Airport | |
Director: | George Seaton (1) Jack Smight (2) Jerry Jameson (3) David Lowell Rich (4) |
Screenplay: | George Seaton (1) Don Ingalls (2) Michael Scheff (3) David Spector (3) Eric Roth (4) |
Producer: | Ross Hunter (1) William Frye (2-3) Jennings Lang (4) |
Starring: | Burt Lancaster George Kennedy Charlton Heston Alain Delon Jack Lemmon |
Cinematography: | Ernest Laszlo Philip H. Lathrop |
Editing: | Stuart Gilmore |
Music: | Alfred Newman John Cacavas Lalo Schifrin |
Studio: | Universal Pictures |
Released: |
|
Country: | United States |
Language: | English |
Gross: | $387.5 million |
Airport is a 1970s film series consisting of four airplane-themed disaster films: Airport, Airport 1975, Airport '77 and The Concorde... Airport '79. They are based on the 1968 novel Airport by Arthur Hailey. The four films grossed $387.5 million worldwide.
The only actor who appeared in all four films is George Kennedy, in his recurring role of Joe Patroni, who progresses from a chief mechanic, to a vice president of operations, to a consultant, to an airline pilot.
Film | U.S. release date | Director | Screenwriter(s) | Story | Producers | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Airport | March 5, 1970 | George Seaton | Ross Hunter | |||
Airport 1975 | October 18, 1974 | Jack Smight | Don Ingalls | William Frye | ||
Airport '77 | March 11, 1977 | Jerry Jameson | Michael Scheff and David Spector | H. A. L. Craig and Charles Kuenstle | ||
The Concorde... Airport '79 | August 17, 1979 | David Lowell Rich | Eric Roth | Jennings Lang |
The first Airport film from 1970 has been praised for the film's influence on the disaster genre and its "camp value".[1] However, the movie's star, Burt Lancaster, said in a 1971 reaction to its ten Academy Award nominations that the film was "the biggest piece of junk ever made."[2] [3]
The New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael characterized Airport 1975 as "cut-rate swill", produced on a TV-movie budget by mercenary businessmen.[4] Vincent Canby of The New York Times called it "a silly sequel with a 747".[5]
In a review of Airport '77, a critic in The New York Times wrote that it "looks less like the work of a director and writers than like a corporate decision."[6]
Variety′s review of The Concorde... Airport '79 called the film "Definitely not for sophisticates, 'Concorde' is a throwback to the old popcorn genre, and rather enjoyable at that" but noted that "unintentional comedy still seems the 'Airport' series' forte".[7] The New York Times critic Janet Maslin wrote disparagingly that "'Concorde' is enough to persuade anyone to stay on the ground."[8]
Box office receipts declined as the series progressed, and no further Airport films were produced, although media reports in the early 1980s suggested a fifth film was considered.
The 1980 comedy Airplane!, though more specifically a parody of the 1957 film Zero Hour! (itself a precursor to the Airport concept, with a screenplay by Hailey), was marketed as a spoof of the Airport series. It spawned its own follow-up, , in 1982.
Film | Release date | Box office gross | Budget | Reference | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
United States/Canada | Other territories | Worldwide | ||||
Airport | May 29, 1970 | $100,500,000 | $27,900,000 | $128,400,000 | $10,200,000 | [9] [10] |
Airport 1975 | October 18, 1974 | $47,300,000 | $55,700,000 | $103,000,000 | $3,000,000 | [11] [12] |
Airport '77 | March 11, 1977 | $30,000,000 | $61,100,000 | $91,100,000 | $6,000,000 | [13] |
The Concorde... Airport '79 | August 17, 1979 | $13,000,000 | $52,000,000 | $65,000,000 | $14,000,000 | [14] |
Total | $190,800,000 | $196,700,000 | $387,500,000 | $33,200,000 | ||