Airplane! is an
American satirical comedy film directed and written by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker and released by
Paramount Pictures. It stars
Robert Hays and
Julie Hagerty and features
Leslie Nielsen,
Robert Stack,
Lloyd Bridges,
Peter Graves,
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and
Lorna Patterson. The film is a
spoof of the
disaster film genre, and is essentially a remake of the Paramount film
Zero Hour!.
In Australia and New Zealand the film is known as
Flying High.
Airplane! was a huge financial success, grossing over
US$83 million in North America alone, against a budget of just $3.5 million.
The film's creators received the
Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Comedy, and nominations for a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture (Musical/Comedy) and a
BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay.
In the years since its release,
Airplane!s reputation has grown substantially beyond its modest comic intentions. The film was voted the 10th-funniest American comedy in AFI's "100 Years... 100 Laughs" list, and ranked 6th on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies". The film has a 98% "fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes. In a major 2007 survey by Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, it was judged the second greatest comedy film of all time.
