'Top Gun 2' to Be Written By 'The Town' Scribe

© Paramount Pictures

"Top Gun"

The Town writer Peter Craig has been tapped to pen Top Gun 2 for Paramount, THR has confirmed.

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Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Skydance Productions will produce the sequel to the 1986 Tom Cruise hit. The Tony Scott-directed film grossed $354 million worldwide and was Cruise's biggest box office hit until Mission: Impossible (1996).

Craig is sizable hire for Paramount, suggesting the studio is serious about the project. He also penned a rewrite of the script for Horse Soldiers, an adaptation of the Doug Staton nonfiction book of the same name that Bruckheimer Films is producing. Horse Soldiers centers on soldiers who did battle on horseback against the Taliban after 9/11.

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The Town, released by Warner Bros. in 2010, starred Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner and Jon Hamm and took in $154 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.

Cruise has said that he'd like to make a sequel to Top Gun, a 1980s cultural touchstone. In September, The Hollywood Reporter reported that the film was being converted to 3D by Legend3D for Paramount and could be re-released this year.

Craig is represented by CAA and Management 360.

Email: Daniel.Miller@THR.com

Twitter: @DanielNMiller