Anne Hathaway joins Tom Cruise in Days Of Thunder 2, with the sequel set for a 2028 cinema release.
Anne Hathaway is joining Tom Cruise in Days Of Thunder 2, the long-awaited sequel to the 1990 NASCAR racing film, with Paramount Pictures setting a 2 June 2028 release date.
Cruise announced Hathaway’s casting on social media, sharing a photograph of the pair leaning against a NASCAR race car in Daytona.
The sequel sees Cruise return as Cole Trickle, the hot-headed stock car driver he portrayed in the original film. Hathaway is expected to play a team owner and engineer, although details of the character and plot remain under wraps.
The film is being fast-tracked as Cruise’s next project following Paramount’s appointment of Jonathan Levine as director. It will be shot for IMAX and released in Dolby Cinema, 4DX and other premium large-screen formats.
Cruise is producing the sequel alongside Jerry Bruckheimer and Tommy Harper, while Will Staples has written the screenplay.
The original Days Of Thunder, directed by Tony Scott, was released in 1990 and followed Trickle as he enters NASCAR and attempts to establish himself in the highly competitive world of stock-car racing.
Cruise conceived the story, with Robert Towne writing the screenplay and Don Simpson and Bruckheimer producing. The cast included Robert Duvall, Randy Quaid, Cary Elwes, Caroline Williams and Michael Rooker.
The film earned $82.6m at the US box office and $157.9m worldwide.
The original also marked Cruise’s first on-screen pairing with Nicole Kidman, whom he later married. The two went on to appear together in Far And Away and Eyes Wide Shut.
For Hathaway, the sequel adds another major project to an increasingly busy film schedule. She recently appeared in The Devil Wears Prada 2, The Odyssey and The End Of Oak Street.
She is also set to star in Verity, which is scheduled for release in October.
Paramount’s decision to bring back Days Of Thunder comes more than three decades after the original, with Cruise once again stepping behind the wheel as Cole Trickle.
