HOLLYWOOD
Tom Cruise and Kosinski have worked on 2013 sci-fi film 'Oblivion.'
Joseph Kosinski is the front runner to direct Top Gun 2 starring Tom Cruise for Paramount and Skydance Pictures.
While no official offer has yet been made, several sources told Variety that Kosinski was imminent.
Cruise and Kosinski have previously worked together on the 2013 sci-fi action film Oblivion.
Joachim Ronning, one of the director duo of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, was in the race too. But he dropped out citing schedule conflict.
Cruise, currently promoting his latest film The Mummy, was speaking on the Wednesday edition of Australia's morning TV show Sunrise when he was asked by the host if rumours of Top Gun 2 were true.
"It's true, it's true," he said, grinning as he added, "I'm going to start filming it probably in the next year. It's happening."
Cruise played the cocky pilot Maverick in Top Gun, one of the top students in a US training camp for elite military fighter pilots and engaged in a bitter rivalry with a fellow pilot played by Val Kilmer.
According to a report by The Hollywood Reporter, the sequel will be set in the modern times in which the fighter pilots will have to wrestle with the idea of drone technologies making their old school flying obsolete.
The Paramount Pictures film launched Cruise's career as a global action star and grossed more than $350 million globally, according to film tracker BoxOfficeMojo.com.
(With Agencies Inputs)