June 1, 2023 – Airplane!

Happy Throwback Thursday! Today we’re featuring the year 1980. One of the biggest movies that year was Airplane! It was written and directed by David and Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams, who were all in a sketch comedy troupe together. To get ideas for their skits, they’d record late-night television and look for commercials to make fun of. While doing this, they unintentionally recorded a 1957 movie called Zero Hour! The trio ended up borrowing its plot, main characters, and some dialogue to create Airplane! They were so concerned with how much they were borrowing from Zero Hour! that they obtained the rights to the film from Warner Bros. for around $2500. The directors intentionally cast serious actors rather than comedians. That’s why actors like Robert Stack, Leslie Nielsen, Peter Graves, and Lloyd Bridges appeared in the film, all of whom had never done comedy before. Leslie Nielsen’s career had mostly consisted of serious leading roles, but he wanted to work in comedy and was looking for a movie to make the transition. After Airplane! was released, Nielsen enjoyed a major career boost and a significant change in his film persona, notably in the three Naked Gun movies. Airplane! was a critical and commercial success, grossing $171 million worldwide against a budget of $3.5 million, making it the 4th highest-grossing film of 1980. Learn more here.