Top Gun Sequel’s Best Asset May Be 28-Year-Old Billionaire’s Son

Recent rumblings that a sequel to Top Gun may be brewing brought about a large, collective groan. But after reading today’s LA Times profile of David Ellison, the 28-year-old son of Oracle Corp. billionaire Larry and potential sequel producer, FishbowlLA is cautiously optimistic.

Under a headline that suggests Ellison Jr. is intent, with $350 million in funding, in working with Paramount Studios to make his Skydance Productions a “media company 2.0”, writers Claudia Eller and Ben Fritz put forth a portrait of a young man who has little hesitation about what he is doing:

Ellison pitched Top Gun‘s original team — Cruise, director Tony Scott and producer Jerry Bruckheimer – on ways to update the story to the 21st century, such as integrating the increasing use of unmanned drones by the military.

“He called us up and said he wanted to get all the guys together,” Bruckheimer said. “The world has changed dramatically and he’s on the leading edge of what aviation is today, so he has interesting thoughts on what the movie could be.”

Ellison Jr. is an accomplished aerobatic pilot who took his first flying lesson with dad at age 13. Who knows? If-when Paramount needs someone to fly promotional banners for Top Gun 2 along the California coast, he can probably take care of that aspect of things as well.

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