Airplane: The Prequel

Airplane: The Prequel (also known by the title as Airplane 3) is a 2019 American animated horror-adventure film produced by Bony Pictures Animation and Ponchokings Animation and released by Columbia Pictures. It is the third installment in the Airplane franchise and served as the prequel to Airplane (2000) and Airplane 2 (2018). The film was directed by Edward Burns, Declan Collins, Nathan Gallagher and Harry Foster, produced by Morgan Scott, Jay Murphy, Alfie Mills, Ben Robinson, Reuben Frye and Andrew Chandler and written by Caden Cooke, Robin Baxter, Lee Baker, Kerry Reynolds, Caden Frank, Casey Vaughn and Rene Bernard. It stars the voice cast of Carmen Powell, Harper Bennett, Vic Bennett, Leigh Riley, Kerry Carter, Quinn Harrington, Blair Gillespie, Lesley Perry, Haiden Lara and Harley Sheppard. The narrative mostly focuses on the tale of government forces on a manhunt while also providing a lot of background information that would have happened before the events of the first two movies.

Development of Airplane: The Prequel began following the release of Airplane 2 in December 2017. The writers initially intended for the movie to be a sequel, however, they ultimately opted to make it a prequel, primarily because they were finding it difficult to write a script for a potential sequel to the franchise and because they wanted to try something "different and special" that would center more on Donald and a completely different cast of characters. Airplane: The Prequel, which only lasts 70 minutes as opposed to the 100 minutes that the most of the franchise's films have overall, is the shortest movie in the series due to the difficult deadline of about "11 to 12 months" to complete the film. At least 900 workers worked on the animation for five months to finish it. After being excluded from the first two films in the series, Bony Pictures Animation animated Airplane: The Prequel for the first time.

Airplane: The Prequel was released in the United States and Canada on February 28, 2019. The film grossed over $404 million worldwide, becoming the fifth-highest grossing animated film of 2019. Unlike the previous two films, Airplane: The Prequel received mixed reviews from critics and audiences, who praised the animation, humor, musical score and directing, but criticized the writing, pacing, "forced" songs, character development with according to a number of critics, it's was "the worst film in the franchise," hurried, and "didn't have the time to fully make it into a film". A sequel, Airplane 4: One Last Flight, was released in January 2021, to better reviews.

Plot

This movie takes place in 1998, two years before the first Airplane movie, where General Poncho explains about a hijacker named Ronald. The Robloxians are called to a conference room. The general inside welcomes them, introducing himself as General Poncho, former vice president of Robloxia who had become the head general of the Robloxia Army. Poncho then says that any orders issued by him must be followed at all times, or else the Robloxians will be expelled from the team. Poncho then proceeds to order the Robloxians to sit down at the conference table. He then begins a slideshow explaining their mission: a Robloxian hi-jacker named Ronald has hijacked a passenger plane, holding the captain of the passenger plane hostage on it, and while the plane is in autopilot mode Ronald will soon cause it to crash, and the group is to intercept his plans. Soon, Poncho says that he will be not expelled, but a Robloxian walks away.

Then, one of the Robloxians asks Poncho how the group will reach the plane, then he made them follow him to a large lift nearby. The lift then lowers into a small cavern, holding futuristic lasers and technology. However, the feature catching the most attention is the green propeller plane in the middle. General Poncho replies that the plane is their ride. Poncho then orders the group to take one of the military outfits behind them, and they comply. Another Robloxian does not take any military outfits after 15 seconds and is killed. After the Robloxians are suited, General Poncho goes to the large computer to check the systems, and finds, to his dismay, that the plane is almost empty on fuel, so he has the Robloxians put the nozzles in the plane.

Once the nozzles are in the plane, General Poncho quickly fuels the plane. Then, he quickly introduces the Robloxians to their pilot for the mission, Pilot Clark, and has him start the plane and open the back door. The Robloxians then take seats, and the plane takes off. In-flight, General Poncho reconfirms the plane is flying in the direction of the hijacked plane, and makes a remark on Ronald, that he would seem like a nice person, but he would not do something as insane as crashing a plane. Then, one of the Robloxians asks Poncho about the bananas on the table in the middle of the cockpit, to which he replies that he thought the Robloxians could use a snack. The Robloxians then take a few bananas, but at they start to eat when Poncho yells out that they are poisoned, to the Robloxians' shock and horror, then brushes it off as an old joke to raise morale, much to the Robloxians' annoyance.

