As Moviehole exclusively reported back in December, Paramount’s revving the engines on that “Top Gun” sequel now that Tom Cruise has proved himself a viable box-office superstar again (he wasn’t for a while – take a look at those figs for “M:I 3″). Though the studio had expressed interest in a sequel to the 1986 hit, it wasn’t until Cruise’s “Mission : Impossible – Ghost Protocol” took the box-office by storm over the Christmas season that Paramount finally clicked the cap-gun on the race.

Risky Business says Acclaimed screenwriter Peter Craig, who wrote Ben Affleck’s bloody terrific crime caper “The Town”, has been tapped to pen Maverick’s twilight years for David Ellison’s cashed-up Skydance shingle (I hear Ellison, a former actor and a self-confessed plane enthusiast, is trying to get himself an acting part in the picture too) and Jerry Bruckheimer Productions.

Though Cruise is expected to reprise his Lt. Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell for the film, it’s not yet known whether he’ll be carrying the film or stepping back to let another young hotshot man the controls. “Top Gun” director Tony Scott is attached to resume his role on the sequel.