Synopsis

Paroled Army Ranger Cameron Poe boards a prison transport plane to reunite with his wife and young daughter. The flight is hijacked by a group of violent inmates led by Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom, leaving Poe trapped among the criminals while trying to protect an innocent passenger. On the ground, a U.S. marshal races to track the aircraft before the escapees vanish.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film's fictional prison transport program was inspired by Con Air, the nickname for the real-life U.S. Marshals Service prisoner transportation system.

• Much of the production was filmed in Utah. Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Wendover airports stood in for locations in California and Nevada, while the barren Wendover landscape was used for the aircraft boneyard sequences.

• The climactic Las Vegas material was filmed at the Sands Hotel shortly before its demolition in November 1996. The production took advantage of the scheduled destruction, using the real building as part of the crash sequence.

• The aircraft interiors were built on a soundstage, while exterior shots used a combination of real aircraft, miniatures, and specialized rigs. The production assembled a large collection of military and private planes for the desert scenes.

• Effects specialist Phillip "Phil" Swartz died during filming when a static aircraft rig fell on him in Wendover. The movie ends with a dedication to him.

• Dave Chappelle improvised many of his lines, adding to the deliberately broad comic tone that runs alongside the action.

• The movie became one of 1997's major box-office successes, earning more than $224 million worldwide against a reported production budget of $75 million.