AceShowbiz -

"Top Gun 2" is getting a new writer ahead of its 2018 production start date. Titled "Top Gun: Maverick", the long-gestating sequel to Tom Cruise's hit 1986 movie is currently being written by "American Hustle" and "Only the Brave" writer Eric Warren Singer.

The script was originally written by Justin Marks who penned Disney's live-action remake of "The Jungle Book", last year's film which was directed by Jon Favreau. Singer was most likely brought in for a rewrite before production starts early next year.

Peter Craig, Justin Marks, Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz have also written the script for the project. Plot details are still kept under tight wraps, but the sequel is said to feature drone technology as it explores the end of an era for dogfighting and fighter pilots.

German website FilmStarts also reports that executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer doesn't think production on the sequel will be delayed due to the recent injury sustained by Cruise on the London set of "Mission: Impossible 6". The incident has forced the spy film's production to be delayed.

The producer said, "I don't think so," and told the site that they were on track for "Top Gun 2" to start filming either in January or February of 2018, giving them plenty of time to meet the previously set July 12, 2019 release date.

Along with Bruckheimer and Cruise, Skydance CEO David Ellison is returning to produce the sequel. Composer Harold Faltermeyer will also return to score the upcoming film, which is said to match the same style and tone as the original film.

"Oblivion" director Joseph Kosinski is set to helm the project which sees the return of Cruise as Maverick, who is "now a flight instructor teaching the young macho pilots how to do it." He previously said, "Aviators are back, the need for speed. We're going to have big, fast machines...It's going to be a competition film, like the first one." He explained that "it's going to be in the same vein as the first one, but a progression for Maverick."