Shawn Levy Reportedly Turned Down Tom Cruise’s ‘Days of Thunder’ Sequel to Ride With ‘Ghost Rider’

The road to Tom Cruise’s ‘Days of Thunder‘ sequel has been a long one. Cruise was first reported to be in talks to return in November 2024, and he later said publicly that he was working on potential sequels for both ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ and ‘Days of Thunder’. The original 1990 film, directed by the late Tony Scott, made $157.9 million worldwide.

The project became official on August 29. Cruise posted a video with Anne Hathaway announcing that ‘Days of Thunder’ will return in Summer 2028, with a release date of June 2, 2028. Jonathan Levine is directing from a script by Will Staples, and Cruise is producing with Jerry Bruckheimer and Tommy Harper.

But Levine may not have been the first choice. According to a report from Puck’s Matt Belloni, Cruise aggressively pursued Shawn Levy to direct ‘Days of Thunder 2’. Levy, the director of ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’, turned it down to make ‘Ghost Rider’ instead.

The report suggests Cruise took the recruitment seriously. He reportedly visited the set of ‘Star Wars: Starfighter’, which Levy directs and which stars Ryan Gosling, and that visit now looks like part of the pitch. The job went to Levine, whose credits include ’50/50′ and ‘Warm Bodies’.

Levy has plenty going on. The revelation comes as Levy signed a new TV deal with Disney this week, a pact between his company 21 Laps Entertainment and 20th Television. Puck reports the deal runs 5 years and is worth nine figures.

Levy’s choice was tied to a project he already loved. Marvel Studios announced the ‘Ghost Rider’ film during its Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con, with Kevin Feige introducing Ryan Gosling as Johnny Blaze and Levy as director. Jonathan Tropper is writing the script.

The idea grew out of Levy’s work with Gosling. Levy told the crowd that he and Gosling spent downtime on the ‘Starfighter’ set daydreaming about ‘Ghost Rider’ and swapping ideas. Levy has since said that Gosling sold him on the project within 6 minutes of describing it, and that they took it to Feige.

The Marvel film is set for theaters on July 28, 2028. It is Gosling’s first superhero or comic book role, following Nicolas Cage’s 2 ‘Ghost Rider’ films in 2007 and 2011.

Days of Thunder. Summer 2028. pic.twitter.com/rD3QLXfUyi

— Tom Cruise (@TomCruise) August 29, 2026

For Cruise, the choice does not derail anything. The sequel is moving ahead with Levine, Hathaway and IMAX cameras, and Hathaway is expected to play a team owner and engineer. The film is also set to be released in Dolby Cinema, 4DX and other premium large-screen formats.

Cruise has other things in the pipeline as well. He is set to return for ‘Top Gun 3’, and a director has yet to be named, with Joseph Kosinski busy on ‘Miami Vice ’85’. Before that, his satirical black comedy ‘Digger’ hits theaters on October 2.

For Levy, the timing shows how busy he is. ‘Starfighter’ arrives on May 28, 2027, and ‘Ghost Rider’ follows in 2028. It also means ‘Ghost Rider’ will arrive less than 2 months after ‘Days of Thunder 2’, so 2 racing-themed sequels from the summer of 2028 will share the calendar, with 1 of them missing the director Cruise wanted.

The report has fans debating the choice online. Some see the smart move as picking a big Marvel swing over a legacy sequel, while others think Levy walked away from a chance to work with one of the last true movie stars.

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