The 2023 Gerard Butler movie Plane reached the No. 1 slot on Netflix’s trending titles list this weekend, usurping the Tyler Perry movie Straw. That’s the power of Father’s Day, baby.
Directed by Jean-François Richet, with a screenplay written by Charles Cumming and J. P. Davis, Plane stars Butler as a commercial plane pilot who is forced to make an emergency landing on Jolo island in the Philippines. As he and the passengers await the rescue team, they must face off with dangerous rebels who attack them, and take hostages for ransom. Also starring Mike Colter, Yoson An, and Tony Goldwyn Plane was an unexpected B-movie action hit in theaters, earning over $47.8 million at the worldwide box office. Now, it seems, the movie is poised to be an even bigger hit now that it’s streaming on Netflix.
With many Boeing plane crashes in the news over the last few years, perhaps it’s no surprise that some viewers will be wondering: Is Plane on Netflix based on a true story? Here’s what we know.
The 2023 movie Plane is not based on a true story. It entirely fictional, ie; a story that is made up and not based on real-life events. The movie is based on an original pitch from British spy novelist Charles Cumming. Plane was not based on a previous novel, but was Cumming’s idea. Cumming co-wrote the Plane screenplay with J. P. Davis.
In a 2023 interview with Hollywood Insider, Cumming said he got the idea for Plane while on en route to a vacation with his family in Egypt in 2016, and that he originally envisioned the movie taking place in Syria.
“It was the height of ISIS’s campaign in Syria and Iraq,” Cumming explained. “I thought, ‘What would happen if our plane had been diverted by bad weather, and it had come down and crash-landed in Syria, and was set upon by terrorists?’ I thought it was a great idea for a movie, so I came to LA. I pitched it, and I sold it, and then [the story] was moved to the Philippines. But that was the kernel of the original idea.”
Prior to Plane, Cumming was already a successful spy novelist, including the 2010 New York Times bestselling book, The Trinity Six.
Though Plane is not based on a true story, some Filipino officials took issue with the movie’s unflattering portrayal of their country, and argued that it was not accurate. In the movie, the real-life Jolo island is portrayed as an area overrun by gangs, separatists, and unauthorized militia. It’s implied the island has slipped away from the Filipino government control.
Filipino senator Robin Padilla called on the president to ban and condemn the movie.
This is not the first time the Philippines has banned, or proposed banning, a Hollywood film. Both 2022’s Uncharted and 2019’s Abominable were banned in the country after the movies portrayed a China-endorsed map that showed the disputed “nine-dash line” territory.”