Top Gun: Maverick's Miles Teller To Star In The Gorge For Director Scott Derrickson

No one could have predicted that "Top Gun: Maverick," a sequel to a nearly 40-year-old movie, would wind up becoming not only the biggest movie of the summer, but the biggest movie of 2022 so far, pulling in $679 million domestic (more than "Avengers: Infinity War") and counting. It is a testament to the sheer power of spectacle director Joseph Kosinski and Tom Cruise manage to infuse into the movie, turning what could have easily been a cash grab, Americana-filled nostalgia play into a huge movie event the likes of which we haven't seen since before the pandemic. 

Miles Teller, one of the breakout stars of that movie, reunited with Kosinski in their underwhelming sci-fi streaming movie "Spiderhead," but Teller is now exchanging his aviator glasses for ... well, we don't know what just yet, but we do know that the actor has found his next project. Deadline reports Teller is about to team up with filmmaker Scott Derrickson to lead his upcoming film, "The Gorge."

Like Teller, Derrickson has also had one heck of a year. After leaving "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" in favor of doing a more personal horror movie, "The Black Phone" became a box office hit and a critical darling. The movie, which follows a kidnapped 13-year-old boy who discovers he can hear the voices of his kidnapper's previous victims and tries to use their experience to escape, was written by Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill based on the 2004 short story of the same name by Joe Hill. The adaptation was a huge success story, making over $150 million at the global box office thanks to strong performances, a powerful story, and some effective scares — including one jump scare that made this writer spill a whole drink on himself.

As for the new project, very little is known as of now. "The Gorge" is reportedly based on a spec script by Zach Dean, who wrote the Chris Pratt-led sci-fi movie "The Tomorrow War." Though plot details are non-existent, Deadline reports the movie is described as "a high-action, genre-bending love story."

It seems the teaming of director and star is what shot this particular project to the top of both Derrickson and Teller's schedules. Still, what does this mean for "Bermuda," the movie Derrickson was scheduled to direct with Chris Evans lined up to star? Again, we don't know, but it'd be a shame if that movie just doesn't happen, because we could always use more Bermuda Triangle movies.