{"id":584484,"date":"2026-08-30T01:14:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T01:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/584484\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T01:14:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T01:14:22","slug":"nascar-news-tom-cruise-confirms-days-of-thunder-sequel-with-anne-hathaway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/584484\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR news: Tom Cruise confirms Days of Thunder sequel with Anne Hathaway"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1357\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1788052462_700_days-of-thunder.jpeg\" class=\"sc-hero-img\" alt=\"Tom Cruise confirms Days of Thunder sequel with Anne Hathaway\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"eager\"  \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTom Cruise (left) and Anne Hathaway stand next to a NASCAR stock car featuring &#8216;Days of Thunder&#8217; on the side.<\/p>\n<p>In an unexpected announcement, Tom Cruise and Anne Hathaway appeared in a video with a NASCAR Cup Series stock car with \u2018Days of Thunder Summer 2028\u2019 on the side.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m going to have this baby and then we\u2019re going to make this movie,\u201d said Hathaway.<\/p>\n<p>The sequel is set for a June release and will be filmed for IMAX.<\/p>\n<p>Cruise starred in the original as Cole Trickle and will reprise that role in the new film.<\/p>\n<p>Hathaway\u2019s role has not yet been revealed, though reports indicate she may play a team owner and engineer.<\/p>\n<p>Cruise attended the NASCAR Cup Series drivers meeting at Daytona, where he addressed the athletes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a real honour for me to be here today. It was a real honour,\u201d said Cruise.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI used to take cars on the back streets of Kentucky racing when I was a little kid.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I brought Days of Thunder to Jerry Bruckheimer in the 1980s, it was not just about racing. It\u2019s about the community and the people here.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s something very special about racers and the whole community. It\u2019s a culture.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was very proud to be able to reflect that in the first Days of Thunder and an honour to share it with the world.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just want you all to know that\u2019s basically what we\u2019re really going to go for with this one.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGive the audience the opportunity to understand what it is as a team, as a community, what it is for NASCAR and the speed and the excitement and all that dangerous stuff that I love doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A sequel to the 1990 film has long been mooted, with NASCAR industry experts surveyed by screenwriter Will Staples.<\/p>\n<p>Cruise will produce the Paramount film alongside Jerry Bruckheimer and Tommy Harper.<\/p>\n<p>The opportunity to make \u2018Days of Thunder 2\u2019 comes off the back of the successful release of Top Gun: Maverick in 2022, which grossed $1.5 billion USD.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Days of Thunder. Summer 2028. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/rD3QLXfUyi\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/rD3QLXfUyi<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Tom Cruise (@TomCruise) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TomCruise\/status\/2093751319915815218?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">August 29, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tom Cruise (left) and Anne Hathaway stand next to a NASCAR stock car featuring &#8216;Days of Thunder&#8217; on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":584485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-584484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}