“Airplane!” Gets Blu-ray Upgrade for Its 40th Anniversary

Airplane? What is it? It's a comedy classic, but that's not important right now. In 1980, the unstoppable team of Jim Abrahams and the Zucker Brothers delivered one of the best spoofs of all time with their parody of the 1957 disaster film Zero Hour! that threw endless gags at the screen, going in any zany direction for a laugh. Four decades later it's still regarded as one of the funniest movies ever made, even if some of its descendants ruined the style.

To celebrate the film's 40th anniversary, Paramount will release a spiffy new Blu-ray, complete with a new 4K transfer, a new featurette, and an interview with the creators recorded at the Egyptian Theater in January (back when theaters were still open). For film music aficionados, there's even an isolated score track of Elmer Bernstein's seriously terrific compositions. And for collectors, there will also be a Steelbook variant. Airplane! is the latest film to join the Paramount Presents Collection, which all feature collectible packaging and new features. Past titles include Days of Thunder, Fatal Attraction and Pretty in Pink.

Looks like you picked the wrong week to quit collecting Blu-rays. Airplane! arrives at online and physical retailers on July 21.

About Kip Mooney

Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.