The recent news that Gerard Butler backed out of filming a sequel for his high-octane thriller Plane has not stopped the film from becoming a streaming success. It is back on the Prime Video charts, three years after its succesful theatrical run.
FlixPatrol reveals that Plane re-emerged on the Prime Video Top 10 Movies in the United States chart on June 15, coming in at eighth place. It actually outperformed two critically acclaimed recent releases — Leonardo DiCaprio’s One Battle After Another (#9) and Jason Statham’s A Working Man (#10). Released in 2023, Plane follows Brodie Torrance (Butler), a commercial pilot who teams up with suspected murderer Louis Gaspare (Mike Colter) in order to save his passengers after an emergency landing.
Critics & Audiences Universally Loved Butler’s Plane Movie
From the very beginning, Plane puts the pedal to the metal and rarely looks back. Butler’s pilot character opens the film by saving his passengers from a lightning strike with a risky landing on a dangerous, war-torn island. Unfortunately for everyone, surviving the dangerous landing was only the beginning of their problems, and most of the passengers are taken hostage by dangerous rebels.
For Brodie, that means he has to rely on the help of Louis — who, it turns out, was being accused of murder and on the flight because the FBI was extraditing him to Toronto. The unlikely duo must work together for everyone’s safety, and things will be even harder than they appear.
During its box office release in 2023, Plane proved to be successful for Lionsgate, earning $74.5 million worldwide on a $25 million budget. Its intense plot was even able to win over both critics and audiences, although the film did require some critics to look past its ‘preposterous’ plot.
On Rotten Tomatoes, Plane is Certified Fresh with a 79% approval rating, and it boasts an even higher audience score. The film is Verified Hot with 94% of over 1,000 verified audience ratings being positive. “Plane charts a standard action-adventure course with its cruising altitude just a few miles above Direct-to-Video — but with Gerard Butler in the cockpit, thriller enthusiasts will still find this a fun flight,” the site’s consensus reads.
Despite Its Popularity, Gerard Butler Dropped Plane’s Sequel Unexpectedly
Although Plane performed well at the box office and continues to be a hit on streaming, Butler shockingly pulled the plug on a planned sequel, titled Ship, earlier this year. Colter, who was set to reprise his role as Louis Gaspare for the sequel, confirmed the news in February at this year’s Fan Expo Vancouver.
“It just, last-minute, Gerard decided he didn’t want to go forward with it, and there wasn’t a lot of discussion about it,” Colter said. “He just… two weeks out, he pulled out, and we were sort of left trying to figure out what to do. And eventually, that dissolved.”
Colter explained that Ship would have picked up immediately after Plane. Butler wouldn’t return for the film, but was set to produce, which is one of the main reasons he had such control over its future. ” Basically picking up where we left off, what happened to that character, and how’d he get off the island. That was where we were gonna go with it. So, I was excited about it,” Colter added.
Plane is now streaming on Prime Video.