that Cruise framed the sequel as a summer 2028 release, and the key point was not the banter but the clarity. Paramount is not teasing this as a maybe. The company is saying the movie is coming, and it is giving the project a date that sits far enough out to feel large, but not so far out that it reads like vapor.
The announcement also matters because it fixes the basic shape of the film. Cruise returns to the role he played in 1990, and Hathaway is not just there for star wattage. She is playing an engineer and team owner, which gives the sequel a different kind of tension than the original.
Photo: Luis Ochea · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
What Paramount Has Put on the Table
According to Variety, the sequel will be shot for IMAX and released in theaters in premium formats including Dolby Cinema and 4DX. That is a useful signal. Paramount is treating this as a big-screen event, not a quiet follow-up for streaming shelf space.
The studio has also lined up the key names behind the camera. Jonathan Levine is set to direct, and Cruise will produce with Jerry Bruckheimer and Tommy Harper. The Playlist reported last month that Levine had entered talks to take the job, so the announcement makes that move look settled.
That combination matters because it keeps the movie from feeling like a nostalgia item assembled by committee. Levine has spent much of his career moving between comedy, drama, and genre work. That does not guarantee anything, but it does suggest a sequel with room to play instead of just replaying old laps.
