What Is the ‘Plane’ Movie on Netflix? Is It Based on a True Aircraft Crash Story?

The sky is more than a canvas of clouds; it is a vault of secrets, silent terrors, and a few stories that never touch the ground. Some tales float in the dark, trembling with fear and adrenaline, only to crash into tragedy. Netflix taps into this eerie allure with Plane, a high-octane thriller that now haunts its Top 10. As viewers binge through the streamer’s latest suspense buffet, one question lingers in the turbulence: Was Plane inspired by a real crash, or is fiction flying too close to fact?

Everything you need to know about Netflix’s Plane, a full-throttle descent into mystery, chaos, and the truth behind its story.

Crash course: What you need to know about Netflix’s Plane

Plane is a high-stakes action thriller that hurls viewers into a terrifying survival scenario. Gerard Butler leads as a commercial pilot whose flight is brutally rerouted after a lightning strike, crash-landing on the treacherous Jolo Islands, an area ruled by armed militants. As chaos erupts, he must rely on an unlikely ally: a fugitive with a brutal past. Despite its gritty realism and edge-of-your-seat tension, Plane is not based on a true story. It is a pulse-pounding work of fiction that feels disturbingly plausible.

Plane soared to a global box office altitude of $74.5 million, cruising with $32.1 million from the US and Canada and $42.4 million internationally. With a smooth $35 million in net profit, the film flew well above financial turbulence. On Rotten Tomatoes, it landed a 78% approval rating from critics, proving this high-flying thriller kept both audiences and reviewers buckled in for the ride. But Netflix’s vault is not limited to the skies; some of its most haunting stories lie beneath the waves.

Beneath miles of crushing pressure lies more than twisted metal—there is a truth gasping for air, trapped in silence, waiting for someone brave enough to resurface it and face what the deep refused to hide.

Titan: The OceanGate submersible disaster dives into the depths of silence

Titan: The OceanGate Disaster, a 2025 Netflix documentary directed by Mark Monroe, plunges into the chilling 2023 submersible implosion and its shadowy aftermath. Premiering at the Tribeca Festival, the film uses whistleblower accounts, haunting audio, and early OceanGate footage to trace the tragedy’s roots. Two years later, the truth remains submerged. Speaking to Tudum, Monroe suggested the delay in answers may stem from Admiral Linda Lee Fagan’s January 2025 removal, stating the Coast Guard report “can’t go public until the [head] of the Coast Guard signs off on it.”  

In January 2025, Mark Monroe was revealed as the director behind Titan: The OceanGate Disaster, with Liz Garbus, Dan Cogan, and Amy Herdy joining as executive producers under the Story Syndicate banner, and Netflix handling distribution. The film premiered at the Tribeca Festival on June 6 and launched globally on June 11. With a 69 per cent critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, it joins Netflix’s vault of oceanic mysteries. From ocean depths to the endless sky, Netflix’s vault leaves no frontier unexplored.

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