| Top Gun | |
|---|---|
 Official Logo | |
| Directed by | Tony Scott |
| Written by |
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| Based on | Top Guns by Ehud Yonay |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Jeffrey L. Kimball |
| Edited by |
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| Music by | Harold Faltermeyer |
Production company | Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 109 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $13–15 million |
| Box office | $360.6 million |
Top Gun is a 1986 American action drama movie directed by Tony Scott and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, with distribution by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay was written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr., and was inspired by an article titled "Top Guns", written by Ehud Yonay and published in California magazine three years earlier. It stars Tom Cruise as Lieutenant Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, a young naval aviator aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. He and his radar intercept officer, Lieutenant (junior grade) Nick "Goose" Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards), are given the chance to train at the United States Navy's Fighter Weapons School (Top Gun) at Naval Air Station Miramar in San Diego, California. Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer and Tom Skerritt also appear in supporting roles.
Top Gun was released in the United States on May 16, 1986. The film received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its visual effects, soundtrack, and dogfight sequences, but criticism for its plot and characters. Despite this, four weeks after its release, the number of theaters showing it increased by 45 percent, and it overcame initial critical resistance to become a huge commercial hit, grossing $177 million globally against a production budget of $15 million. Top Gun was the highest-grossing domestic film of 1986, as well as the highest-grossing film of 1986 worldwide.
The film maintained its popularity over the years and earned an IMAX 3D re-release in 2013, while the retrospective critical reception became more positive, with the film also emerging as a cult classic. Additionally, the soundtrack to the film has since become one of the most popular film soundtracks to date, reaching 9× Platinum certification. The film won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for "Take My Breath Away" performed by Berlin.
In 2015, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". A sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, in which Cruise and Kilmer reprised their roles, was released 36 years later on May 27, 2022, to widespread critical acclaim and commercial success.
