The Best Airplane Movie of All Time?
by Reggie80 | created - 07 Feb 2020 | updated - 17 Feb 2020 | PublicBelow is a list of films in which the movie is either about a plane or most of the story happens on a plane. What is your favorite airplane movie of all time?
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1. United 93 (2006)
R | 111 min | Action, Drama, History
A real-time account of the events on United Flight 93, one of the planes hijacked on September 11th, 2001 that crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania when passengers foiled the terrorist plot.
Director: Paul Greengrass | Stars: David Alan Basche, Olivia Thirlby, Liza Colón-Zayas, J.J. Johnson
Votes: 110,956 | Gross: $31.57M
2. Flight (I) (2012)
R | 138 min | Drama, Thriller
Troubling questions arise after airline pilot Whip Whitaker makes a miracle landing after a mid-air catastrophe.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Denzel Washington, Nadine Velazquez, Don Cheadle, John Goodman
Votes: 376,277 | Gross: $93.77M
3. Flightplan (2005)
PG-13 | 98 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A bereaved woman and her daughter are flying home from Berlin to America. At 30,000 feet, the child vanishes, and nobody will admit she was ever on the plane.
Director: Robert Schwentke | Stars: Jodie Foster, Peter Sarsgaard, Sean Bean, Kate Beahan
Votes: 171,864 | Gross: $89.71M
4. Airplane! (1980)
PG | 88 min | Comedy
After the crew becomes sick with food poisoning, a neurotic ex-fighter pilot must safely land a commercial airplane full of passengers.
Directors: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker | Stars: Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Leslie Nielsen, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Votes: 261,224 | Gross: $83.40M
5. Top Gun (1986)
PG | 109 min | Action, Drama
As students at the United States Navy's elite fighter weapons school compete to be best in the class, one daring young pilot learns a few things from a civilian instructor that are not taught in the classroom.
Director: Tony Scott | Stars: Tom Cruise, Tim Robbins, Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer
Votes: 502,860 | Gross: $179.80M
6. The Aviator (2004)
PG-13 | 170 min | Biography, Drama
A biopic depicting the early years of legendary director and aviator Howard Hughes' career from the late 1920s to the mid 1940s.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, John C. Reilly
Votes: 384,176 | Gross: $102.61M
7. Non-Stop (2014)
PG-13 | 106 min | Action, Mystery, Thriller
An air marshal springs into action during a transatlantic flight after receiving a series of text messages demanding $150 million into an off-shore account, or someone will die every 20 minutes.
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra | Stars: Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore, Scoot McNairy, Michelle Dockery
Votes: 276,585 | Gross: $92.17M
8. Air Force One (1997)
R | 124 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
Communist radicals hijack Air Force One with the U.S. President and his family on board. The Vice President negotiates from Washington D.C., while the President, a veteran, fights to rescue the hostages on board.
Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Glenn Close, Wendy Crewson
Votes: 210,168 | Gross: $172.96M
9. Con Air (1997)
R | 115 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
Newly-paroled ex-con and former U.S. Ranger Cameron Poe finds himself trapped in a prisoner-transport plane when the passengers seize control.
Director: Simon West | Stars: Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, John Malkovich, Colm Meaney
Votes: 319,368 | Gross: $101.12M
10. Passenger 57 (1992)
R | 84 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
An airline security expert must take action when he finds himself trapped on a passenger jet when terrorists seize control of it.
Director: Kevin Hooks | Stars: Wesley Snipes, Bruce Payne, Tom Sizemore, Alex Datcher
Votes: 50,733 | Gross: $44.07M
11. Die Hard 2 (1990)
R | 124 min | Action, Thriller
John McClane attempts to avert disaster as rogue military operatives seize control of Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C.
Director: Renny Harlin | Stars: Bruce Willis, William Atherton, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson
Votes: 383,186 | Gross: $117.54M
12. Red Eye (2005)
PG-13 | 85 min | Thriller
A woman is kidnapped by a stranger on a routine flight. Threatened by the potential murder of her father, she is pulled into a plot to assist her captor in a political assassination.
Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy, Brian Cox, Laura Johnson
Votes: 140,711 | Gross: $57.89M
13. Sully (2016)
PG-13 | 96 min | Biography, Drama
When pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger lands his damaged plane on the Hudson River in order to save the flight's passengers and crew, some consider him a hero while others think he was reckless.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Tom Hanks, Aaron Eckhart, Laura Linney, Valerie Mahaffey
Votes: 298,220 | Gross: $125.07M
14. Sole Survivor (1970 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 100 min | Drama, Fantasy
This story is loosely based on the discovery of the B-24 "Liberator" bomber the "Lady Be Good" that was found in the Libyan desert after the crew got lost on their 1st bombing mission to Italy.
Director: Paul Stanley | Stars: Vince Edwards, Richard Basehart, William Shatner, Lou Antonio
Votes: 984
15. The Flight of the Phoenix (1965)
Approved | 142 min | Adventure, Drama
After an oil company plane crashes in the Sahara, the survivors are buoyed with hope by one of the passengers, an airplane designer who plans for them to build a flyable plane from the wreckage.
Director: Robert Aldrich | Stars: James Stewart, Richard Attenborough, Peter Finch, Hardy Krüger
Votes: 22,421
16. Memphis Belle (1990)
PG-13 | 107 min | Action, Drama, War
In 1943, the crew of a B-17 based in the UK prepares for its 25th and final bombing mission over Germany before returning home to the USA.
Director: Michael Caton-Jones | Stars: Matthew Modine, Eric Stoltz, Tate Donovan, D.B. Sweeney
Votes: 30,543 | Gross: $27.44M
17. The Spirit of St. Louis (1957)
Approved | 135 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
Charles 'Slim' Lindbergh struggles to finance and design an airplane that will make his New York to Paris flight the first solo transatlantic crossing.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: James Stewart, Murray Hamilton, Patricia Smith, Bartlett Robinson
Votes: 8,613
18. No Highway in the Sky (1951)
Not Rated | 98 min | Drama, Thriller
An aeronautical engineer predicts that a new model of plane will fail catastrophically and in a novel manner after a specific number flying hours.
Director: Henry Koster | Stars: James Stewart, Marlene Dietrich, Glynis Johns, Jack Hawkins
Votes: 4,459
19. Strategic Air Command (1955)
Approved | 112 min | Action, Drama, War
An ex-pilot and current baseballer is recalled into the U.S. Air Force and assumes an increasingly important role in Cold War deterrence.
Director: Anthony Mann | Stars: James Stewart, June Allyson, Frank Lovejoy, Barry Sullivan
Votes: 4,082
20. Airport '77 (1977)
PG | 114 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
Art thieves hijack a 747, hit fog and crash into the ocean, trapping them and the passengers under one hundred feet of water.
Director: Jerry Jameson | Stars: Jack Lemmon, Lee Grant, Joseph Cotten, Olivia de Havilland
Votes: 12,323 | Gross: $30.00M
21. The Wind Rises (2013)
PG-13 | 126 min | Animation, Biography, Drama
Jiro Horikoshi studies assiduously to fulfill his aim of becoming an aeronautical engineer. As WWII begins, fighter aircraft designed by him end up getting used by the Japanese Empire against its foes.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Hideaki Anno, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Miori Takimoto, Masahiko Nishimura
Votes: 98,844 | Gross: $5.21M
22. Porco Rosso (1992)
PG | 94 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
In 1930s Italy, a veteran World War I pilot is cursed to look like an anthropomorphic pig.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Shûichirô Moriyama, Tokiko Katô, Bunshi Katsura VI, Tsunehiko Kamijô
Votes: 102,171
23. Amelia (2009)
PG | 111 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
A look at the life of legendary American pilot Amelia Earhart, who disappeared while flying over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 in an attempt to make a flight around the world.
Director: Mira Nair | Stars: Hilary Swank, Richard Gere, Ewan McGregor, Christopher Eccleston
Votes: 13,627 | Gross: $14.24M
24. Snakes on a Plane (2006)
R | 105 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
An FBI agent takes on a plane full of deadly venomous snakes, deliberately released to kill a witness being flown from Honolulu to Los Angeles to testify against a mob boss.