Poncho then suggests the Robloxian takes a nap while the plane just heads toward its target. The scene fades to black, and a lightning flash occurs, cutting the scene directly into Nighttime, when a thunderstorm is above the plane. Due to it, the second engine of the plane shuts down. He and Pilot Clark informing him that the right engine is failing. Poncho has the Robloxians cover him outside the plane while he fixes the engine, but some Robloxians refuse to cover him. On the outside of the plane, Poncho gets to work fixing the engine, leaving the Robloxians out to survive the thunderstorm themselves. After the motor is fixed, General Poncho comments on the strong storm. Then, Skeletox appears behind the plane, which taunts the Robloxians, and then sends a wall of fire their way. The Robloxians are then forced inside the plane. Once everyone is safe inside the plane, Poncho asks Pilot Clark about the skeleton, but the response is that he did not see any skeleton. Poncho decides to put the event aside and continue.

Sometime later, the plane has reached the hijacked plane. Poncho leads the Robloxians out and inside the other plane. The Robloxians and General Poncho enter the plane through the back door. Unfortunately, the door into the passenger cabin is boarded up. The Robloxians hear a joyous shout from Ronald. Realizing they have little time, Poncho has the Robloxians search the open storage behind them for something to release the boards, and they find a hammer. Poncho quickly knocks off the boards and opens the door into the cabin, and see Ronald heading towards the cockpit, presumably to finish the job. After that, they heard noobs crying (presumably the passengers of the hijacked plane). Poncho has the Robloxians save the passengers first, and the Robloxians rescue them. Once all the passengers are untied, Pilot Clark picks them up and informs General Poncho that they are safe. Poncho agrees, but then says that the captain of the hijacked plane is still in danger.

General Poncho has one Robloxian stand in front of the door to talk to Ronald and picks a Robloxian to talk to Ronald. The Robloxian then opens the door, and breaks the fourth wall, saying, "You almost made it to the end of the film." The Robloxian does not befriend Ronald, causing him to yell out in anger. Then, the plane falls and the cockpit Ronald is in will be engulfed in flames. General Poncho will give the Robloxian parachutes. A random Robloxian tries to get him to respond and save Ronald and Captain Joe, but General Poncho's intentions are firm: He will leave with the Robloxians. Ronald then gets a heart attack sometime while the plane falls, but the Robloxians and Poncho have already left. When the Robloxians and Poncho reach the landing pad, the noobs are safe, but Captain Joe and Ronald were killed in the crash.

Poncho and his co-worker, General Alex, have a short conversation, feeling bad over having lost the captain, and also talking about Ronald having died as a bad Robloxian, then showed relief that he at least would not do anything else. The latter is false, however. Skeletox (The skeleton) from earlier showed relief over his plan working, then proceeds to work magic on Ronald, promising him to be able to have his revenge, transforming him into a dark spirit bent on revenge. The dark spirit then breaks the fourth wall, saying that the viewer needs to see Airplane and Airplane 2. After this, the scene presumably moves to a view of Captain Joe either in his resting spot or a memorial photo.

Voice cast

• Carmen Powell as Ronald and Monster
• Harper Bennett as Pilot Keilly (as a kid)
• Vic Bennett as General Poncho
• Leigh Riley as General Alex
• Kerry Carter as Pilot Clark
• Quinn Harrington as Co-Pilot Chuck
• Blair Gillespie as Skeletox
• Lesley Perry as Captain Joe
• Haiden Lara as Noobs
• Harley Sheppard as Soldiers

Additionally, Aaren Gallagher, Clem Austin, Frankie Brown, Nolan B. Johnson, Vic Burton, Casey Hawkins, Carmen Reed, Alex Phelps, Logan Mcleod, Ray Wong and Alexis Macdonald played their roles as "Robloxians".

