One of the best comedies known to this species, or any existing amidst the cosmos, Airplane! was the movie that made brothers Jerry and David Zucker, along with co-writer/co-director Jim Abrahams, into comedy legends. An off-kilter remake of Zero Hour, the picture would turn its creators into overnight sensations, leading studio management at Paramount Pictures to almost instantly want a sequel.
While we did end up with Airplane II: The Sequel, it was nowhere near where the team known as ZAZ wanted to go. In fact, their original sequel pitch was so wild, I’m still mad it never happened; and I only learned about its existence as recently as I realized that Airplane’s run time is somehow under 90 minutes! Here now is the story behind the Airplane sequel Paramount couldn’t refuse… but did.
