Tom Cruise impressed with fan who was first to notice hidden detail in Top Gun: Maverick

Nothing makes pop culture fanatics feel more chuffed than spotting secret references - or 'Easter eggs' - woven into whatever they're watching, reading or listening to.

So you can only imagine the delight one Top Gun fan felt when they not only spotted an easter egg in Top Gun: Maverick, but even got a nod of approval from Tom Cruise himself.

A Twitter user named Emma recently took to the social media platform to reveal she’d spotted a homage to the original 1986 Top Gun movie in Maverick.

She tweeted earlier this month: “My favourite party trick is showing people that they sampled the volleyball scene audio in top gun 1986 for the beach football scene in top gun maverick.”

Incredibly, Emma’s tweet caught the attention of Top Gun: Maverick editor Eddie Hamilton, who told co-writer and producer Christopher McQuarrie about her wicked spot.

McQuarrie himself took to Twitter to congratulate Emma on the find, and even told her that Cruise was also impressed with her attention to detail.

Replying to Emma in a tweet, McQuarrie said: “Tom and I were most impressed when Eddie showed us this over breakfast this morning. Keep on smugging, Emma.” How freakin’ cool is that?

Top Gun: Maverick was the sequel to the 1986 classic and smashed all sorts of box office records. Not only did Maverick crack the $1 billion (£812 million) mark across the global box office, but it became the first movie of 2022 to do so after just 31 days in cinemas.

The sequel sees Cruise’s fighter pilot, Lieutenant Pete Mitchell, return to the training school to prepare a group of younger pilots for a mission.

Cruise previously admitted there was a lot of pressure surrounding the sequel, telling The Independent that taking on the project was a 'daunting task'.

The A-lister shared: “Fans all over the world – more than any other film for decades have been saying please do another one, and I was like – I don’t know how to do that.”

He continued: "To hear about how audiences feel about it I’m telling you I just feel, I’m so excited for them, I’m so happy about it, I’m relieved for them you know.”

As for how much Cruise himself made from Maverick, well, spoiler alert: it’s a hell of a lot.

Entertainment outlet Puck suggests that Cruise managed to crack a deal that saw him paid not only a whopping $12.5 million initially for reprising the role as Captain Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell, but he also then secured 10 percent of the first dollar gross ‘with escalators that increase his percentage at certain milestones’. Madness.