The Super Bowl is an event on par with the release of a blockbuster movie. Even if you’re not specifically a fan, it’s difficult to avoid the hype that surrounds it. Perhaps that’s why this past weekend’s AFC Championship game, which determined one of the teams that would play in that game, didn’t simply feel like a big movie trailer, it actually was one. CBS brought in Tom Cruise and scenes from this summer’s Top Gun: Maverick to get viewers pumped up.
Tom Cruise filmed a sequence to get the AFC Championship game off to an epic start and he brought some scenes from Top Gun: Maverick along with him, drawing parallels between the aviators who go above and beyond in the film, and the players that do the same thing on the football field. Cruise never mentions the movie by name, he doesn’t need to, Check it out.
Most of the scenes here are shots we’ve seen before in other trailers, but there are a few moments with Top Gun’s impressive cast that are new, which will be exciting for the fans who are really waiting for this one. With the movie being delayed more than once we’ve seen more trailers for it than we’re used to seeing this far from release. It’s likely getting tough to find ways to show off the movie, and continue to show something new, without showing off too much.
What we’ve got going on here is a bit of corporate synergy. The AFC Championship game was played on CBS, which has the same parent company as Paramount Pictures, the distributors of Top Gun: Maverick. It makes a lot of sense for the two to promote each other. The long awaited, and long delayed, Top Gun sequel is one of the biggest films Paramount is set to release this year.
And the movie is still set to come out this year, which is great news for fans. Tom Cruise has a pair of high profile sequels in the works with both Top Gun: Maverick and Mission: Impossible 7 on the way. The two movies have been delayed multiple times in the last few years, and it’s always happened together, but most recently the new Mission: Impossible movie was delayed once again, while Top Gun: Maverick was left alone.
The fact that the movie was used in this football spot would at least strongly indicate that as of this moment, the expectation is that Top Gun will be released on the current schedule of upcoming movies.
From most perspectives, it sounds like the football game had all the drama that one is looking forward to in this big screen adventure. So the connection between that game and Top Gun ended up working quite well.
