Cole Trickle is returning from retirement to star in another big-screen blockbuster.

The fictitious NASCAR racer created by Tom Cruise in the 1990s will be the headliner again in a second edition of Days of Thunder in 2028.

The project has just been announced  with the news that Anne Hathaway will be the female lead.

Cruise confirmed the project at Daytona, home of the legendary 500-mile centrepiece of the NASCAR championship, with a social media post alongside Hathaway.

Early information on the upcoming film includes filming in IMAX and a release date of June 2, 2028 in the USA, according to Variety.

Cruise will be one of the producers, alongside his action collaborator Jerry Bruckheimer – from Top Gun and the original Thunder project – with Jonathan Levine as the director. The plot is believed to put Trickle back in the driving seat with Hathaway as a team owner.

The original Days of Thunder was made on a budget of $83 million and grossed $220 million from its release in 1990.

Two race crew members stand in a busy pit area, looking serious and focused on something off-camera.
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It also led to the marriage of Cruise and Nicole Kidman (above), who was hand-picked by Cruise as a (unlikely) brain surgeon.

There will need to be extensive cast changes for the re-boot as Robert Duval, the crusty mentor for Trickle, died in 1995.

Plans for the new movie come as Hollywood shows growing interest in motorsport in the Drive to Survive era, where new motorsport fans are eager for big screen entertainment.

The F1 movie, headlined by Brad Pitt, cost an estimated $350 million to make but grossed more than $800 million at the box office.