‘Top Gun 3’ and ‘Pirates of the Caribbean 6’ Are in a “Horse Race” to the Big Screen

2 weeks ago 14

Published Feb 12, 2026, 12:26 PM EST

Shrishty is a decade-old journalist covering a variety of beats between politics to pop culture, but movies are her first love, which led her to study Film and TV Development at UCLAx. She lives and breathes cinema and sometimes wakes up with the close-up shot of Ryan Gosling's hands playing piano in La La Land, in her head.

She has worked with numerous media outlets, including Burda Media (MSN News), DKODING Media, The Voice of Fashion, Hindustan Times, and more. Throughout her career, she has interviewed an array of people, from CEOs and politicians to filmmakers and farmers.

Jerry Bruckheimer has given us some amazing movies. From Pirates of the Caribbean to Top Gun, the producer is behind some of our favorite titles featuring some of Hollywood's biggest stars. This year, he has bagged his second Oscar nomination for the Brad Pitt-led sports drama F1. The movie directed by Joseph Kosinski is competing for Best Picture, Visual Effects, Film Editing, and Sound. The movie was a big surprise right from the start; first, it got an unexpected reception at the box office worldwide, becoming a critical as well as commercial success, but its unexpected Oscar nominations cemented the movie as one of the best sports films in recent memory.

Bruckheimer was at the Oscar luncheon recently, where he discussed the impact of F1 among other movies. But the conversation took an interesting turn when he was asked about his other highly anticipated movies: Pirates of the Caribbean 6 and Top Gun 3. Interestingly, Kosinski directed Top Gun: Maverick, which brought Tom Cruise back as the titular character, and was Bruckheimer’s first Oscar nomination. Its success led to the announcement of a third movie in the franchise.

On the other hand, another installment of Johnny Depp-led Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is long overdue, although its lead star’s return is still in limbo. While the producer stayed tight-lipped about revealing anything about the projects, he did confirm to Entertainment Tonight that both are under development, saying, “I think it's a horse race between the two of them, so we'll see.” When pressed for which one is ahead in the race, he affirmed:

“Right now, Top Gun is a hair ahead, but that's it. We're expecting a script shortly.”

What Do We Know About 'Top Gun 3'?

The success of the Top Gun sequel in a post-pandemic period practically saved Hollywood when it hit four summers ago. The way fans turned up to see Maverick and his new squadron cemented their love for cinema and eagerness to see movies on the big screen. So the bar for Top Gun 3 is going to be really high. Kosinski previously revealed the status of the script to Collider, saying, “I've said a few things about it. We're working on it. Ehren Kruger's writing the script as we speak. The idea of it is very exciting.” He further shared the scope of the film, revealing, “The scale of it is massive. It's going to make Maverick feel small in comparison, honestly. That's all I want to say. It's very exciting. But we're working on the script.”

Meanwhile, Top Gun: Maverick is streaming on Paramount, and you can check out F1 on Apple TV. Stay tuned to Collider for more such updates.