Director: David R. Ellis | Stars: Samuel L. Jackson, Julianna Margulies, Nathan Phillips, Rachel Blanchard
Votes: 144,663 | Gross: $34.02M
25. The Great Waldo Pepper (1975)
PG | 107 min | Adventure, Drama
After WW1, an ex-pilot takes up barn-storming and chance-meets a former German ace fighter pilot with whom he co-stars in Hollywood war movies depicting aerial dog-fights.
Director: George Roy Hill | Stars: Robert Redford, Bo Svenson, Bo Brundin, Susan Sarandon
Votes: 6,602 | Gross: $20.64M
26. Airport (1970)
G | 137 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
A bomber on board an airplane, an airport almost closed by snow, and various personal problems of the people involved.
Directors: George Seaton, Henry Hathaway | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, George Kennedy, Jean Seberg
Votes: 21,697 | Gross: $100.49M
27. Battle of Britain (1969)
G | 132 min | Action, Drama, History
In 1940, the British Royal Air Force fights a desperate battle to prevent the Luftwaffe from gaining air superiority over the English Channel as a prelude to a possible Axis invasion of the U.K.
Director: Guy Hamilton | Stars: Michael Caine, Trevor Howard, Harry Andrews, Curd Jürgens
Votes: 24,522 | Gross: $4.36M
28. Executive Decision (1996)
R | 133 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
When terrorists seize control of an airliner, an intelligence analyst accompanies a commando unit for a midair boarding operation.
Director: Stuart Baird | Stars: Kurt Russell, Halle Berry, Steven Seagal, John Leguizamo
Votes: 61,594 | Gross: $56.57M
29. The Sound Barrier (1952)
Approved | 109 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
Fictionalized story of British aerospace engineers solving the problem of supersonic flight.
Director: David Lean | Stars: Ralph Richardson, Ann Todd, Nigel Patrick, John Justin
Votes: 2,326
30. Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes (1965)
G | 138 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
Hoping to push Britain to the forefront of aviation, a London publisher organizes an international air race across the English Channel, but must contend with two entrants vying for his daughter, as well as national rivalries and cheating.
Director: Ken Annakin | Stars: Stuart Whitman, Sarah Miles, James Fox, Alberto Sordi
Votes: 9,233 | Gross: $31.11M
31. Planes: Fire & Rescue (2014)
PG | 83 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
When Dusty learns that his engine is damaged and he may never race again, he joins a forest fire and rescue unit to be trained as a firefighter, or else his air strip will be shut down.
Director: Bobs Gannaway | Stars: Dane Cook, Ed Harris, Julie Bowen, Curtis Armstrong
Votes: 19,816 | Gross: $59.17M
32. The Red Baron (2008)
PG-13 | 106 min | Action, Adventure, Biography
German biopic loosely based on the World War I fighter ace Manfred Von Richthofen, nicknamed the Red Baron by friend and foe alike.
Director: Nikolai Müllerschön | Stars: Matthias Schweighöfer, Lena Headey, Til Schweiger, Joseph Fiennes
Votes: 13,159 | Gross: $0.04M
33. High Road to China (1983)
PG | 105 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
During WW1, an alcoholic American biplane pilot is hired by the spoiled daughter of an industrialist to find her father who disappeared in Asia.
Director: Brian G. Hutton | Stars: Tom Selleck, Bess Armstrong, Jack Weston, Wilford Brimley
Votes: 6,006 | Gross: $28.40M
34. Twelve O'Clock High (1949)
Not Rated | 132 min | Drama, War
A tough-as-nails general (Gregory Peck as General Savage) takes over a B-17 bomber unit suffering from low morale and whips them into fighting shape.
Director: Henry King | Stars: Gregory Peck, Hugh Marlowe, Gary Merrill, Millard Mitchell
Votes: 15,806
35. Wings (1927)
PG-13 | 144 min | Drama, Romance, War
Two young men, one rich, one middle class, who are in love with the same woman, become fighter pilots in World War I.
Directors: William A. Wellman, Harry d'Abbadie d'Arrast | Stars: Clara Bow, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, Richard Arlen, Jobyna Ralston
Votes: 14,542 | Gross: $6.59M
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