Gordon and Cruise are known to be close friends, and the four-time Cup Series champion famed for his #24 wants a follow-up to the 1990 film.
Rumours of a Days of Thunder sequel came in the wake of Cruise leading a Top Gun sequel. The first movie was released in 1986 with its sequel Top Gun: Maverick released in 2022.
Coincidentally, the Top Gun: Maverick production team is behind the new F1 movie, which recently wrapped up filming and will be released in June.
Joseph Kosinski is the director of the Formula 1-inspired Brad Pitt film alongside Jerry Bruckheimer, who produced Days of Thunder, Top Gun, and Top Gun: Maverick.
The Hollywood Reporter teased the possibility of another NASCAR-based film late last year, suggesting Cruise was interested in a sequel.
“I’ve absolutely talked to Tom about (a sequel) because I want him to do the project, and we want to be a part of it if it were to happen,” said Gordon.
“(Cruise) seems to like to tease it, so I don’t know. We’ll see what happens.”
The stock car series has dipped its toes into the Formula 1-style Drive to Survive landscape with its own Netflix docuseries NASCAR: Full Speed.
However, it hasn’t had a box office hit in more than a decade. Logan Lucky had a production budget of USD $29 million in 2017 and grossed USD $48.5 million.
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, had a 2006 budget of USD $72.5 million and grossed USD $163.4 million.
Arguably the most successful NASCAR adjacent project was the Cars franchise, which was first released in 2006 and had sequels in 2011 and 2017.
The first movie amassed USD $462 million at the box office in 2006. Its sequels, Cars 2 and Cars 3, made USD $559.8 million and USD $383.9 million respectively.
Gordon said that even if a Days of Thunder sequel doesn’t come to fruition, something similar could be forthcoming.
“If that doesn’t happen, I feel pretty confident there’s a project out there that will get NASCAR back on the big screen, if not just a really cool docuseries or something beyond even what we’re already seeing right now,” said Gordon.
“I am seeing just a lot more momentum in projects like coming through NASCAR and coming to Hendrick Motorsports and just more interest. So that’s good, right? It talks a lot about where the sport is at, where it’s heading, the amazing crowd that was here all weekend, not just (Sunday), new TV partners.
“So I do think that there’s this kind of resurgence, which is awesome, and there’s also a whole new landscape of opportunities with streaming services and docuseries and also the big screen, which I think it would be amazing to do.”
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