Momentum has been building behind a potential Top Gun sequel for quite some time now, but up until this point the only news about the project has been rumor and hypotheticals. What’s clear is that every time Tom Cruise talks about the project he sounds enthused to get it started, and he very much wants Tony Scott to come back and direct again. But, despite that enthusiasm, no concrete moves have been made to get the film in production. There were rumors at one point that X-Men: First Class writers Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz had been hired to come up with a script, but nothing seems to have come of that, because now THR is reporting that The Town writer Peter Craig is the guy coming on board to take a crack at getting things started. If that’s true and Craig does actually start and finish a Top Gun script that gets used, then it should be seen as a pretty big coup for a movie about oversexed jet pilots. The Town turned a lot of heads, and it seems like after hitting it big with such gritty work Craig wouldn’t be looking to transition into flashy popcorn stuff. It would be exciting to see what he came up with given the task though.

What is Movie News After Dark? It’s a nightly movie news column desperate in its search for the insanely cool links of the day. It will also take movie related news, things about Community and Doctor Who, as well as, on occasion, updates on The Dark Knight Rises. Although after last night’s entry, it’s not sure there is any TDKR news left to report. We begin tonight with some incredibly cool animated work from an artist named Otis Frampton. On his Deviant Art page, found via Popped Culture, he envisions what a Battlestar Galactica animated series would look like. I would watch this show, and not just because I’m a die hard BSG fan, either.

It’s only appropriate that, on the same day two films born from the neon womb of the 80s release into theaters, we get an announcement regarding yet another project that’s cribbing straight from the glory days of side ponytails and slap bracelets. Or, rather, the high-flying times of being dangerous. For whatever reason (cough, money, cough), Paramount is going ahead with their Top Gun sequel, which we’re all going to call Top Gun 2 until someone finally announces that it’s called Top Gun: Living Life Between Your Legs or similar. The studio is now reportedly in negotiations with X-Men: First Class and Thor scribblers Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz to pen this latest iteration of dudes gone wild. If you’re looking for a plot, don’t come sniffing around here, as Variety says that details are “nil,” as the script has not even been written yet. What, was there no treatment? Maybe a model fighter jet emblazoned with key words? A volleyball with character names on it? In any case, who knows what the heck this film is about and how it will tie back into the 1986 original or if it will just focus on dweebs in trailers playing glorified video games that control fighter jets (whatever Tony Scott said a few months back, I don’t quite see that aspect being the center of the new film).

Since there are actual human beings thinking it’s a good idea to make a sequel to Top Gun, it seems important to take a look at the hurdles that would face such a production (at least as they pertain to telling a good story and casting people that makes sense). Will Tom Cruise sign on to star? Will Goose’s ghost be involved? Neither of those questions matter, because the possible production has an uphill battle as it is.