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Jay Barney: I don't know why Top Gun was put into theaters again now. I am a big fan of the original movie, and have watched it again recently, but even I am not going to go out pay money to see it in the theater. Perhaps this is in some way connected with the development of the sequel, a way of putting movie news out there for fans. I have said this before and I will say it again, I wish studios would put their resources into new projects rather than rewinding and trying to update older material. I hope to see a sequel soon, but I was never going to pay to see the original on the big screen again.

Jason Dean: I believe that the reason for the theatrical release was a way to advertise the upcoming Blu-Ray release as perhaps take a flier (er, no pun intended) on getting back some of the conversion costs associated with the Blu-Ray remastering.

I have to admit that I was looking forward to a chance to seeing this in the theater again and did see it this weekend. I was in high school for the original release and saw it twice. The first time was at an average theater and the second was an ear shattering, eye popping 70mm presentation at the Waikiki theater (sadly no more). Perhaps a true IMAX presentation would have lived up to the 70 mm memories but the small format IMAX presentation was still fun. I will grant that it sounded good. I was lucky enough to go with someone who has an AMC annual pass so we didn't pay the $16.50 3D IMAX ticket so if that had factored perhaps we wouldn't have gone.

I had the following thoughts during the screening:

For me, being a plane/aerospace buff, the movie is plane porn. Sadly, I think that we may never see another like it and by that I mean that other than the sequences where planes take damage/explode, those are actual planes, filmed by a camera mounted in another actual plane. I fear a current version would be all computer generated. Speaking of that even the doomed planes were models which is arguably still more "real" than CGI.

Top Gun might be one of the homoerotic blockbuster films ever.

Other than the retired F-14s, the most dated portion of the movie could be the soundtrack.

Bruce Hall: I agree that this is likely tied in to covering the Blu-Ray conversion costs. I suppose there's interest for a sequel. This is an impressive per theater average all things considered, the idea's been bouncing around for a long time and Maverick himself (Tom Cruise, for the three of you who have not seen Top Gun) has expressed an apparently sincere interest in being involved.

Top Gun was a fantastic mix of action/adventure, jingoism, and the kind of vaguely homo-erotic go-getter aggression that could only exist in the 1980s. If there's anything worse than romanticizing war, it's forgetting about it entirely - which is how far most Americans have come since the original release. It's possible that a movie about ballsy fighter jocks is about as widely desired as another Ghost Rider sequel.

I actually believe current VFX technology would be a benefit to Top Gun 2, provided a tasteful hand is behind the camera. Considering the subject matter that's no guarantee but if nothing else, it's fun to go back and remember the rush of sexually ambiguous patriotism you felt at the movie's climax. Ahem.

Also, Kenny Loggins.

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