The makers of Top Gun - Maverick aim high and fly low. The strategy works. It ensures that they do not miss the target they - and lead actor Tom Cruise, back in the cockpit after a 36-year hiatus - have set for themselves.

The May 27 release date for Top Gun: Maverick is the start of the movie's exclusive run in movie theaters.

Much has transpired since 1986's Top Gun gave Cruise one of the first big hits of his acting career.

In the original, Top Gun (1986), a young Cruise stars as the hot-shot pilot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, as he and his co-pilot Goose (Anthony Edwards) take part in the Navy’s top school for elite fighter pilots.

Maverick likes to push it to the limit, but that ends up getting him in trouble and his confidence gets shaken following a tragic accident. But the happy ending prevails and he saves the day and gets the girl.

Top Gun remains a fan-favorite to this day, thanks to numerous factors including a star-making turn from Tom Cruise, memorable supporting characters like Anthony Edwards' Goose and Val Kilmer's Iceman, fantastic '80s tunes like "Danger Zone" and "Take My Breath Away" and incredible aerial sequences.

Kosinski, who directed Cruise in Oblivion, takes the Top Gun legacy very seriously and puts the star at the centre of everything, does not bother all that much about plotting.

Tom Cruise is no stranger to doing his own stunts, and Top Gun: Maverick is no different.

The Hollywood Reporter got their hands on a casting breakdown of the characters in Top Gun: Maverick, and many of the call signs are just as fantastic as the ones from the original movie.