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''United 93'' (formerly named '''''Flight 93''''') is a , 2006 '' New York Times '' article ''United 93'' premiered on , 2006 '' Reuters '' article Several family members of the passengers aboard the flight attended the premiere to show their support. The film opened nationwide in North America on , '' Newsweek '' The total gross to the beginning of March 2007 was $31.4 million in the United States, and $76.2 million worldwide. msnbc Box Office mojo - United 93 PLOT The film opens early on the morning of September 11, 2001 with the hijackers praying in their hotel room, and then the crew and passengers of Flight 93 assembling in the airport. We also see the Air Traffic Control crews beginning their daily routine (including Ben Sliney), where the first hints of something wrong begin to surface. Flight 93 takes off after a bit of a delay at Newark Airport. Not long afterwards, the first of the planes smashes into the World Trade Center. It is at first assumed to be an accident, but other traffic-control crews are certain something is amiss, and the United States Air Force is brought into the loop. On board Flight 93, the hijackers hesitate and disagree as to when would be the best time to strike. Eventually one of the terrorists storms into the lavatory, assembles a bogus bomb out of modeling clay and electrical wiring, and gives the word. The other hijackers then storm the cockpit and use knives to both terrorize the flight crew and kill one passenger outright. In the cockpit they put a photo of the U.S. Capitol, their target, on the flight Yoke . Much to the growing consternation of Sliney and his people, coordination with the Air Force is haphazard and there are simply not enough planes ready, or armed, to respond to an in-air hijacking. Sliney ultimately decides to shut down ''all'' airspace in the United States and ground every single flight. The hijackers do not prevent the people from making phone calls through the on-board GTE Airfone system. After hearing about the crashes into the WTC, the passengers and crew understand that if they do nothing, they will also die, and eventually elect to storm the cockpit and attempt to retake the plane. The passengers make one last set of phone calls to friends and family, where they declare their intentions. The remaining crew assemble what makeshift weapons they can: cutlery, wine bottles, a fire extinguisher. Learning that one of the passengers can fly a plane (although he has not flown a commercial aircraft), the group pin their hopes on him being able to at least control the plane. They debate whether the bomb is real or fake before deciding to start their counter-attack by overpowering the man with the bomb. As some passengers attempt to break open the cockpit door with a trolley, the hijacker piloting the plane begins to move it violently, trying to prevent the passengers from entering the cockpit. However, they eventually succeed and enter the cockpit, where some try to pull him away from the controls. The last few seconds of the film show the hijacker putting the plane into a nosedive, and then hands fighting for the controls. He keeps the plane in a nosedive, and it plunges headfirst into a field. The last shot of the film is the ground rushing up as seen through the cockpit window. CAST PRODUCTION NOTES The film was the first Hollywood feature to draw its narrative directly from the September 11 attacks. Passengers were portrayed in the film mostly by professional actors ( Tom Burnett , for instance, is played by Christian Clemenson , who has appeared on '' Boston Legal ''). The roles of one of the flight attendants, the two pilots, and many other airline personnel were filled by actual airline employees. Some participants in the real-life events play themselves, notably FAA operations manager Ben Sliney . In an interview for UK magazine '' Attitude '', casting consultant Lee Dennison revealed that stand-ins for the hijackers were used until two weeks into filming and the actors playing them were kept separate from everyone else in order to cultivate more on-screen tension. The dialogue, which was mostly improvised during rehearsals Greengrass held with the cast, was based on face-to-face interviews between actors and families of those they portray. Almost none of the passengers in the film are referred to by their names. Their identities remain anonymous, emphasizing the group effort over any individual heroics (and also portraying the fact that strangers on an airplane would not know one another's names). Much of the dialogue uses technical authenticity rather than theatrical embellishments, such as talk about if a plane has " Squawked 7500 ." Filming took place on a 20-year-old reclaimed '' Action was filmed with handheld cameras, chosen for their versatility on the close-quarter sets and to create a sense of immediacy. The title was changed from ''Flight 93'' to ''United 93'' in March 2006, to differentiate it from the A&E film '' appealed this rating, but it was rejected. The film was released in U.S. cinemas on April 28 , 2006 . It opened second in the weekend box office behind '' RV '', but netted a slightly higher per-screen average. Initial screenings ended with a '' HISTORICAL BACKGROUND See Also: United Airlines Flight 93 United Airlines Flight 93 was a Boeing 757-222 flight that regularly flew from Newark International Airport (now known as Newark Liberty International Airport ) in Newark, New Jersey , to San Francisco International Airport continuing on to Narita International Airport in Tokyo, Japan, on a different aircraft. On September 11 , 2001 , the Aircraft on the flight was one of the four planes Hijacked as part of the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks , intended for the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. It was the only one of the four planes that did not reach its intended target, instead crashing near Shanksville, Pennsylvania , about 150 miles northwest of Washington. CONTROVERSY The film has been criticized for its portrayal of German passenger Christian Adams. Of all passengers on the plane, only Adams is portrayed as counseling appeasement. '''' blog, "there will surely be all kinds of cries about old European Surrender Monkeys , the United States' contrasting backbone etc." Skating on thin air May 25, 2006 After the '' One theater in Manhattan unilaterally pulled the trailer after audience complaints. The '' . The official Internet Forum for the film, previously available on Universal's website, was shut down as of May 3, 2006. No word has yet come from Universal as to why the board was removed from their server; however, it may have been because of Flaming . Former Site of United 93 Universal Pictures Message Board The transcript of the indicated that at least one passenger reported in a cell phone call seeing two bodies, possibly the pilots, lying dead on the floor outside the cockpit after the hijacking. ''The 9/11 Commission Report'' , Page 13, paragraph 2. Accessed December 10, 2006 CRITICAL RECEPTION Best Reviewed Film of 2006 - Metacritic .
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS Won
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DVD ''United 93'' was released to DVD on September 5th, 2006, in both Widescreen and Fullscreen . Also released was a 2-disc Special Limited Edition in Widescreen . The 1-disc editions included the following:
The 2-disc edition included the above special features plus the following:
The 1-disc editions are still being produced and shipped into stores, but the special limited edition is now only available online. SEE ALSO
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