We've only had a few short hours to process the fact that Top Gun 2 looks like it is moving forward, and moving forward with Tom Cruise. The upcoming project is clearly still in the early stages of development, but Cruise did announce yesterday that he hopes the project gets off the ground next year. Now, it looks as if things are continuing to move quickly with Top Gun 2, as a new report indicates a director is already being eyed for the project. If the rumors hold true, Oblivion director Joseph Kosinksi may be the man for the job.

Currently, Paramount is staying mum about the status of the upcoming blockbuster, even about whether or not it is officially moving forward, much less who is directing it. Reports indicate that Joseph Kosinski is currently the frontrunner for the job. If true, hiring Kosinski makes plenty of sense. The director worked with Tom Cruise once before on Oblivion, so he should have a keen sense of how the actor works. In addition, he's made more than one movie with scope, as both Oblivion and Tron: Legacy were bigger budget movies with a lot of moving parts. Kosinski's next movie, Granite Mountain Hotshots, is scheduled to hit theaters later this year, so presumably he'd be free after that project, as well.

Even if all of that stuff were not true, Variety reports that Tom Cruise met with a ton of directors while he was filming Mission Impossible: 6. Although presumably plenty of good ideas were bandied about, it was apparently Kosinski's pitch that really had the actor jazzed about revisiting characters from a movie that came out way back in 1986.

The new movie is reportedly going to be set in the present, and will focus on the technology of the day. People have been talking about Top Gun 2 for what feels like forever (but in reality was only 2010); regardless, after Tony Scott died, it was hard to see how the project would move forward. Still, plenty of people involved with the original movie, including Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer, have spoken out about being keen to return to the Top Gun world. If it happens, doubtless, a slew of original cast members will be back.

And it looks like Top Gun 2 is happening, whether or not the rumors that Joseph Kosinski is the man for the job pan out. Some times projects linger in development hell for years but once they get going they move fast, and Tom Cruise has already said there's a slot in his schedule in 2018 with Top Gun 2 written all over it. We'll let you know as soon as more news related to the project breaks; in the meantime, take a look at what is coming up with our full 2017 movies schedule, including the new Tom Cruise flick The Mummy, which is out in June.