Production

Development

Around December 2017, when work was coming to an end at the studio for Airplane 2, the first steps of development for Airplane: The Prequel were initiated. Producer Billy Baker announced at the time that the third installment in the trilogy was already in the works, but it had been placed on hold while the studio "oversaw" the "likelyhood of" it being a critical and commercial hit based on the second picture. Director Andrew Moss announced on January 2, 2018, that the company was "working on a new film" for the next franchise. By then, some of the producers and directors had been hired back to continue working on the movie before its release date and global premiere. However, they had all been working on their own film projects and had been working on the second movie for at least six years, so they declined the "chance" of a new movie. Even though Airplane 2 had only been released two days earlier, Columbia Pictures declared on January 27, 2018, that an unnamed movie was "in the works" for the company. The notion for a sequel was "shocking" and "unexpected" given how soon after the movie's premiere it was released. Upon learning of this, a few team members requested that the business "calm down" and let the "second film to be." Around that time, as the third movie was being developed, Airplane 2 became a huge hit, surpassing the box office receipts of its predecessor and ranking as the second most grossing animated picture of 2018.

The company that created the animation and wrote the scripts for the previous movies didn't decide to make it until they "found a concept" for the main tale of the characters and the plot, which is why Columbia Pictures chose to commission a "brand new film." Along with the scheduled appointment of Harry Foster, it was stated on February 5, 2018, that Edward Burns had joined the project and was "activating working on the project." The project was "planned to be created witihin record-time," therefore the concept of the directors taking on "those jobs" was abandoned despite their repeated inquiries to the studio about the "chance of also producing and writing." As the film's development got underway between January and March of 2018, a number of filmmakers were scheduled to be employed for the project; however, their plans were canceled once more due to the "limited time". Additional directors Declan Collins and Nathan Gallagher were allegedly brought on board for the movie on April 2, 2018. Airplane: The Prequel "had the fastest production time," taking only eleven months to finish from development to post-production, in contrast to the other films. This was "very shocking and quick" for an animated feature, as these projects typically took several years to complete.

Writing

Screenwriters Caden Cooke, Robin Baxter, Lee Baker, Kerry Reynolds, Caden Frank, Casey Vaughn, and Rene Bernard wrote the script for Airplane: The Prequel, which was adapted from a narrative by Ethan Hussain. The script for the movie, to be written by a group of "other writers" and five-time Oscar winner Caden Frank, was revealed after Airplane 2 was released on January 29, 2018. First conceived as a sequel to the first movie, with a greater emphasis on the monster and its mythology overall, the picture was rewritten during the first two months of production. The film's storyboards, which had included the following elements, were modified in January of that year to remove a few ideas for the sequel: The Robloxians' group member engaging in a physical battle with the monster; the monster destroying a whole city; the Monster's death; and the movie's first opening sequence, which would have shown the Monster in a chilly manner. As the movie moved into pre-production, Caden Cooke said that they were "having story problems" and that they didn't fully grasp the sequel's general plot and theme. The remaining writers, including Caden Cooke, Robin Baxter, Lee Baker, Kerry Reynolds, Casey Vaughn, and Rene Bernard, were said to have been hired and were busily working on the screenplay's first draft on February 29, 2018.

Many narrative points were "planned if they were set back in time," meaning that they would have occurred before the events of the first film. As a result, there were many ideas for the movie to instead be a prequel around that period. Furthermore, some of the authors made the alteration in order to "do special" as opposed to retelling the same narrative. The untitled movie was finally modified into a prequel rather than a sequel and was unveiled on March 26, 2018, after more than two months of actively working on a brand-new script for the movie. The formal screenplay for the movie started to be written the month after official production was ready for the picture. The writers worked on "story ideas" that were never presented throughout that period. In an attempt to tie the plot of the first picture into the third, the screenwriters chose to concentrate more on the tale and arc between Donald and a new cast of people during the script's creation. The story was supposed to take place before the first movie started. The original screenplay had one of the Robloxians in the "thunderstorm" scenario get killed off, which would have been the first fatality in the whole franchise. However, that concept was discarded and trimmed since it was deemed "too dark" for the target demographic. Many issues arose during the writing process. Since the movie was scheduled to release in January 2019, the writers were supposedly given just one month to finish the script. This was "enough," but for a "massive animated film," it resulted in significant story ideas that had to be fixed in a matter of days. The full screenplay was completed by July 2018, leaving just six months until the movie's January 2019 release date (before it was postponed).

