The official Top Gun: Maverick trailer caused controversy after viewers noticed a key difference between Tom Cruise’s jacket in the original film and his new outfit in the sequel.
Last Thursday, Paramount debuted the first official Top Gun: Maverick trailer at San Diego Comic-Con and while the preview was well-received, a controversy arose after fans noticed changes to the jacket worn by Tom Cruise’s Pete Mitchell. In the original Top Gun, Tom Cruise’ jacket featured two patches of the Japanese and Taiwanese flag on the back, which seem to have been replaced by unidentifiable symbols with the same color scheme.
Fans are now speculating the decision to change Tom Cruise’s jacket was made to appease Beijing, considering both the tense relationship it has with Taiwan and Japan as well as China’s rise as the second-largest film market. The choice to alter Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick jacket could also have been made due to the sequel being co-financed by Tencent Pictures, the film division of Chinese internet company Tencent.
There’s a new Top Gun movie coming out. And Maverick is wearing the same leather jacket – only this time it’s Communist Party of China-approved, so the Japanese and Taiwanese flag patches are gone (screenshot on right is from the new trailer)… pic.twitter.com/gUxFNFNUKX
— Mark MacKinnon (@markmackinnon) July 19, 2019
Top Gun: Maverick follows Tom Cruise’s Pete Mitchell guiding a new generation of pilots, including a young man named Bradley Bradshaw, the son of Nick “Goose” Bradshaw, who died tragically in the first film.
Directed by Joseph Kosinski from a script written by Peter Craig, Justin Marks, Ashley Edward Miller, and Zack Stentz, Top Gun: Maverick stars Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, and Ed Harris.
Top Gun: Maverick will be released in theaters on June 26, 2020.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
