We want to clarify what we mean by "movies that take place on planes." We aren't talking about great movies like Top Gun, Sully and Flight that take place partly on planes, but mostly on the ground.

An airplane is a vehicle for transporting passengers, but for Hollywood, it’s a conduit for a good story. There’s something about setting a movie 30,000 feet in the air that facilitates action.

Given the terrible news about the missing Malaysian Airlines flight, now would not a good time to start production on movies about airplanes that crash in the ocean on the way to China. Thankfully, an ...