Casting

The majority of the team, including the writers, directors, producers, and voice actors who had not yet been cast, worked on the movie during the three weeks that the casting call was held, from February 1 to February 22, 2018. Actors Vic Bennett, Harper Bennett, and Carmen Powell were said to have joined the project during these weeks. Additional casting for Aaren Gallagher, Clem Austin, Frankie Brown, Vic Burton, Casey Hawkins, Carmen Reed, Alex Phelps, Logan Mcleod, Ray Wong, and Alexis Macdonald was announced after the teaser trailer was released in September 2018. Leigh Riley, Kerry Carter, Quinn Harrington, Blair Gillespie, Lesley Perry, Haiden Lara, and Harley Sheppard were reportedly cast as the film's actors after the release of the film's last trailer on February 8, 2019.

Animation

Two studios, Bony Pictures Animation and Ponchokings Animation, provided the animation for the movie. Bony Pictures Animation became involved with the project in January 2018, which was their first significant project of the year. On June 18, 2018, their involvement in the movie was made public. Voice recording was done in April 2018, around the time animation started. During a five to six-month period, at least 900 animators from both studios animated and contributed to the picture. The animators stated that due to time constraints, they "experienced burnout" and frequently felt anxious about the movie "not being finished on time." Even after the release date was rescheduled, some animators felt it was still insufficient to finish the movie on time or add new elements when there were "notable gitiches." The animation was eventually finished in December 2018—just in time for the winter marketing season.

Music and soundtrack

It was announced in January 2018 that Oliver Bowman, Freddie Evans, Nicholas Wilkinson, and Thomas Fisher were creating and composing the soundtrack for the movie.

Release

Marketing

When the initial teaser poster and trailer for the film were shown in September 2018, reviews ranged from mixed to unfavorable. People complained that the animation was "low quality" and wasn't "at the same height as the previous films." The first official trailer, which featured further narrative elements and character development, was unveiled on October 9, 2018. The final trailer was posted to YouTube on January 20, 2019.

Theatrical

Airplane: The Prequel was theatrically released in the United States and Canada on February 28, 2019. At first, Columbia Pictures stated on February 9, 2018, that Airplane: The Prequel will be released in theaters on January 10, 2019. The Prequel was then originally scheduled to be released on February 10, 2019, one month after its original date, but in July 2018, the release date was to February 28, 2019, due to significant criticism from the cast and crew and to allow for additional time to work on the film as a whole.

Reception

Box office

Airplane: The Prequel grossed $404 million ($252 million in the United States and Canada), becoming the fifth-highest grossing animated film of 2019. The movie opened with an estimated gross of over $50 million for the five-day weekend, but it didn't perform up to expectations. It opened with just around $10 million and ended up with roughly $48 million, which was still a good amount but not enough for the studio. Nevertheless, the movie was able to outperform some of the newest releases at the time and rank among the highest-grossing March releases because to interests from both adults and children. The movie eventually made over $200 million by April of that year, and by the next month, it had over $251 million in US box office receipts. In addition, the movie gained significant traction in other significant counties.

Critical reception

Critics and viewers offered mixed reviews for Airplane: The Prequel, with some praising its animation, humor, musical score, and directing while others criticized its writing, pacing, "forced" songs, and character development. Some critics labeled it "the worst film in the franchise," saying it was hurried and "didn't have the time to fully make it into a film".

Sequel

A sequel, Airplane: One Last Flight, was released on January 26, 2021. The story of the movie centers on a group of Robloxians who are flying to the Bloxhamas for a holiday. However, things take a turn for the worst when a huge hooded skeleton gathers an army and tries to infect and curse the Robloxian people.